What are the OWASP Top 10 security risks

Short answer

The OWASP Top 10 lists the most critical web security risks, including injection, broken authentication, sensitive data exposure, and security misconfiguration. For authentication security, see authentication vs authorization. For protecting data, see how does hashing work.

Steps

1. Injection: Use parameterized queries and ORMs
2. Broken Authentication: Implement MFA and secure session management
3. Sensitive Data Exposure: Encrypt data at rest and in transit
4. XML External Entities: Disable XXE processing
5. Security Misconfiguration: Harden defaults and remove unused features

Tips

• Keep dependencies updated and scan for known vulnerabilities
• Use security headers like CSP, HSTS, and X-Frame-Options
• For secure token handling, review how to implement oauth 2.0 authorization code flow