Enhancing Website Usability and Security with ASP.NET Core MVC, API, and MS SQL

Pankaj Mehta

23 Aug, 2023

Making a website more usable and secure using ASP.NET Core MVC, API, and MS SQL Database involves implementing various practices to enhance user experience and protect sensitive data. Below are some practical ways to achieve this:

 Usability Improvements: 

1. Responsive Design: RD principles aim to help provide the best possible viewing experience for a page or piece of content across a large array of devices, while accessibility helps to make content easier for people with certain disabilities to use and navigate.

Ensure your website is responsive and works well on different devices and screen sizes, such as desktops, tablets, and smartphones. 

 Example: Use Bootstrap and media queries in your ASP.NET Core MVC views to create a responsive layout. 

2. Intuitive Navigation: Intuitive design means that when a user sees it, they know exactly what to do. Design an easy-to-use navigation menu and site structure to help users find information quickly.

 Example: Create a navigation bar in ASP.NET Core MVC using Razor views and CSS. 

3. Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): A high-converting call to action must include three key elements: clarity, motivation, and urgency. Clarity means that the CTA should be easy to understand, with a clear and concise message that is easily understood by your target audience.

 Example: Design attractive and prominent buttons with descriptive labels to encourage users to take specific actions. 

4. Minimal and Consistent Design: Keep the design simple, clean, and consistent throughout the website to avoid overwhelming users.

 Example: Define CSS classes for consistent styling and apply them to elements across your ASP.NET Core MVC views. 

Security Enhancements: 

1. Input Validation: Validate all user inputs, both on the client-side and server-side, to prevent common security vulnerabilities like SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks.

 Example: Use ASP.NET Core’s built-in validation attributes and model binding to validate user inputs in the API controllers. 

2. Authentication and Authorization: Implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data and perform specific actions.

 Example: Use ASP.NET Core Identity to manage user authentication and role-based authorization. 

3. Secure APIs: API security also involves using secure communication protocols such as HTTPS to protect data in transit, which is also an important part of web security. However, some unique challenges to API security go beyond web security.

Protect your APIs from unauthorized access and potential attacks by using token-based authentication and rate-limiting to control API usage. 

 Example: Implement JWT (JSON Web Tokens) authentication in your ASP.NET Core API. 

4. Secure Communication: Use HTTPS (SSL/TLS) to encrypt data transmitted between clients and servers to prevent eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

 Example: Configure ASP.NET Core to use HTTPS by obtaining an SSL certificate and enabling HTTPS redirection. 

5. SQL Injection Prevention: Utilize parameterized queries or Entity Framework’s parameterized LINQ queries to prevent SQL injection attacks.

 Example: Use parameterized queries in your ASP.NET Core application when querying the MS SQL Database. 

6. Role-Based Access Control: Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict users’ access based on their roles and permissions.

 Example: Define roles and permissions in your ASP.NET Core Identity system and use them to control access to specific resources.

 By incorporating these usability improvements and security enhancements, your ASP.NET Core MVC, API, and MS SQL Database-based website can provide a more user-friendly and secure experience for your users. Remember to keep your software libraries and frameworks up-to-date to address any security vulnerabilities that may arise over time.