React.js Security Guide : All You Need To Know

• By Ramavtar Sharma
• 06-08-2021
• Technology

Application security is the most important feature to consider while building one for any business. Well integrated security systems in your web application save your entire business from jeopardizing. Still there are cases where businesses neglect the security aspect and land into severe situations. Top web development companies want to minimize the data theft or any type of data loss and for this they look up-to reliable IT service providers who use the latest time-tested technologies such as React.js.

A study conducted by checkpoint states that:

The world daily comes across around 1 lakh malicious sites.

46% of organizations have witnessed malicious mobile app download by at least one employee.

These figures mentioned above portray the extent to which security issues are occurring in the online world and the need for the businesses to adopt data security norms ASAP.

Web development has taken a new turn with React.js. It is the second most JavaScript language when it comes to web development.

Hire dedicated React.js developers for faster web app development.

Why is React.js popular?

React.js is popular among web developers and business owners because:

React.js offers reusable components that help in faster app development and set a consistent look and feel throughout the application.

It contributes a lot in improving the app performance and web page rendering as it has virtual DOM.

The high abstraction layer available in React.js simplifies app development.

React.js supports Flux architecture that simplifies the data flow management.

Redux is a state container that organizes React.js apps and makes them consistent.

React.js supports a wide range of development tools, extensions, and libraries.

How to secure apps developed in React.js

Any application today is highly connected with the internet, hence making is prone to security issues and data leakage. There is abundance of business, customer or employee data on these apps and if it gets leaked, it may lead to complications. While building an app in React.js the developers must focus on the fact that React.js does not have any default security settings. The developer have to pay keen attention towards assuring the data security.

React.js security issues can be:

Untrusted URL schemes;
Broken authentication;
Server-side rendering;
SQL Injections;
Zip Slip;
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).

It is extremely important to attend to the above-mentioned issues in any application. Here are a few solutions to cope up with these in

React.js
Untrusted URL links

React.js security does not avoid the use of links without HTTP or HTTPs protocols. When a user clicks on the link, the hackers activate the script in a browser that may lead to potential threats.

How can you prevent this threat from happening?

avoid JavaScript in their links by making links begin with whitelisted protocol and display HTML entities on a browser;

Reduce use of URL for linking instead use some ID if available.

There are many third-party tools available. Choose a trustworthy one to clean and declutter all the input links

Broken authentication

There are situations when the server side and client side have insecure connection. This gives a gateway to the hackers to penetrate and tamper the data in the systems. The hackers may cause authorization issues by spoiling account data, passwords, session tokens, and other entities.

HTTP basic authentication protocols can be secured in React.js by:

Checking if the domain “WWW” header has a real attribute

Validate for right authentication methods such as the web app must redirect to a 401-status error page in case of failed authentication

The developers must follow multi-factor authentication in today’s web apps

Cloud native authentication can also be an option in ensuring authorization protection

Password checks are important for React.js application development

Server-side rendering

Server-side rendering is done when the content is to be shown to the users. Server side improves app performance and ensures consistent SEO performance. Page rendering is good for some reasons but can impose security threats to the application. This is because while initial page rendering the developers may generate a document variable form a JSON string. This may display any useful data on the web page and lead the hackers to insert malicious code and cause threat to the app.

How to secure your app in case of server-side rendering:

The developers must perform regular checks of the code and identify if and malicious activity is found

Serialize-JavaScript NPM module should be used to avoid rendering JSON.

SQL injections
SQL injections are another type of threat that may harm your React.js apps. The attackers inject malicious SQL codes in the database to change records, delete data or perform other data related problems. React.js developers can avoid such hacks by:

Implementing whitelists and filtering all the inputs

Applying the principle of least privilege to all the accounts when a web app can use only one statement for certain operations

Making different accounts responsible for respective database roles

Utilizing scanners that gauge vulnerability

Conclusion
Businesses today go with trustworthy React js development companies to build their web-based applications. React.js is one of the most used frameworks by React development companies as it promotes faster applications. But still React.js apps are also prone to many vulnerabilities and need security features. Hire React.js developers who have the expertise in security implementation.