Palisade Magazine

A Plynt Publication

December 2004

Best Practices in Input Validation

Last week, I polled our consultants on the most common software security errors they saw in 2004. Consultants from across our offices pointed out how simple input validation errors continue to be the #1 problem they see daily. This is really not a new problem; it’s just been a difficult one. I asked them for their list of best practices for validating inputs the top 10 recommendations they have been making to clients on input validation. Here’s the list they came up with… more →

Introduction to Code Obfuscation

by Shaheem Motlekar, GCIH, BS7799 LA

Obfuscation means “to make difficult to perceive or understand”. Code obfuscation in programming world means making code harder to understand or read, generally for privacy or security purposes. Security through obscurity has long been viewed with disregard in the security community. However, there are applications where obscurity can provide a higher level of protection to its source code. Recent theories have shown usefulness of this technique; a popular paper Code Obfuscation techniques by Collberg shows just that.… more →

Backdoors and Trojans in Applications

by Gaurav Shukla, BS7799 LA

Backdoor is a secret or unauthorized channel for accessing computer system. In an attack scenario, hackers install backdoors on a machine, once compromised, to access it in an easier manner at later times… more →

Quiz: Encrypting Sensitive Documents

Review: The Shellcoder's Handbook

by Jack Koziol, David Litchfield, et al.

We take a look at “The Shellcoder’s Handbook” by Jack Koziol, David Litchfield, et al on finding and exploiting buffer overflow vulnerabilities… more →