Microsoft online security scan software#
Microsoft online security scan free#

To ease more the development and testing of web applications, developers tend to develop specific internal applications that give them privileged access to the web application, databases and other web server resources, which a normal anonymous user would not have.

Microsoft online security scan free#

Such applications could easily be discovered and exploited by a malicious user, by using free available tools on the internet. Because such web applications are in their early development stages, they tend to have a number of vulnerabilities, lack input validation and do not handle exceptions appropriately. It is a common occurrence on the internet to find newer versions of a specific website, or some content which should not be available to the public in directories such as /test/, /new/ or other similar sub directories. Since it is easier and faster for a developer to develop a newer version of a web application on a production server, it is quite common that development and testing of web applications are done directly on the production servers itself. Separate development / testing / production environment It is also very important not to use public computers or public networks to access corporate servers remotely, such as in internet cafГ©вЂ™s or public wireless networks. Remote access should also be restricted to a specific number of IPвЂ™s and to specific accounts only. Using security tokens and other single sign on equipment and software, is a very good security practice. If remote access is needed, one must make sure that the remote connection is secured properly, by using tunneling and encryption protocols. Remote accessДЄlthough nowadays it is not practical, when possible, server administrators should login to web servers locally. Switching off unnecessary services will also give an extra boost to your server performances, by freeing some hardware resources. Switch off all unnecessary services and disable them, so next time the server is rebooted, they are not started automatically. The more services running on an operating system, the more ports will be left open, thus leaving more open doors for malicious users to abuse. In a typical default installation, many network services which wonвЂ™t be used in a web server configuration are installed, such as remote registry services, print server service, RAS etc. Remove Unnecessary ServicesДefault operating system installations and configurations, are not secure. Below is a list of tasks one should follow when securing a web server. Therefore one must take some necessary steps in order to increase web server security.

Microsoft online security scan software#

Irrelevant of what web server software and operating system you are running, an out of the box configuration is usually insecure. Long hours of research and an overdose of coffee and take away food, can save you from long nights at the office, headaches and data breaches in the future. Your companyвЂ™s security is as strong as its weakest point.ДЄlthough securing a web server can be a daunting operation and requires specialist expertise, it is not an impossible task. If you have a secure web application and an insecure web server, or vice versa, it still puts your business at a huge risk. Securing a web server is as important as securing the website or web application itself and the network around it. Web servers are one of the most targeted public faces of an organization, because of the sensitive data they usually host. Various high-profile hacking attacks have proven that web security remains the most critical issue to any business that conducts its operations online.