Enhancing Web Application Security: An Investigation into Security Patterns

Abstract:

Security patterns offer proven and re usable solutions and best practices for mitigating recurring security related weaknesses in software and system designs and are widely proposed as efficient security mechanisms in enhancing application security. Since its introduction in 1997, several researchers have looked into their classification, taxo nomy and categorization, evaluation/empirical study and enhancement. Many scholars have reported lower adoption of security patterns compared to their counterpart design pattern, pointing to challenges including poor documentation, lack of empirical vali dation, limited contextual adaptation, and difficulty selecting appropriate patterns for specific use cases. This study explores the various security pattern research to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches used and then propos es a research direction in the form of a framework to strengthen their adoption with the overall goal
of enhancing the security of web applications.

Keywords: Security Patterns, Application Security, Web Application