/ˈoʊwæsp/
n. “The nonprofit watchdog for web application security.”
OWASP, short for Open Web Application Security Project, is a worldwide nonprofit organization focused on improving the security of software. It provides freely available resources, tools, and best practices for developers, security professionals, and organizations to build and maintain secure web applications.
Key aspects of OWASP include:
- Top Security Risks: The OWASP Top Ten is a widely recognized list highlighting the most critical web application security threats, such as injection attacks, broken authentication, and sensitive data exposure.
- Tools & Projects: Provides open-source tools for testing, securing, and monitoring web applications, including ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) and Dependency-Check.
- Guides & Best Practices: Offers documentation, cheat sheets, and frameworks for secure coding, threat modeling, and security testing.
- Community & Education: Hosts conferences, local chapters, and training events to raise awareness and skills in application security.
Conceptually, OWASP acts as both a guidebook and a watchdog for software security, helping developers identify vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Here’s a simple example of using OWASP ZAP to scan a website for vulnerabilities:
# Launch ZAP in daemon mode
zap.sh -daemon -port 8080
# Use ZAP API to scan a target
curl "[http://localhost:8080/JSON/ascan/action/scan/?url=http://example.com](http://localhost:8080/JSON/ascan/action/scan/?url=http://example.com)"
# Retrieve scan status
curl "[http://localhost:8080/JSON/ascan/view/status/](http://localhost:8080/JSON/ascan/view/status/)"In this example, ZAP scans a website for security vulnerabilities using OWASP’s recommended tools and reporting standards.
In essence, OWASP is a global, community-driven organization that provides the knowledge, tools, and frameworks to improve software security, helping prevent breaches and protect users in an increasingly connected world.