Cincinnati

Welcome to the Cincinnati OWASP Local Chapter. The chapter leader is Marco Morana. The OWASP chapter meetings are free and open to anyone interested in application security. We encourage members to give presentations on specific topics and to contribute to the local chapter by sharing their knowledge with others. Prior to participating with OWASP please review the Chapter Rules.

To join the chapter mailing list, please visit our mailing list homepage. The list is used to discuss the meetings and to arrange meeting locations. You can also review the email archives to see what folks have been talking about. Please check the mailing list before coming to a meeting to confirm the location and time and to catch any last minute notes.

Upcoming Meetings
When: Tuesday, September 30

What: Input Validation Vulnerabilities, Encoded Attack Vectors and Mitigations

Who: Marco Morana (TISO Citigroup) & Scott Nusbaum (Security Analyst Citigroup)

Abstract: Input validation vulnerabilities in web applications can be exploited with attack vectors to cause business impacts such as information disclosure, data alteration and destruction, denial or degradation of service, financial loss fraud and reputation brand damage. Several web applications today have implemented filtering techniques to block such attack vectors; unfortunately such filtering techniques are seldom based on black lists that fail when attackers use filter evasion techniques such as single and double encoding. This presentation will cover the basic understanding of attack vectors, the malicious payloads that can be carried out and the techniques used by attackers to evade input validation filters. Lists of different variations of encoded XSS attack vectors and constructed SQL injection vectors will be presented. From the defensive perspective, these lists can be used as cheat sheets for testing the efficacy of the input filtering techniques. A demonstration of a sample implementation of effective input validation using J2EE struts framework is also presented. During the presentation, web application developers and architects will be introduced to the concepts of canonicalization, encoding and sanitization and guided on the most effective input validation strategies and techniques as well as on the best use of available input validation resources from OWASP.


 * Location / Venue Sponsor: Citibank 9997 Carver Road, Bldg. 1, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45242-5537
 * For help with directions contact Citi Blue Ash help desk at (513) 979-9000 or check directions herein.
 * Please access the building from the visitor lobby. OWASP meetings are held at the "Buckeyes" lecture room.


 * Agenda
 * 12:00 - 12:15 Peer-to-Peer Networking
 * 12:15 - 12:30 OWASP Cincinnati Chapter Update
 * 12:30 - 1:30 Presentation


 *  RSVP is required to attend the meeting.
 * Citi guards verify that you pre-registered to the meeting by checking the RSVP list. Once you are checked and identified (please bring a proof of ID) you will be granted visitor access to the training facilities.


 * If you plan to attend the meeting please RSVP to [mailto:marco.m.morana@gmail.com Marco Morana]

Incoming Meetings Calendar

 * September 30: Encoded attack vectors: threat and countermeasures  Marco Morana & Scott Nusbaum
 * October 22: Phishing  Blaine Wilson
 * What:This presentation will be covering the current trends in phishing and will establish counter measures the corporation can take both from an application development perspective and the user awareness training.
 * Where:Great American Insurance Group, 580 Walnut Street Cincinnati, OH 45202

The meeting will be on the 14th floor in the Town Hall Room


 * November 25: Web Application Hacking for Web Developers Foundstone Consultant Presentation 


 * We look for presenters/contributors for the coming OWASP meetings. A presenter will receive a polo OWASP shirt and is entitled to become member of the local board. If you would like to present a topic, or if you wish to held the meeting at your company premises please send an email to the [mailto:marco.m.morana@gmail.com chapter leader].

August Meeting

 * The OWASP Enterprise Security API (ESAPI) Joe Combs, Staff Consultant, SEI-Cincinnati LLC
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * Security controls are central to developing secure applications, yet few development teams code them properly (if they code them at all!). The OWASP Enterprise Security API (ESAPI) provides a set of well defined interfaces for doing security "right" within your application and provides a reference implementation of these interfaces.  ESAPI handles difficult tasks such as validation, encoding, encryption, and more.  This presentation will provide a guided tour of ESAPI capabilities and recommended usage to combat the most pernicious vulnerabilities.

July Meeting

 * Building Security Into Applications - Marco M. Morana, TISO Citigroup 
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * What is the best way to start a software security initiative within your organization? First you need to present the business case to the management in terms of costs, threats and root causes. Subsequently you need to provide a roadmap. The first step of the roadmap is to evaluate the maturity of secure software development processes, tools and training. The next step is to adopt a framework for software security activities, software development and risk management processes: software security enhanced process models such as MS SDL, OWASP CLASP and Cigital TP are examples of security engineering frameworks that can be used. Software security activities such as threat modeling, secure code reviews and security testing work as checkpoints to validate software artifacts and manage software security risks. Finally data such as vulnerability metrics and process management metrics helps to manage and optimize the software security processes in the long term and show the effectiveness of the software security initiative to the organization.

June Meeting

 * SQl Injection - Dr. James Walden, Northern Kentucky University
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * Hackers use injection attacks to bypass firewalls and take control of web applications so that they can grab sensitive data or use the site to distribute malware to users. While the most common type of this attack is SQL injection, injection attacks can target any interpreter used by the web application, including ASP, LDAP, PHP, shells, SMTP, SOAP, and XPath. This talk will demonstrate step by step how injection attacks work and show how to eliminate injection vulnerabilities with secure programming techniques.

