Are you sure that your website is safe from Cross-site Scripting if Google Search was not for five months? On September 26, 2018, one of the developers working on the open-source Closure library (originally created by Google and used in Google Search) created a commit…
Recommendations for TLS/SSL Cipher Hardening
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Socket Layer (SSL), are widely used protocols. They were designed to secure the transfer of data between the client and the server through authentication, encryption, and integrity protection. Note: At the time of writing of this article,…
TLS Security 1: What Is SSL/TLS
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are cryptographic security protocols. They are used to make sure that network communication is secure. Their main goals are to provide data integrity and communication privacy. The SSL protocol was the first protocol designed for this…
TLS Security 5: Establishing a TLS Connection
The process of establishing a secure SSL/TLS connection involves several steps. SSL/TLS security protocols use a combination of asymmetric and symmetric encryption. The client and the server must negotiate the algorithms used and exchange key information. For the purpose of explaining this complex process, we…
TLS Security 4: SSL/TLS Certificates
When you communicate securely with a third party using data encryption, you usually want to be sure that they are who they say they are. For example, when you use an online bank or an e-commerce site and you send sensitive information, you want to…
TLS Security 3: SSL/TLS Terminology and Basics
To understand how Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols works, you must first understand certain basic concepts. The primary mechanism used by SSL/TLS is asymmetric encryption with cipher suites. These and related terms are explained below. Encryption Encryption is the process…
TLS Security 6: Examples of TLS Vulnerabilities and Attacks
The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) cryptographic protocols have had their share of flaws like every other technology. The following are major vulnerabilities in TLS/SSL protocols. They all affect older versions of the protocol (TLSv1.2 and older). At the time…
TLS Security 2: A Brief History of SSL/TLS
The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol was first introduced by Netscape in 1994. The Internet was growing and there was a need for transport security for web browsers and for various TCP protocols. Version 1.0 of SSL was never released because it had serious security…
How to Prevent SQL Injection Vulnerabilities in PHP Applications
SQL Injection (SQLi) is a type of injection attack. An attacker can use it to make a web application process and execute injected SQL statements as part of an existing SQL query. This article assumes that you have a basic understanding of SQL Injection attacks…