The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws

Hack the planet Web applications are everywhere, and they're insecure. Banks, retailers, and others have deployed millions of applications that are full of holes, allowing attackers to steal personal data, carry out fraud, and compromise other systems. This innovative book shows you how they do it. This is hands-on stuff. The authors, recognized experts in security testing, take a practical approach, showing you the detailed steps involved in finding and exploiting security flaws in web applications. You will learn to:

Defeat an application's core defense mechanisms and gain unauthorized access, even to the most apparently secure applications
Map attack surfaces and recognize potential entry points
Break client-side controls implemented within HTML, Java®, ActiveX®, and Flash®
Uncover subtle logic flaws that leave applications exposed
Use automation to speed up your attacks, with devastating results
Delve into source code and spot common vulnerabilities in languages like C#, Java, and PHP
Know your enemy To defend an application, you must first know its weaknesses. If you design or maintain web applications, this book will arm you with the protective measures you need to prevent all of the attacks described. If you're a developer, it will show you exactly where and how to strengthen your defenses. Additional resources online at www.wiley.com/go/webhacker

Source code for scripts in this book
Links to tools and resources
Checklist of tasks involved in attacking applications
Answers to the questions posed in each chapter
A hacking challenge prepared by the authors