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Another consideration for protecting service based architectures is the issues related to transactions. The appeal of SOA is the benefit derived in enabling inter-enterprise transactions. However, this raises a number security related issues to consider. I'll just touch a couple here.

1. Inter-enterprise transactions may traverse intermediate segments that are untrusted. For instance, an insurance broker will provide best quotes by querying partner insurance companies. In this process, the requests to multiple partner companies may traverse untrusted segments, either at the partner's site or through the service providers' network.

Proposed Countermeasure: Audit the entire business process, not simply the enterprise entity. Also, use SSL for the transport layer and encrypt XML at the message layer.

2. In a multi-hop transaction, what is often neglected is the security of transient data at intermediate points. Attention is often given to secure applications, databases, etc... but not transient data found in persistent message queues or temporary cached files. These can often expose vital proprietary info or provide information that may lead to other exposures. It's the hidden, back door of web services security and we need to pay attention to it.

Proposed Countermeasure: Audit the intermediary sources of transient data such as persistent message queues, config files, caches. Enforce encryption for the transient data if possible (it isn't always possible).

We'll get to XML based attacks next...

Posted by andreyee in web services security |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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