Customer Reviews

Securing Ajax Applications: Ensuring the Safety of the Dynamic Web

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are looking for a superficial review of 50 different topics indirectly related to web application security, this is the book for you.

"Securing Ajax Applications" is just all over the place. The topics covered are only tangentially related to AJAX. If you are a programmer looking for ways to harden XHR, you are out of luck.

For example:

The section on "Protecting the Server" owes much of its 30-page length to 1) a tutorial on installing the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, 2) an overview of syslog and its configuration file, and 3) setting up iptables. Yes, that's right, a tutorial on installing Linux in a book on AJAX security. There are even screenshots (plural). I am not kidding: go check out the publisher's web site, this chapter is the sample chapter. While you are there, check out the table of contents and ask yourself if the high-level topic intros presented in those sections will likely make you a programmer of more secure AJAX applications.

I am not exaggerating when I say that it is as if the author amassed a collection of FAQs and blog articles related to general topics in Internet security, and O'Reilly decided that if they bound them together in book form and put "AJAX" in the title, they could sell it for $49.95.

The book could have just as easily been published by Sitepoint with a title like "The Web Site Security Anthology, 50 Things You Need To Know", at 60% of the price.

For $20 cheaper, "Essential PHP Security" (O'Reilly) is better spent money and will actually teach you something useful (even if you are not a PHP developer).

If I wanted a generic web application security book, this might have fit the bill. Barely. The book spends precious little space discussing security with Ajax applications.

I have never been so disappointed with an O'Reilly book with respect to the quality and quantity of information presented.

In its 211 pages, Christopher Wells written a good book with one bad feature: Barely speak about the title-theme. In my opinion, this book is a good guide to start your studies about web security. Its chapters covers issues like web-server security, secure ways to develop your applications, many demonstrations of threat exploits and how to protect your application to them.
My conclusion is: If you want start your studies in Web Security, go on and buy this book. If you already did this and want to learn specifically about AJAX Security, try other book, because this one won't help you so much.

The author is very smart and very knowledgeable, but the catchy book title is simply too vast a topic to be covered by a small book like this. There is a lot to be learned from this book, but it's mainly general knowledge about a vast array of topics that only vaguely fall under the AJAX category. Like "Javascript: the Good Parts", this book probably requires two or three readings to really appreciate it. Meanwhile, the first reading is not all that illuminating. For example, the samples of web security holes seem contrived and unlikely to occur in real life. Who actually writes a web application that lets the web browser client user choose the name and directory location of the file to download from the server? He even throws his hands up in the course of one topic and concludes there is no actual way to ensure security, given the poor architecture of the enabling technology.

I was really looking forward to this book as this topic is very important to my job. But there is very little AJAX-specific content. The closest it comes is chapter five that dabbles with JSON a bit.

If you want to secure AJAX applications, you can pass over this title and stick to the basics:

- Learn and apply holistic, defense-in-depth development principles. A great primer for this is Writing Secure Code, Second Edition.

- Dig deeper into web-specific practices--both development and networking/administration. Although a little outdated (references Windows 2000 a lot), the best book I have seen so far is Improving Web Application Security: Threats and Countermeasures.

- Just remember that AJAX is nothing more than using JavaScript at the client to pull back XML from the server, so your weakest points in your application can be hardened with plain 'ole input validation. Validate at the client to ensure you have a properly assembled HTTP request going out. Validate at the server to ensure incoming variables don't break any rules, and XML encode all user input (preferably using Microsoft's free Anti-XSS library) on the way back to the client to avoid cross-site scripting.

Since Ajax is such a hot subject right now, I thought the book Securing Ajax Applications by Christopher Wells would be a worthwhile read. Unfortunately, that's a very specific title for a book that tries to cover far more ground than just Ajax security. When you get done, you'll have a better idea about web-based software and hardware security from an architecture level. But you'll probably still be wanting a book that specifically covers "Ajax" security.

Contents:
The Evolving Web; Web Security; Securing Web Technologies; Protecting the Server; A Weak Foundation; Securing Web Services; Building Secure APIs; Mashups; Index

The book starts out with the history of HTTP web communication, alternatives that developed over time (like Flash and applets) that would allow e-commerce, and then how Ajax stepped into the fray. All pretty general stuff, and probably already known if you're picking up this book as a means to refine what you already do with Ajax. The chapter on Securing Web Technologies talks about the types of attacks that can be carried out over the web. Again, you've likely covered all this before if you've been programming web apps for any length of time. From there, you learn about browser weaknesses using Microsoft's STRIDE model (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, and Elevation of privileges). As before, it's good information about security, but still not what I would consider Ajax-specific. Protecting The Server gets into how to harden a HTTP server, but the same observation applies... not specific to Ajax. The last few chapters get into more of what I would consider Ajax topics, like web services, mashups, API's, etc. But even then, we're still in a position where the information can be characterized as applicable to far more than just Ajax usage.

I think most of the problem comes down to the title of the book. After all, that's what attracts you to pull it off the shelf and take a look. If the title was more generic, like Securing Web Applications or Web Environment Security, I'd feel that I was getting the content that the author "promised" in the title. But using Ajax in the title appeared to be an attempt to use a hot buzz word for a book that was more general than that.

Okay, first what I liked in this book:
1. not many pages, which means it is psychologically acceptable. ;-)
2. excellent introduction to "web-security" (yeah, that's it).
3. simple, and clear explanation
4. nice introduction to the http protocol!

Now what could be improved?
1. change the title - well, it deals a very little with AJAX, so those who want highly technical stuff on AJAX will be disappointed.
2. nothing. :)

In my opinion, this was the *best* book on web security that I've read. It introduces you firmly to the subject, without pushing you too deep into any particular topic. Advanced readers obviously can build on what is presented here.

-Amarendra

Pros: this book makes a decent primer for intro web sec topics
Cons: Minimal Ajax content, meaning this tome was mis-titled.

Christopher Wells' SECURING AJAX APPLICATIONS makes a startling comment: using Ajax can increase the risks of existing security flaws in a web site. That said, SECURING AJAX APPLICATIONS fixes many problems, showing how to locate dangerous gaps and cover them early on. Basic security techniques and known vulnerabilities are examined in an overview of not just Ajax but the evolving web platform as a whole. Recommended for any library catering to Ajax students and programmers. Libraries will find compact and affordable the fine 'pocket references' produced by O'Reilly.