Securing Web Services For Enterprise Applications

By Author: Softweb Solutions
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Web Service which converts your applications into web applications is a method of communication between two devices over a network. It is a program that can be written in any language. This program (i.e., the functionality it implements) is described in a standard XML vocabulary called Web Services Description Language (WSDL). For example, a banking web service may implement functions to check an account, print a statement, deposit and withdraw funds. These functions are described in a WSDL file that any consumer can invoke to access the banking web service.

Web Services are integral for serving information requests to the Mobile Apps. The basic necessity of the Web Services is to help the App to utilize the strong native features of the Smartphone OS and present a wow factor in terms of the User Experience to the Mobile Users. The Web services enable the dynamic synchronization of the updates with the database at the backend and one doesn’t need to update the same into the local database. In the Data Intensive Applications it becomes essential to provide responsive web services that can manage multiple requests from ...
... the users.

Enterprise worldwide is actively deploying service-oriented architecture (SOA) using web services, both in intranet and extranet environments. While web services offer many advantages over traditional alternatives (e.g., distributed objects or custom software), deploying networks of interconnected web services are still key challenges, especially in terms of security and management. Web services can be implemented using different approaches and technologies which need to be secured at the different stages of the response cycle between clients (relying parties such as users or applications) and service providers (companies or divisions within a company exposing web services)

Web services security includes several aspects:

• Authentication: A user’s identity is verified based on the credentials presented by him/her, such as username/password, digital certificate, standard Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) token, or Kerberos token. In the case of web services, credentials are presented by a client application on behalf of the end user.

• Authorization (or Access Control): Granting access to specific resources based on an authenticated user’s entitlements or specific role (e.g., corporate buyer).

• Confidentiality, privacy: Keeping information secret. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or confidential business data could be present in web service request or response messages. Confidentiality of such data can be achieved by encrypting the content of request or response messages using the XML Encryption standard.

• Integrity, non repudiation: Making sure that a message remains unaltered during transit with an authority digitally sign that message; a digital signature also validates the sender and provides a time stamp ensuring that a transaction can’t be later repudiated by either the sender or the receiver.

If you are thinking to get Enterprise Application Development Solutions, select an expert IT consultant having sound knowledge and experience of web service development along with iOS 4 development. You can contact us at info@softwebsolutions.com in case of any query related to Mobile Application development.