Secure coding awareness learning tool (SCALT) in educating learners on web vulnerabilities

Abstract

Today, web applications are vital to most organizations. They provide quick and efficient access to corporate services and resources. Web application security is an extremely important component in these applications. The presence of any web vulnerabilities can lead to uninvited and harmful attacks. For the very same reason, web application can be a serious security risk to an organization. One of the biggest challenges in the field of web application security is to educate web owners and users to treat web application security seriously. This research will discuss on the most common web application vulnerabilities, how they occur and how to handle them. Secure Coding Awareness Learning Tool (SCALT) that educates users on web application security is proposed and developed in this research. This learning tool can ease developers and users to refer to various web application vulnerabilities, the cause and mitigation for each of them. Usability of this learning tool is tested among undergraduate students and junior software developers. Results from their feedback indicate the usefulness of SCALT as an initiative to educate software developers to produce secure web applications.