May Meeting

 * Cross Site Request Forgery Vulnerability In Depth Dive In - Marco M. Morana, Technologist/Author, TISO Citigroup
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * CSRF vulnerabilities can be exploited to perform un-authorized transactions on behalf of a logged in user by exploiting the trust between the browser session and the web application. Such un-authorized transactions include transfer of funds in an on-line banking application, denial of service through forced logout, data tampering and information disclosure as well as un-authorized access. The in-depth session will cover how and where CSRF happen, how can be identified (e.g. tested for) and prevented with the adoption of effective countermeasures. OWASP documentation will be covered in detail as well as CSRF tools such as CSRF guard

April Meeting

 * The New Face of Cybercrime Movie Premiere And Follow Up Discussion.
 * Major Bruce C. Jenkins, (USAF, Ret.)- Security Practice Director at Fortify Software Inc.

Meeting Sponsor http://www.owasp.org/images/4/4b/Fortify_1.jpg


 * The revealing documentary features candid interviews with criminal hackers and those industry executives taking steps against their persistent attacks. Learn the shocking exposure of IT systems and how to address the changes.

March Meeting

 * Source Code Reviews and Open Source Static Analysis Tools - Allison Shubert, Security Specialist, Citigroup
 * Static analysis is the process of analyzing software for security vulnerabilities. Static analysis can be a costly and time consuming process, but is a link in the chain for producing secure software.  Join us as we explorer building a business case for static analysis and review the current open source static analysis tools.


 * An Introduction to Web Proxies - Blaine Wilson, Technology Information Security Officer, Citigroup
 * Web proxies will be explained and the group will be shown how to install and configure WebScarab. WebScarab operates as an intercepting proxy, allowing the operator to review and modify requests created by the browser before they are sent to the server, and to review and modify responses returned from the server before they are received by the browser.  The presentation will include several examples of intercepting, reviewing and modifying HTTP requests and responses.

February Meeting

 * OWASP Top Ten Vulnerabilities and Software Root Causes: Solving The Software Security Problem From an Information Security Perspective - Marco Morana (Citigroup, TISO, OWASP Chapter Leader, Security Blogger)
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * Before to diagnose the disease and provide the cure a doctor looks at the root causes of the sickness, the risk factors and the symptoms. In case of application security the majority of the root causes of the security issues are in-secure software, the risk factors can be found in how bad the application is designed, the software is coded and the application is tested and the symptoms in how the application vulnerabilities are exposed. The presentation will articulate the problem of secure software, the costs, the software security risks and how these are typically dealt with by most organizations. Solving the problem of software security requires people, process and tools. From the information security perspective we will look at ways to enforcing software security by looking at risks that threat agents (attacks) can exploit vulnerabilities due to insecure software and the resulting impact on company assets. Implementing a set of software security requirements is the best place to start to address the root causes of web application vulnerabilities. With a categorization of web application vulnerabilities as weakness in application security controls, it is easier to describe the root cases as coding errors. A good place to start documenting software security requirements is the OWASP Top Ten, for each of these vulnerabilities we will discuss the threat, the risk factors, the software root causes of the vulnerability, how to find if you are vulnerable and if you are which countermeasures need to be implemented.

January Meeting

 * Introduction to OWASP- Marco Morana (Citigroup, TISO, OWASP Chapter Leader, Security Blogger)
 * The presentation is available herein.


 * OWASP plays a special role in the application security ecosystem, is vehicle for sharing knowledge and lead best practices across organizations. As an example OWASP is a community of people passionate about application security. We all share a vision of a world where you can confidently trust the software you use. One of our primary missions is to make application security visible so that people can make informed decisions about risk. OWASP is the most authoritative and resourceful application security organization to share and open source tools, documents, basic information, guidelines, presentations projects worldwide. The OWASP Top Ten list includes a reference for most critical web application security flaws compiled by a variety of security experts from around the world. The list is recommended by U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency and is adopted by Payment Card Industry (PCI) as a requirement for security code reviews.Through OWASP you’ll find a rich community of people to connect through mailing lists, participating in the local chapters, and attending conferences. The people involved in OWASP recognize the world’s software is most likely getting less and less secure. As we increase our interconnections and use more and more powerful computing technologies, the likelihood of introducing vulnerabilities increases exponentially. Whatever the internet becomes, OWASP can play a key role in making sure that it is a place we can trust. This meeting will provide an opportunity to meet local OWASP affiliates and members and know more about how to contribute to OWASP.


 * Webgoat and Webscarab Security Tools Use Cases - Blaine Wilson (Citigroup, TISO)


 * The presentation will show how to use popular OWASP tools such as Webscarab web proxy and Webgoat to learn about common security vulnerabilities in applications

Cincinnati OWASP Chapter Board Members
Scope of the board is to discuss and approve local activities, meetings and plans.The board meets informally on the by-weekly basis every other Friday at 7.30 AM at Panera Bread in Blue Ash Directions

The board currently includes the following members:  
 * Chapter Leader: [mailto:marco.morana@owasp.org Marco Morana]
 * Vice Chapter Leader: [mailto:allisonshubert@yahoo.com Allison Shubert]
 * Secretary: [mailto:blainekwilson@msn.com Blaine Wilson]
 * Chairman of the Board: [mailto:wayne@quirksofart.com H. Wayne Browning]
 * Public Relations: [mailto:aerickson@lucruminc.com Andy Erickson]

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