This content originally appeared on Telerik Blogs and was authored by Vyom Srivastava
Let’s take a look at the types of security attacks to watch out for with your Angular app, including XSS and CSRF, and what you can do to secure it.
Angular applications are hot right now. It’s not just Angular—it’s the whole frontend development industry. The security issues are even more important here because you are not just securing the application, but you are also securing the connection to your servers. This blog will show you how to keep your Angular app secure and how to avoid potential vulnerabilities in your app.
Overview of Angular Security and Why You Need It
One of the key features of Angular is its security. Angular uses several security features to protect applications from attacks. For example, Angular uses Content Security Policy (CSP) to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. CSP is a security policy that helps detect and prevent XSS attacks by allowing sources of content to be loaded into a webpage.
Another security feature of Angular is its sandbox. The sandbox is a security mechanism that isolates untrusted code from the rest of the application. This isolation helps to prevent malicious code from accessing sensitive data or damaging the application.
Overall, Angular is a very secure framework for building web applications. However, as with any powerful tool, security vulnerabilities are risky if you do not use them properly. Angular applications can risk security issues if they are not properly secured.
What Are the Different Types of Attacks Your Angular App Can Be Subjected To?
There are a few different types of attacks that your AngularJS app can be subjected to. They include:
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks
This type of attack injects malicious code into your app, which unsuspecting users can execute.
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Attacks
This attack tricks users into submitting illegitimate requests to your app, such as transferring money or changing their password.
SQL Injection Attacks
This attack occurs when malicious input is entered into a form field, which can then be used to execute SQL code on the backend database. This can allow attackers to access sensitive data, modify it or delete it altogether.
Ways to Secure Your Angular App
To protect your app from these and other types of attacks, it’s important to use a secure development process and to keep your dependencies up to date. Here are some best practices to keep in mind.
1. Use XSS Sanitization
One way that cybercriminals can attack your business is through an XSS attack. This is when they insert malicious scripts into a DOM element on your website to steal user data or perform other harmful actions. To protect against this, you must sanitize any untrusted inputs in several places throughout your website or web application. Doing this can make it much harder for attackers to insert malicious code and help keep your users’ data safe.
These are several places you should sanitize:
- HTML (binding inner HTML)
- Style (CSS)
- Attributes (binding values)
- Resources (referring files)
Always make sure to convert any untrusted values an external user provides into trusted values before using them. You can bind the safe value to the inner HTML attribute and pass the HTML string to the DomSanitizer service method. This will help ensure that only trusted values are used within your application.
import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { MyService } from './data.service';
import { DomSanitizer, SafeHtml } from '@angular/platform-browser';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
template: `<div [innerHtml] = "safeValue"></div>`,
providers: [MyService]
})
export class AppComponent implements OnInit {
safeValue: SafeHtml;
constructor(private secure: MyService) {
this.safeValue = this.secure.getSafeHtml("<h1>Sanitization Success</h1>");
}
ngOnInit() {
}
}
Use InnerHtml Property Binding
If you must dynamically add HTML to a component, bind its generation to [innerHTML]. This ensures data will be interpreted as HTML in its context and sanitized, removing all unsafe tags and preventing it from executing
any malicious cross-site scripting code.
<div [innerHtml] = "safeValue"></div>
Avoid Template Engines of Server-Side Templates
There are a few reasons we need to avoid template engines on server-side templates in Angular.
- Template engines tend to be large and complicated, and they can introduce significant overhead into our applications.
- They can make our code less portable because we may need to rewrite our templates if we switch to a different template engine.
- They can make our code less maintainable because we may need to keep track of multiple template engines and their respective configuration options.
Avoid Hazardous Angular API Endpoints
There are many potential hazards when using Angular API endpoints. Endpoints can be overloaded, unavailable or simply incorrect. This can lead to your application breaking or behaving erratically.
To avoid these hazards, it is important to understand the Angular API and how it works. Once you understand the API well, you can start making calls to specific endpoints. If an endpoint is giving you trouble, try a different one. And always test your application thoroughly before deploying it to production.
Don’t Add Customizations in Core Libraries
In the software world, users expect customization, which is one of the amazing aspects of the Angular platform. However, customization in Angular core libraries is generally not a good idea.
By customizing the core libraries, you can become tied to one particular Angular version—after customizing the library, there is no easy way for you to apply patches or update to the latest version without jeopardizing the functionality of your application.
Using a professional component library like Kendo UI for Angular allows you to develop an app styled for your company’s brand in a way that can grow with every new Angular release.
Other Small But Important Points To Remember for Angular Security
- Always update your Angular version.
- Use a strong authentication mechanism.
- Keep your dependencies up to date.
- Use a security-minded framework.
- Use secure coding practices.
- Use an SSL to encrypt communications between your app and the server.
Final Words
In conclusion, following these tips should help you create a more secure Angular application. However, security is an ever-evolving field and no single tip can guarantee absolute security. The best way to stay secure is to stay up to date on the latest security threats and best practices. We hope you find our tips useful. Happy coding.
This content originally appeared on Telerik Blogs and was authored by Vyom Srivastava
Vyom Srivastava | Sciencx (2023-05-01T07:47:02+00:00) How to Secure Your Angular App. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2023/05/01/how-to-secure-your-angular-app/
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