Secure Headers Test

What is the Secure Headers Test Tool?

Domsignal Secure Header Test tool helps you analyze your website's HTTP security headers against OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) recommendations. By simply entering your website's URL, you can quickly identify any missing or misconfigured headers, allowing you to strengthen your site's defenses against common web vulnerabilities.

What are HTTP Security Headers?

HTTP security headers are instructions sent from a web server to a browser, dictating how the browser should behave when handling your website's content. They play a crucial role in protecting your website and its users from various security threats, such as clickjacking, cross-site scripting (XSS), CSRF, and other malicious attacks.

Additionally, you can manage cross-origin resource sharing, control MIME types, and enforce content security policies.

Why OWASP Recommendation Secure Headers Matter?

OWASP is a globally recognized foundation dedicated to improving website security. Their recommendations (OWASP Secure Headers Project) represent industry best practices for web application security. By adhering to OWASP guidelines for HTTP security headers, you demonstrate a commitment to protecting your users and maintaining a secure online environment.

OWASP recommends the following HTTP response headers:

• Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) - the HSTS response header informs browsers to access the website only using HTTPS. Also, it instructs the browser to automatically upgrade it to HTTPS if any future attempts are made to access it using HTTP.
• X-Frame-Options - this response header is used to secure against cross-site scripting attacks that involve HTML iframes. These help to indicate whether a browser should be allowed to render a page in a <frame>, <iframe>, <embed> or <object>.
• X-Content-Type-Options - the header with the nosniff value protects against mime type sniffing, which occurs when a browser interprets text or binary content as HTML. This can lead to cross-site scripting attacks if the web application fails to set a content-type header.
• Content-Security-Policy (CSP) - the CSP response header permits website administrators to control user agent load restrictions, primarily specifying server origins and script endpoints. This helps protect against cross-site scripting attacks. A basic CSP header allows assets from local origins.
• X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies - controls whether certain apps are allowed to load data across domain boundaries, offering a way to restrict cross-domain data loading by those specific plugins.
• Referrer-Policy - the Referrer-Policy header decides the amount of referrer information (sent via the Referrer header) to be included with requests.
• Clear-Site-Data - allows websites to request that browsers clear specific browsing data (like cookies, storage, and cache) associated with the site.
• Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy (COEP) - this header instructs the browser to block a webpage from loading any resources that don't explicitly allow themselves to be embedded from other websites.
• Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy - isolates your website's browsing context from other websites, preventing them from directly interacting with it.
• Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy (CORP) - you can control the set of origins that are empowered to include a resource using the CORP header. It acts quickly against attacks like Spectre as it enables browsers to block a given response prior to entering an attacker’s process. 
• Cache-Control - specifies directives for caching, controlling how and for how long resources can be cached.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when configuring HTTP security headers?

Whenever configuring HTTP security headers, be aware of these common avoidable steps:

• Misconfiguration: A misconfiguration can lead to fundamental root failure, so take care of that!
• Overly strict policies: To avoid obstructing proper actions, you must balance security and usability.
• Lack of regular updates: Stay updated with evolving best practices to address new threats.
• Inadequate testing: Thoroughly test the headers across browsers and platforms for functionality and compatibility using our tool, Secure Header Test, to ensure optimal performance.

How to implement secure headers?

Secure headers implementation depends on the web server or edge technologies you are using.

• To implement in Apache and Nginx, refer to Geekflare guide.
• Use Cloudflare Transform Rules to implement through Cloudflare.
• SUCURI WAF givens you an option to enable additional headers with one click.