Patent ID: 8099787

Claim:
A system for assessing web application security comprising: a knowledge collection and representation component; a knowledge presentation component; a knowledge integration component configured to synthesize knowledge about threats and vulnerabilities to web applications from both experts and end users; and a non-transitory computer readable medium containing the knowledge about threats and vulnerabilities to web applications, wherein the knowledge collection and representation component includes a component configured to organize the knowledge about threats and vulnerabilities to web applications into a standard format which relates said threats and vulnerabilities in a hierarchical manner; and a component configured to rate the vulnerabilities and threats according to a standard rating system, wherein said standard format for relating threats and vulnerabilities is a threat-vulnerability tree which includes a root node and at least one other node which represent the threats or vulnerabilities, wherein the knowledge presentation component includes a web based system configured to present the threat-vulnerability tree in a graphical format, wherein each node in the graphical format of the threat-vulnerability tree includes a link to detailed information including at least one of: a cause-effect relationship between the threat and vulnerability, discovery of threats or vulnerabilities and strategies in creating software which avoid vulnerabilities and protect against threats, wherein knowledge integration component includes a repository system configured to store the detailed information including at least one of: a cause-effect relationship between the threat and vulnerability, discovery of threats or vulnerabilities and strategies in creating software which avoid vulnerabilities and protect against threats, wherein the repository system configured to provide the detailed information when the link of the node in the graphical format of the threat-vulnerability tree is accessed.