I have a question whether this practice I'm about to describe is
good, unnecessary, or just falls within the "whatever floats your
boat" category.
While I'm well aware of the pitfalls and fallacies of "security by
obscurity," it also seems that after implementing protections against
known attack vectors to abuse insider knowledge of a system, if you
can hide something important, then by all means you should (or at
least _could_).
Specifically, the practice of using database column names verbatim as
web form input fields seems like an unnecessary exposure of something
you'd just as soon not have people know.
Certainly if all vectors for sql-injection are closed, then one can
argue if the schema were published it's of no value. Still, if we
follow the idea of erecting multiple barriers, then a non-published
schema (though a mere obscurity countermeasure) seems prudent to me.
I'm aware that if an app has SQL injection vectors, then fields names
are probably the least of one's worries, but nevertheless, it seems
that for the cost of a simple mapping abstraction, a db's schema can
remain completely unknown.
It seems like such a simple and obvious step to me, yet I never see
it discussed. Every database connected web app example I've ever seen
uses database field names as form input names. Try even searching for
discussions of the topic, and I just don't find any.
What does this tell me? Abstracting table field names is
"unnecessary," but I just can't reconcile myself to that.
Either way I find abstracting the schema to be useful for separation
of UI and logic, but I started doing it for the perceived security
value, and continue to wonder if promoting that value is real or just
smoke.
Looking for educated opinions. <deep_breath> OK, I'm ready to be
vindicated or humiliated :-)
-- greg willits
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsored by: Watchfire
The Twelve Most Common Application-level Hack Attacks
Hackers continue to add billions to the cost of doing business online
despite security executives' efforts to prevent malicious attacks. This
whitepaper identifies the most common methods of attacks that we have seen,
and outlines a guideline for developing secure web applications.
Download today!
https://www.watchfire.com/securearea/whitepapers.aspx?id=701500000008rSe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Aug 15 2007
Intro
