This article is devoted to the analysis of security methods in .NET technology, which are key to ensuring the reliability and security of software. The article discusses in detail such security methods as authentication and authorisation, encryption, access control, protection against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks. The article analyses the advantages and disadvantages of each method, emphasising their importance in forming a comprehensive security system for .NET applications. The results of the study confirm that the implementation and use of various security methods is necessary to ensure the highest level of data and resource protection on the .NET platform. This article will be useful for developers and administrators seeking to improve the security of their .NET applications, ensuring their resilience to modern cyber threats.
The purpose of the study is to analyse security methods in .NET technology. The object of research
is the process of analysing security methods in .NET technology. The subject of the study is
security methods in .NET technology. Therefore, the task is to study and compare the security
methods in the .NET technology.
3. Solving the task
.NET is a software development platform developed by Microsoft Corporation that allows
developers to create a variety of applications for different devices and operating systems, as well as
mobile devices, personal computers and cloud services [
The runtime, libraries, and languages are the pillars of the .NET stack. Higher-level components
such as .NET tools and application stacks such as ASP.NET Core are built on top of these pillars.
These pillars have a symbiotic relationship because they were designed and built together by the
same group. In essence, the .NET platform has a different way of packaging and installing. Instead
of being built into the operating system, .NET is compiled from NuGet packages and can be
compiled directly into an application or placed in a folder within the application. This means that
applications can include .NET and co-exist fully on a computer. NuGet is a package management
tool for .NET that has a significant number of packages (hundreds of thousands of packages) that
implement a variety of functionality for many scenarios. Most applications rely on NuGet packages
for some functionality [
Security practices in .NET technology play an important role in ensuring the security and
protection of software developed on this platform. The methods considered include different
approaches to authentication, authorisation, encryption and access control, as well as protection
against different types of attacks, such as XSS and CSRF [
In .NET, authentication and authorisation are achieved through a combination of middleware
components, attributes and configuration settings. The framework provides a flexible and
extensible infrastructure for implementing these security mechanisms, allowing developers to
choose from a variety of authentication schemes and authorisation policies to meet the
requirements of their applications [
Windows Authentication is an authentication method that uses existing user accounts in the
Windows operating system to authenticate to .NET Web applications. This method is convenient
for users because they do not have to enter a separate username and password, as the system uses
the same credentials they use to log in to the operating system. Windows-based authentication is
performed between the Windows server and the client machine, specifically using Active Directory
domain identifiers or Windows accounts for identification1[
Forms authentication uses HTML forms to collect usernames and passwords from users. The
data entered is then checked against your application’s user database [
OAuth 2.0 is a standard authentication protocol that allows web applications to access resources
belonging to other users without having to reveal their passwords. This makes OAuth 2.0 a secure
and convenient solution for authorising users in web applications. It is designed to provide
controlled access to protected resources. OAuth 2.0 issues access tokens to third-party applications
after obtaining the user’s consent. These tokens provide limited access to the user’s resources
hosted on the resource server. The protocol defines different roles, such as client, resource owner,
resource server and authorisation server, and different types of provisioning, such as authorisation
code, implicit, client credentials and resource owner credentials, designed for different types of
clients and scenarios. OpenID Connect (OIDC) is an authentication layer extension to the OAuth
2.0 protocol. While OAuth 2.0 focuses on authorisation, OIDC extends its functionality by adding
an authentication component. One of the key aspects of OIDC is the concept of an ID token, which
is not included in the OAuth 2.0 standard. This token contains information about the user’s identity
and is used in conjunction with an OAuth access token. The OIDC standardises the process of user
identity verification and the mechanisms by which clients can request and receive data about
authenticated sessions and end users [
Role-based authorisation is a method that uses roles to define user access rights to resources.
Users are assigned roles, and each resource is assigned a set of permissions available to each role.
