Defensive Design New

Described how a range of sorting algorithms can be used in programming.

Past

Discuss the importance of defensive design when developing computer programs.

Compare the effectiveness of defensive design methods.

Present

Future

Careers: Software Maintenance, Software Security Developer.

Defensive design is ensuring that software which is being developed, does not have any security flaws which nay impact on the quality and use of the final product. This can be done through validation and authentication.

Defensive Design

If we do not consider defensive design in our program code this can lead to:

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Impact

• The program not functioning as it was originally intended to.

• Leaving personal and private data vulnerable to hackers, potentially breaking the GDPR

Input Validation

Input validation is used to ensure that the data entered matches a certain criteria. For example a type check will limit the data type that can be used or casting can convert the data type. There are numerous methods of validation that can be used:

Lookup validation

Lookup validation checks the data entered against a list of acceptable values, there are two methods that can be used:

Confirming the identify of a user before accessing features of the program.

Captcha forms can be used to prove that the user is a human and not a bot.

2 Factor authentication can be used as an additional layer of security, where you enter login information, then you must enter a code sent by email or text.

Finally you can insist on users setting strong passwords or limit attempts to access account.

Authentication

Input Sanitisation

This method is used to strip data of unwanted characters during data entry. Some characters can reveal sensitive information or hackers can try to exploit input fields to reveal data stored in a database.

For example removing any unnecessary spaces or characters that might be used in a SQL injection attack.

The .strip() command can be used in programming to remove these characters.

Computer Task:
A doctors surgery has started to use a new online platform that allows their patients to login and book appointments as well as view their medical records.

Create a PowerPoint to inform the doctors surgery of the defensive design techniques they will need to use to protect their patients data and the potential impact if they do not use any of the techniques you have outlined.

Complete all the questions on the work sheet.