Hi,

As I am creating more web applications that are targeted for multiple users, I figured out that I have to start thinking about user management and security. At a glance and in my ideal world, all users belong to a group. Permissions and access is thus defined per group (and inherited by the users of that group). Logically, I have my group of administrators, which are identified with a level "7" (integer) clearance. A group of webusers have for example level "1". This in generally all works great for me, but I need some kind of list that I have to keep in mind how I secure my system, and some general practices. I am not looking for a specific environment; I want to learn the why's and how's.

An example is privilege escalation. If someone would be able to "push" themselves inside a group with higher privileges, for example the Administration, how can I prevent this, or what measures should I take to have some sort of precaution? I don't like in that case to walk into a caveat.

My question is basically: where can I find a good resource, list, policy, book that explains the security of web applications, the why's, the how's and readable if you don't have any experience in the realm of advanced security?

I prefer a free resource, as I believe I couldn't be the first one who thought about this.

Thank you for your answers, comments and feedback.