CSP Reporting and Monitoring

1. Introduction

Content Security Policy (CSP) is a security feature that helps mitigate certain types of attacks, such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and data injection attacks. This lesson covers the reporting and monitoring aspects of CSP, crucial for maintaining a secure front-end environment.

2. What is CSP?

CSP is a declarative security policy that allows web developers to specify which dynamic resources are allowed to load on their web pages. It is implemented via HTTP headers or HTML meta tags.

Key components of CSP include:

• Directives: Commands that control the behavior of content on a page.
• Sources: Locations from which content can be loaded.
• Report-Only mode: A mode that allows developers to test CSP without enforcing it.

3. CSP Reporting

CSP Reporting allows web applications to collect data about policy violations. This is done using the report-uri or report-to directives.

3.1 Setting Up CSP Reporting

To set up CSP reporting, you need to include the CSP header in your server response. Here is an example:

Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; report-uri /csp-violation-report-endpoint
            

This header tells the browser to report CSP violations to the specified endpoint.

3.2 Handling CSP Reports

Reports are sent in JSON format and include information about the violation. Here’s an example of a CSP report:

{
    "csp-report": {
        "document-uri": "http://example.com",
        "referrer": "http://example.com",
        "blocked-uri": "http://malicious.com/script.js",
        "violated-directive": "script-src",
        "original-policy": "default-src 'self'; report-uri /csp-violation-report-endpoint"
    }
}
            

4. CSP Monitoring

Monitoring CSP helps ensure that your application is secure and that any changes to your CSP policies are tracked effectively. This can be achieved through various methods:

• Log CSP reports to a centralized logging system.
• Set up alerts for specific types of violations.
• Review logs regularly to identify patterns or repeated violations.

5. Best Practices

When implementing CSP Reporting and Monitoring, consider the following best practices:

• Start with a Report-Only policy to understand potential violations.
• Gradually enforce stricter CSP directives based on collected reports.
• Regularly review and update your CSP based on application changes.
• Utilize browser extension tools to test and visualize CSP.

6. FAQ