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Systematic review of web application security development model

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Abstract

In recent years, web security has been viewed in the context of securing the web application layer from attacks by unauthorized users. The vulnerabilities existing in the web application layer have been attributed either to using an inappropriate software development model to guide the development process, or the use of a software development model that does not consider security as a key factor. Therefore, this systematic literature review is conducted to investigate the various security development models used to secure the web application layer, the security approaches or techniques used in the process, the stages in the development model in which the approaches or techniques are emphasized, and the tools and mechanism used to detect vulnerabilities. The study extracted 499 publications from respectable scientific sources, i.e. the IEEE Computer Society, ACM Digital Library, Google-Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer Link and ISI Web. After investigation, only 43 key primary studies were considered for this review based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. From the review, it appears that no one development model is referred to as a standard or preferred model for web application development. However, agile development models seem to have gained more attention, probably due to the multiple stakeholders that are involved in discussing security viewpoints, rather than a few members of the development team. It appears also that there is consistency in the use of the threat-modeling technique, probably due to its effectiveness in dealing with different kinds of vulnerabilities.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Library Staff of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia for their support in ensuring the success of retrieval process and also the reviewers for their profound support and scrutiny which assisted tremendously towards this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yanbu University College, Yanbu Industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Bala Musa Shuaibu & Abdulkareem Al-Alwani

  2. Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

    Norita Md Norwawi

  3. Faculty of Computer Science and Information, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mohd Hasan Selamat

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  1. Bala Musa Shuaibu
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  2. Norita Md Norwawi
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  3. Mohd Hasan Selamat
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  4. Abdulkareem Al-Alwani
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Correspondence to Bala Musa Shuaibu.

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Musa Shuaibu, B., Md Norwawi, N., Selamat, M.H. et al. Systematic review of web application security development model. Artif Intell Rev 43, 259–276 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-012-9375-6

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