Course Overview

Attacking and Securing Java EE Web Applications is a lab-intensive, hands-on Java EE security training course that provides a unique coverage of Java application security. In this course, students begin with penetration testing, hunting for bugs in Java web applications. They then thoroughly examine best practices for defensively coding web applications, covering all the OWASP Top Ten as well as several additional prominent vulnerabilities (such as file uploads, CSRF and direct object references). Students will repeatedly attack and then defend various assets associated with fully functional web applications and services. This hands-on approach drives home the mechanics of how to secure JEE web applications in the most practical of terms.

Students will leave the course armed with the skills required to recognize actual and potential software vulnerabilities and implement defenses for those vulnerabilities. This course begins by developing the skills required to fingerprint a web application and then scan it for vulnerabilities and bugs. Practical labs using current tools and techniques provide students with the experience needed to begin testing their own applications. Students also gain a deeper understanding of how attackers probe applications to understand the runtime environment as well as find potential weaknesses. This course the introduces developers to the most common security vulnerabilities faced by web applications today. Each vulnerability is examined from a Java/JEE perspective through a process of describing the threat and attack mechanisms, recognizing associated vulnerabilities, and, finally, designing, implementing, and testing effective defenses.

Practical labs reinforce these concepts with real vulnerabilities and attacks. Students are then challenged to design and implement the layered defenses they will need in defending their own applications. There is an emphasis on the underlying vulnerability patterns since the technologies, use cases, and methods of attack as constantly changing. The patterns remain the same through all the change and flux.

What you’ll learn

• Ensure that any bug hunting is performed in a safe and appropriate manner
• Identify defect/bug reporting mechanisms within their organizations
• Work with specific tools for targeted vulnerabilities
• Avoid common mistakes that are made in bug hunting and vulnerability testing
• Understand the concepts and terminology behind defensive, secure coding including the phases and goals of a typical exploit
• Develop an appreciation for the need and value of a multilayered defense in depth
• Understand potential sources for untrusted data
• Understand the consequences for not properly handling untrusted data such as denial of service, cross-site scripting, and injections
• To test web applications with various attack techniques to determine the existence of and effectiveness of layered defenses
• Prevent and defend the many potential vulnerabilities associated with untrusted data
• Understand the vulnerabilities of associated with authentication and authorization
• Detect, attack, and implement defenses for authentication and authorization functionality and services
• Understand the dangers and mechanisms behind Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and Injection attacks
• Detect, attack, and implement defenses against XSS and Injection attacks
• Understand the risks associated with XML processing, file uploads, and server-side interpreters and how to best eliminate or mitigate those risks
• Understand techniques and measures that can used to harden web and application servers as well as other components in your infrastructure