Role-based security can also be used when an application requires multiple approvals to perform
an action. This might be the case in a procurement system where any employee can create a
purchase request, but only a purchasing agent can turn that request into a purchase order that can
be sent to the supplier [
Encryption is an important aspect of web application security, protecting sensitive data from
unauthorised access [
Symmetric encryption uses the same secret key to encrypt and decrypt data. It offers speed and
efficiency, making it ideal for encrypting large amounts of data. In the symmetric cryptography
mechanism, managed classes use a special stream called a CryptoStream. This stream encrypts the
data entered into it. When the CryptoStream class is initialised, a managed stream is used that
implements the ICryptoTransform interface, which corresponds to the cryptographic algorithm,
and the CryptoStreamMode, which determines the type of access to the CryptoStream [
Asymmetric encryption uses a pair of keys: a public key, which can be distributed publicly, and
a private key, which is kept secret. The public key is used for encryption and the private key is
used for decryption. To achieve this goal, .NET provides the RSA class. The RSA class is used to
implement the asymmetric RSA algorithm. The security of the RSA cryptographic method is based
on a computational problem, namely the decomposition of large integers into their prime factors
[
Hashing converts data into a fixed size (hash) using a one-way function. It is impossible to
recover the original data from the hash, making it useful for data integrity and authentication [
Access control is an important part of any web application’s security system. It ensures that
only authorised users have access to certain functions and data. NET provides several access
control mechanisms that allow developers to flexibly configure the security of their applications
[
ASP.NET Membership provides a basic user management and authentication system for Web
applications. It allows you to create user accounts, store user information, authenticate users, and
manage their permissions. ASP.NET Membership includes features such as registering new users,
authenticating registered users with a username and password, recovering passwords, and
managing roles and access permissions. This allows developers to quickly and efficiently
implement an authentication and authorisation system in their Web applications, providing a high
level of security and access control [
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) is a widely used access control model that uses roles and
permissions to determine who has access to what resources. Employees only have access to the
information they need to do their jobs effectively. Access can be based on a number of factors, such
as authority, responsibility and professional competence. In addition, access to computer resources
can be limited to specific tasks, such as the ability to view, create or modify a file1[
Token-based authentication uses tokens to authenticate users. A token is a cryptographically
signed packet of data that contains information about the user and their privileges. A user receives
a token after successful authentication and uses it to access a web application. In the context of
access control, servers use authentication tokens to verify the identity of a user, API, computer, or
other server. Tokens can be physical (such as a USB key) or digital (a computer message or digital
signature) [
WebSocket is a network communication protocol that allows .NET Web applications to
establish two-way connections with a server. The WebSocket protocol in ASP.NET Core provides a
two-way, persistent communication channel over TCP. This connection can be used to send and
receive data in real time, making it ideal for chat rooms, online games, and other dynamic Web
applications. Using WebSockets over HTTP/2 takes advantage of innovative features such as
header compression; multiplexing, which effectively reduces the time and resources required to
send multiple requests to the server [
XSS attacks are a dangerous type of web attack that allows attackers to inject malicious
JavaScript code into web pages that users view. This code can be used to steal confidential
information, redirect users to phishing sites, or perform other malicious actions. In an XSS attack,
an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, usually in the form of a script, on the
client side to another user who is unaware of it. The end user’s browser may execute the malicious
scripts, believing them to be safe, which can result in the malicious scripts gaining access to session
tokens, cookies and other sensitive information stored by the browser and used on the website in
question. These malicious scripts can change the content of HTML pages. The malicious content
that is delivered to the browser usually consists of JavaScript segments, but can also include HTML,
Flash, or any other type of code designed to perform malicious actions. Vulnerabilities that allow
these attacks to occur are common and can occur anywhere a web application uses user input
without encrypting or validating it. NET provides several methods to protect against XSS attacks
that help developers build secure web applications [
The first step in countering XSS attacks is to validate all user input before it is displayed on a
web page. This can be done in a number of ways, including input validation and output encryption.
