improvements

README.md

@@ -2,46 +2,52 @@
 Checklist of the most important security countermeasures when designing,testing, and releasing your API.
 
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+## AUTHENTICATION
+- [ ] Don't use `Basic Auth` Use standard authentication (e.g. JWT , OAuth).
+- [ ] Don't reinvent the wheel in `Authentication`, `token generating` , `password storing` use the standards.
 
 ## AUTHENTICATION : JWT (JSON WEB TOKEN)
-- [ ] Use random complicated key (JWT Secret).
-- [ ] Force algorithm in the backend (`HS256` or `RS256`). 
-- [ ] Make token expiration (TTL , RTTL) short as possible.
-- [ ] Don't store sensetive data in the JWT payload.
+- [ ] Use random complicated key (`JWT Secret`) to make brute forcing token very hard.
+- [ ] Don't extract the algorithm from the payload. Force algorithm in the backend (`HS256` or `RS256`). 
+- [ ] Make token expiration (`TTL` , `RTTL`) short as possible.
+- [ ] Don't store sensetive data in the JWT payload, it can be decoded easily.
+
 
 ## AUTHENTICATION : OAUTH
-- [ ] Always validate redirect_uri on server side to allow only whitelisted urls.
-- [ ] Always try to exchange for code not tokens (don't allow response_type=token).
-- [ ] Use `state` parameter to prevent CSRF on OAuth authentication process.
+- [ ] Always validate `redirect_uri` on server side to allow only whitelisted urls.
+- [ ] Always try to exchange for code not tokens (don't allow `response_type=token`).
+- [ ] Use `state` parameter with random hash to prevent CSRF on OAuth authentication process.
+- [ ] Define default scope , and validate scope parameter for each application. 
+
 
 ## ACCESS
 - [ ] Limit requests (Throttling) to avoid DDoS / Bruteforce attacks.
 - [ ] Use HTTPS on server side to avoid MITM.
-- [ ] Use HSTS header with SSL to avoid SSL Strip attack.
+- [ ] Use `HSTS` header with SSL to avoid SSL Strip attack.
 
 ## INPUT 
-- [ ] Use proper HTTP method according to operation , GET (read), POST (create), PUT (replace/update) and DELETE (to delete a record).
-- [ ] Validate content-type on request Accept header ( Content Negotiation ) to allow only your supported format (e.g. application/xml , application/json ... etc) and respond with 406 Not Acceptable response if not matched.
-- [ ] Validate content-type of posted data as you accept (e.g. application/x-www-form-urlencoded , multipart/form-data ,application/json ... etc ).
-- [ ] Validate User input to avoid common vulnerabilities (e.g. XSS, SQLI , RCE ... etc).
-- [ ] Don't use any sensetive data ( credentials. Passwords, security tokens, or API keys) in the URL, but use standard Authorization header.
+- [ ] Use proper HTTP method according to operation , `GET (read)`, `POST (create)`, `PUT (replace/update)` and `DELETE (to delete a record)`.
+- [ ] Validate `content-type` on request Accept header ( Content Negotiation ) to allow only your supported format (e.g. `application/xml` , `application/json` ... etc) and respond with `406 Not Acceptable` response if not matched.
+- [ ] Validate `content-type` of posted data as you accept (e.g. `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` , `multipart/form-data ,application/json` ... etc ).
+- [ ] Validate User input to avoid common vulnerabilities (e.g. `XSS`, `SQL-Injection` , `Remote Code Execution` ... etc).
+- [ ] Don't use any sensetive data ( `credentials` , `Passwords`, `security tokens`, or `API keys`) in the URL, but use standard Authorization header.
 
 ## PROCESSING
-- [ ] Check if all endpoint protected behind the authentication.
+- [ ] Check if all endpoint protected behind the authentication to avoid broken authentication.
 - [ ] User own resource id should be avoided. Use `/me/orders` instead of `/user/654321/orders`
-- [ ] Don't use auto increment id's use UUID instead.
-- [ ] If you are parsing XML files , make sure entity parsing is not enable to avoid XXE.
+- [ ] Don't use auto increment id's use `UUID` instead.
+- [ ] If you are parsing XML files , make sure entity parsing is not enable to avoid `XXE`.
 - [ ] Use CDN for file uploads.
 - [ ] If you are dealing with huge amount of data , use Workers and Queues to return response fast to avoid HTTP Blocking. 
 - [ ] Do not forget and leave the DEBUG mode on.
 
 
 ## OUTPUT
-- [ ] Send X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header.
-- [ ] Send X-Frame-Options: deny header.
-- [ ] Force content-type for your response , if you return application/json then your response content-type is application/json.
-- [ ] Don't return sensetive data like credentials. Passwords, security tokens.
-- [ ] Return proper status code according to operation you done. (e.g. 200 OK , 400 Bad Request , 401 Unauthorized, 405 Method Not Allowed ... etc).
+- [ ] Send `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff` header.
+- [ ] Send `X-Frame-Options: deny` header.
+- [ ] Force `content-type` for your response , if you return `application/json` then your response `content-type` is `application/json`.
+- [ ] Don't return sensetive data like `credentials` , `Passwords`, `security tokens`.
+- [ ] Return proper status code according to operation you done. (e.g. `200 OK` , `400 Bad Request` , `401 Unauthorized`, `405 Method Not Allowed` ... etc).
 
 
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