Application Security Scenario-Based Questions

1. A critical vulnerability has been discovered in a widely used open-source library integrated into your web application. What steps would you take to assess the impact and mitigate the risk while ensuring continuous service delivery?

2. You discover that one of your application’s APIs is exposing sensitive user data due to improper authentication mechanisms. How would you approach resolving this issue while maintaining API functionality for legitimate users?

3. A developer has deployed an application with hardcoded credentials in the source code. When alerted to this issue, they argue that it’s not a major concern because it’s a development environment. How would you address this situation?

4. Your team finds that a previously deployed application is experiencing an increasing number of security incidents. How would you conduct a thorough post-mortem analysis to identify and rectify the underlying security issues?

5. During a security assessment, you find that the application lacks proper session management controls, leading to potential session hijacking. What recommendations would you provide to the development team to enhance session security?

6. A third-party vendor your organization relies on has informed you about a security breach. What steps would you take to evaluate the potential impact on your applications and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements?

7. Your company is launching a new application that processes sensitive financial data. Describe how you would integrate security at each phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for this application.

8. An application has been subjected to repeated denial-of-service attacks that disrupt service delivery. What strategies would you implement to strengthen your application’s resilience against such attacks?

9. You are tasked with developing an application security training program for developers. What topics would you prioritize, and how would you ensure the training is engaging and effective?

10. During a code review, you encounter an application that uses outdated encryption algorithms. How would you communicate the risks associated with this to your team, and what steps would you propose to upgrade the encryption?