Input validation involves checking user input for malicious code. If malicious code is detected, the
data is rejected and the user is notified of the error. Input validation involves analysing the data for
compliance with certain criteria. For example, if the user is asked to enter an email address, the
check will include checking for the presence of the “@” symbol and the presence of a domain
name. If the input data is incompatible with these criteria, it will be rejected. Output encoding is
the transformation of user input so that it is not interpreted as HTML or JavaScript code. This can
be achieved using a variety of techniques, such as HTML escaping and JavaScript encoding [
There are many .NET libraries (e.g. the XSS Prevention Library) that are specifically designed to
protect against XSS attacks. These libraries provide out-of-the-box functions for output scraping,
input validation, and other XSS security-related tasks. Anti-XSS Library is a library that provides a
wide range of functions for output scanning, input validation, HTML and URL sanitisation, and
detection and prevention of XSS attacks. OWASP Encoder is a library developed by the Open Web
Application Security Project (OWASP) that provides functions for encoding output in various
formats, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and XML. Microsoft Anti-XSS is a library from
Microsoft that provides functions for escaping output in HTML, JavaScript, and other formats, and
for preventing XSS attacks based on rendered data. These libraries help developers ensure the
security of their applications by automating the process of protecting against potential attacks on
web applications [
HttpOnly cookies are a type of cookie that is sent and received via the HTTP protocol. They are
separate from other types of cookies and cannot be read or modified using the browser’s
document.cookie API. This feature increases your level of security by reducing your vulnerability
to attacks aimed at manipulating cookies through malicious scripts. For example, if an attacker
tries to use XSS to access document.cookie values and send them to a malicious server, the attempt
will fail because HTTP-only cookies cannot be accessed through document.cookie. Furthermore,
attempts to modify or delete HTTP-only cookies will also fail because the browser will ignore such
changes [
Using a Content Security Policy (CSP) helps prevent malicious JavaScript code from being
loaded from untrusted sources that can be used for XSS attacks. A CSP is an HTTP header that
allows .NET web applications to specify which sources (domains, URLs) can load resources (scripts,
styles, images, and so on) on a page. After defining a content security policy, web application
developers can restrict the types of content that can be loaded and executed on a page. This helps
prevent the execution of malicious scripts injected by attackers. The CSP provides several
directives, such as “default-src”, “script-src”, “style-src”, “img-src”, “frame-src” and “connect-src”,
which allow you to configure these restrictions specifically for different types of content3[
of authentication, not suitable for independent web systems
Vulnerable to brute-force and phishing attacks unless additional security measures are taken; risk of password leakage; requires additional configuration
ASP.NET Membership
Authentication
Allows you to include additional user attributes in the authentication token, which allows for more flexible access control; the ability to implement a single sign-on between applications
more user information, such as name, email address, and profile picture;
OIDC simplifies OAuth 2.0 implementation; OIDC uses JWT to protect user information
Safe and reliable; user-friendly; suitable for distributed systems
storage of a shared key for encryption and decryption Higher security because a pair of keys Data exchange speed is reduced is used, one of which remains private compared to symmetric encryption
Flexibility (allows you to set up different access levels for different users); scalability; integration with other .NET components
and permissions; suitable for large systems with many users and resources; to create complex access rules based on various factors
and setup; complex access rules can be difficult to understand and manage; may be overkill for small systems
Can be used with different authentication providers and protocols; suitable for large systems; tokens are digitally signed, which guarantees their reliability; authentication and authorisation are handled separately, making the system more flexible Requires additional configuration and setup; users may need to understand how tokens work; not all websites and authentication providers support token-based authentication
Secure WebSocket protocol
cookies
WebSocket provides low latency; uses fewer resources than traditional HTTP requests, making it more efficient for streaming data efficient for streaming data
WebSocket requires more development knowledge; WebSocket is not compatible with many browsers and servers WebSocket is not compatible with many browsers and servers
14 Input Validation Effective against XSS attacks; easy to implement; can be used to protect different types of data
Using the HttpOnly attribute for support HttpOnly cookies; does not cookies in the browser, which prevents protect against other types of XSS JavaScript from accessing these attacks; may make it difficult to cookies; easy to implement access cookies using JavaScript on the client side
Content- against XSS attacks; can protect against Security-Policy other types of attacks; provides flexible (CSP) control over what resources are allowed to be uploaded to a web page
Analysis of the different authentication methods has shown that each has its own benefits and
limitations. For example, Windows Authentication allows users to be identified using their
Windows account, while Forms Authentication provides more flexibility but requires additional
security attention. Therefore, it has been found that using a combination of different security
methods is the key to ensuring a high level of security for .NET web applications. For example, to
protect against XSS attacks, it is recommended that you use input validation, output encoding,
HttpOnly cookies, and other measures described in this section. In addition, it is important to
continually update and improve security practices based on the latest trends in the field.
