Computer Security – Securing Web Applications
Date: Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Theme: Computer Security –
Securing Web Applications
Time: 6.00 – 8.30pm
Location: Bedford
College, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AH
Summary
For the second time within a few weeks,
Bedford College students were again given the opportunity and,
indeed, privilege to benefit from Geraint Williams’ vast industry
knowledge and experience in the realm of computer security.
At extremely short notice, Geraint, Infrastructure Manager for the
Computer Science and Technology department at the University of
Bedfordshire, agreed to talk to a selected group of part-time
evening class students and Foundation Degree students on Wednesday
15 June. The theme was Web Server Security and Web Scripting
Issues. 
Geraint is an exceptional speaker combining
vast industry and academic experience with the unique ability to
engage and enthral his audience. This was evidenced by the
large number of very relevant and wide-ranging questions that came
from the floor both during and after his talk.
Geraint began by setting the picture and
emphasising the importance of security web applications using the
recent Sony hacking incidents as an example. He then went
back to basics explaining how important it is to start with a good
understanding of the HTTP protocol, cookies and sessions. A
description of common web server security problems was followed by
a detailed explanation of the role of Open Web Application Security
Project (OWASP) and OWASP’s top 10 security errors.
Geraint then covered web server testing
explaining the methodology of penetration testing of web
applications. The ‘nuts and bolts’ of web security and
ethical hacking were covered by considering facets of web server
configuration, and the talk was concluded by summarising a range of
web server security principles. All in two hours!!
“It was a very interesting and intriguing
talk and I was shocked at how unsecure some websites in general
are. It was a definite eye opener!”
Geraint has kindly made the
slides from his talk available for download (PDF 1,609KB).
You can view Geraint Williams’ profile on
Linkedin at http://www.linkedin.com/in/geraintpwilliams