Question

What are the best practices for securing HTML forms against XSS attacks

Answer 1

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks occur when attackers inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users.

To secure HTML forms against XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks, follow these key practices:

• Escape User Input: Convert special characters into HTML entities to prevent execution.
  Example: <script> becomes &lt;script&gt;.
• Validate Input: Use both server-side and client-side validation to ensure only expected data is submitted.
  Example: Allow only numbers for phone numbers or emails for email fields.
• Use Security Headers: Apply HTTP headers like Content-Security-Policy (CSP) to restrict which scripts are allowed.
  Example: Only allow scripts from trusted domains.

Always treat user input as untrusted and sanitize it to block any malicious code from being injected.