To improve security in .NET, it is recommended that you use a comprehensive approach that
combines various security methods, such as authentication, authorisation, encryption, access
control, and intrusion prevention. It is also important to regularly update the software and
components used in the application to fix identified vulnerabilities 3[
Thus, the integration of these protective measures enables the formation of a unified security concept. A comprehensive model for implementing security methods that ensures the creation of a secure web application using .NET technology can therefore be represented as a generalised security function S, which depends on a set of implemented security mechanisms.
S = f ( M 1 , M 2 , ... , M n) where M i is the ith security method (for example, M 1 is Windows Authentication, M 2 is Forms Authentication, …, M 18 is Content-Security-Policy).
Each security method M i is characterised by an individual efficiency E ( M i), which is determined in the range from 0 to 1, where the value 1 corresponds to the maximum possible level of protection.
The effectiveness indicator E ( M i) should be considered as a functional dependence on a set of parameters, among which the key ones are the complexity of implementation and the coverage of vulnerabilities. The complexity of implementation reflects the time, labour and resource costs required to implement the relevant security mechanism, while vulnerability coverage characterises the proportion of potential threats neutralised by this method.
The generalised security level of system S is defined as the weighted sum of the effectiveness of all implemented methods, with the weighting coefficient wᵢ reflecting the relative importance of each method in ensuring a comprehensive protection strategy.
ni S = ∑ wi× E ( M i).
i= 1
The application of this approach provides the opportunity to quantitatively assess the level of security of an information system, which, in turn, contributes to increasing the objectivity of the analysis of its security. In addition, this model makes it possible to identify weaknesses through a comparative analysis of methods with low E ( M i) values, as well as to plan investments in the implementation of individual security mechanisms in a reasonable manner, demonstrating their impact on the overall S indicator.
The security methods considered in .NET technology are key components in ensuring the reliability and security of software. The study analysed and described in detail various security approaches, such as authentication and authorisation using various mechanisms, including Windows Authentication, Forms Authentication, Claims-based Authentication, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect and Role-Based Authorisation. Encryption aspects were also explored, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption and hashing. ASP.NET membership access control, rolebased access control, token-based authentication, and the secure WebSocket protocol were also covered.
Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, but by combining them we can create a comprehensive security system that ensures the highest level of security for .NET software. For example, different authentication and authorisation methods allow us to flexibly adapt the security system to the specific needs of the project, and protection measures against XSS attacks (Input Validation, Output Encoding, XSS protection libraries, HttpOnly cookies, Content Security Policy) and CSRF attacks (Anti-CSRF token, HTTP headers, SameSite cookies) help us to prevent various software vulnerabilities.
Thus, the conclusions of the study confirm that the implementation and use of various security methods in .NET technology is a key element for creating reliable and secure software. Careful analysis and selection of optimal security methods will help ensure the highest level of data and resource protection on the .NET platform, which is critical to the success of any project. (1) (2) Declaration on Generative AI While preparing this work, the authors used the AI programs Grammarly Pro to correct text grammar and Strike Plagiarism to search for possible plagiarism. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and took full responsibility for the publication’s content.