Best Practices for Validation 🛡️
Validation is a critical step in ensuring data integrity and security. Here are key principles to follow:
1. Input Validation ⚠️
- Always sanitize and validate user inputs to prevent injection attacks (e.g., SQL, XSS).
- Use whitelisting over blacklisting for safer constraints.
- Example:
2. Output Sanitization 📤
- Escape special characters when rendering user-provided data (e.g., HTML, JSON).
- Avoid directly exposing raw data to the client without checks.
- Example:
3. Business Rule Validation 📊
- Enforce domain-specific rules (e.g., age limits, payment validations).
- Combine server-side and client-side checks for a layered defense.
- Example:
4. Validation Libraries 📚
Use trusted tools like OWASP ESAPI or Express Validator for robust implementation.
For deeper insights into security practices related to validation, check our guide on Security Best Practices.