Improving Web Application Security: Threats and - CGISecurity

62 Part I: Introduction to Threats and CountermeasuresStep 5. Document the ThreatsTo document the threats of your application, use a template that shows several threatattributes similar to the one below. The threat description and threat target areessential attributes. Leave the risk rating blank at this stage. This is used in the finalstage of the threat modeling process when you prioritize the identified threat list.Other attributes you may want to include are the attack techniques, which can alsohighlight the vulnerabilities exploited, and the countermeasures that are required toaddress the threat.Table 3.4 Threat 1Threat DescriptionThreat targetAttacker obtains authentication credentials by monitoring the networkWeb application user authentication processRiskAttack techniquesCountermeasuresUse of network monitoring softwareUse SSL to provide encrypted channelTable 3.5 Threat 2Threat DescriptionThreat targetInjection of SQL commandsData access componentRiskAttack techniquesCountermeasuresAttacker appends SQL commands to user name, which is used to form aSQL queryUse a regular expression to validate the user name, and use a storedprocedure that uses parameters to access the database.Step 6. Rate the ThreatsAt this stage in the process, you have a list of threats that apply to your particularapplication scenario. In the final step of the process, you rate threats based on therisks they pose. This allows you to address the threats that present the most risk first,and then resolve the other threats. In fact, it may not be economically viable toaddress all of the identified threats, and you may decide to ignore some because ofthe chance of them occurring is small and the damage that would result if they did isminimal.