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5. Guidelines

data loss of the organisations or users. (iv) Access Control (j) Turn on node c

The government organisation will ensure and monitor that the host (v) Cryptographic Practices (k) Turn off all
(vi) Error Handling & Logging services, utility pack
service provider and the developer adhere to the industry best (vii) Data Protection area reduction)

security practices and guidelines such as ISO 27001, OWASP ASVS, (viii) Communication Security (l) Enforce a s

OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and CIS benchmarks as per the (ix) System Configuration privileges.
(x) Database Security (m) Enable audit tra
prevailing security policy. Following guidelines are to secure web
(xi) File Management (n) Ensure appropri
resources & associated infrastructure: (xii) Memory Management (o) Consider fine gr

(n) Implement logging functionality and periodically auditing the web logs for suspicious activity. (p) Implement a bac

Statement: Website, web application, web portal or mobile app (o) Configure website, web application or web portal caching to optimize resource availability. application or web por
(p) Sanitise user input at both the client end and the server end with both syntactical as well as Note: One of the
have been Security Audited and an Audit Clearance certificate has a semantic approach. and the user sho
been issued by NIC/ STQC/ STQC empanelled laboratory/CERT (q) The technology to be implemented should be chosen after careful consideration. Various recovering a w

-In empanelled laboratory before hosting in production client-side Active Content Technologies are available e.g., Java scripts etc. Each has its own solutions one ca

environment. 5.3.1 strengths and weaknesses along with an associated risk. off-site. Do not
(r) Disable the root user access to run the code on Linux/Unix hosts. to attacks too.
(s) Use explicit path names when invoking external programs and not rely on the PATH an off-site plac
Benefits: The goal of securing a website, web application, web portal or mobile app is to maintain
Protecting web resources from unauthorised use, access, environment value. Another option i
the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and services. This goal is accomplished
changes, destruction, or disruption is generally termed as through the implementation of best security practices in design, development and deployment. B. Securing databases: Database being the core of any application and/or organisation and is access to inform
used to store large amounts of highly sensitive and personal information. Therefore, appropriate
must consider au
“Website Security” or “Secured Website”. Attacks could cause both personal embarrassment and financial risks. technical controls should be in place to safeguard the databases and information stored in them. backups. It has
Government organisation action: It should be ensured that the website, web application, web
The following are the guidelines for securing databases: in the backup pr
portal or mobile app don’t have any security risks as identified by the latest OWASP Top 10
Sometimes web resources become unavailable due to vulnerability list. The design and development agency or the developers should follow industry (a) Implement strong encryption and key management mechanism for the information both at point before the

denial-of-service attacks or display modified information on the best practices such as OWASP ASVS and OWASP MAVS. rest and transit. (q) Keep the backup
(r) Conduct periodi
(b) Implement strong hashing and salting algorithms to store passwords in the database.
webpages. Millions of passwords, email addresses and credit card Developer action: Securing critical web resources is more important than ever as the focus of (c) Use secure credentials for database access. Remove or change all default database changes are done in th
attackers has steadily moved towards the application layer and they are exploiting the weaknesses
details have been leaked into the public domain exposing web users administrative passwords. (s) Report any
in the code.
to both personal embarrassment and financial risks. The purpose of (d) Utilise strong passwords//phrases or implement multi-factor authentication. immediately at Inciden
(e) Disable unnecessary accounts such as orphaned accounts, unused accounts, generic and NIC-CERT: i
Website Security is to prevent such risks. A. Securing Code service accounts. CERT-In: in

Website Security requires vigilance in all aspects starting from (a) Ensure that all websites, web applications, web portals or mobile apps and their respective (f) Enable access to the database only from the Web Server on a whitelisted port and it should Toll free p
CMS, 3rd party plugins, codes, etc. are updated to the latest vers ions.
design, coding and implementation to testing and deployment. Note: Every day, there are countless websites/apps compromised due to outdated software. not be assigned publicly accessible IP. Evaluator action: The

Organisations should implement appropriate security majors, Potential hackers and bots are scanning websites/apps to attack. Updates are vital to the (g) TLS should be enabled in databases for secure communications between web servers and app under evaluation h
databases. laboratory/ Cert-IN em
defences and countermeasures to protect web resources against health and security of the website/app. If the website’s software or applications are not (h) Create admin restrictions, such as by controlling privileged access on what users can do in a

malfunctioning, phishing, cyber-crimes or cyberattacks to avoid up-to-date, the website/app is not secure. Take all software and plugin update requests database.
seriously. Updates often contain security enhancements and vulnerability repairs. Check the
(i) The application should use the lowest possible level of privilege when accessing the database.
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