Web programming problems highlighted by security agency

11:59 14th January 2009

A list of the top 25 programming errors has been complied with help from the US Security Agency.

The coding mistakes can often expose security lapses on websites, leaving them vulnerable to online crime.

Overseeing the collation of different potential pitfalls was the SANS Institute and non-profit national technology resource MITE.

They were helped by the US Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division and IT firms Microsoft and Symantec.

SANS director, Mason Brown, explained that there had been a general consensus among the different parties as to which errors should be highlighted.

"There appears to be broad agreement on the programming errors," he commented.

Continuing: "First we need to make sure every programmer knows how to write code that is free of the Top 25 errors, and then we need to make sure every programming team has processes in place to find, fix, or avoid these problems and has the tools needed to verify their code is as free of these errors as automated tools can verify."

Website design companies do not always have the necessary expertise to ensure the security of addresses.

There are some firms such as Athernet Solutions which do specialise in the security aspect of website design, closing off hacker entry points.

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