Secure Coding Practices for Web Applications: Addressing Cyber Threats and Safeguarding User Data - A Comprehensive Review

Web applications provide an efficient approach to delivering a wide range of services over the Internet. However, the growing number of Internet users, web applications, and valuable user data has led to a significant increase in global cyber threats. This poses significant challenges for organizations seeking to protect their data across the globe. This review paper delves into secure coding practices designed for web applications, with a particular focus on SQL Injection (SQLIA) attacks and Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities within ASP.NET environments. Through a comprehensive review of existing methodologies and techniques, we examine advanced detection and prevention mechanisms, including dynamic analysis, crafted statements, input validation, and coding practices. Our unique contribution is a proposed multi-layered defense approach that combines these methodologies specifically for ASP.NET applications, improving their effectiveness against SQLIA and XSS attacks. Additionally, we discuss the implementation of the AMNESIA technique, which leverages static and dynamic analysis to neutralize vulnerabilities in real-time. By highlighting both foundational practices and recent advancements, this paper aims to provide the developers and security professionals with actionable insights to enhance the resilience of ASP.NET web applications against prevalent cyber threats.