How to Secure Web Forms
Best Practices Checklist
Customer data like personally identifiable and protected health information (PII/PHI), and other sensitive information is frequently uploaded into web forms by customers. To mitigate risks of a exposing this sensitive information, leading to a data breach, compliance violation, or both, it’s critical for businesses to use secure web forms and adhere to web form best practices. Consider the following secure web form best practices to ensure a successful rollout.
1. Demand Web Form Security
Require HTTPS and transport layer security (TLS) for web form data in transit and AES 256 for data at rest. Validate user inputs to ensure only expected and safe data is processed and employ sanitization to remove potentially harmful elements like injection attacks.
2. Implement Advanced Security Measures
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) restricts access to sensitive areas of a website or application. CAPTCHA differentiates between human users and bots, preventing automated submissions. Advanced bot protection solutions analyze user behavior and identify suspicious patterns.
3. Deploy Advanced Authentication Mechanisms
Role-based access controls (RBAC) define roles based on job functions, providing a more granular level of control over who can view or modify web form data. Single Sign-On (SSO) reduces the security risks associated with password-related vulnerabilities.
4. Conduct Regular Audits and Constant Monitoring
Systematically reviewing and testing web forms proactively address security issues before they become critical threats. Audits should cover all aspects of web form security from input validation to encryption practices. Continuous monitoring tools track user interactions, allowing potential threats to be quickly identified and addressed.
5. Practice Data Minimization and Retention
Data minimization strategies like the principle of least privilege (PoLP) ensures that sensitive PII entered in web forms is only accessible to individuals who absolutely need it, limiting the potential attack surface and minimizing inadvertent data exposure. Data retention policies mitigate the risks associated with storing outdated or unnecessary information.
Learn More About Secure Web Forms
To learn more about protecting sensitive content uploaded into web forms, be sure to check out How to Protect PII in Online Web Forms: A Checklist for Businesses.
And to learn more about Kiteworks for securing web forms, be sure to check out Streamline and Secure Form Fill Workflows With Secure Web Forms.