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What type of expert would be appropriate for verifying that an application is secure and implementing any necessary security measures?<br />
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Specifically, I'm concerned about user data being safe and secure, checking for backdoors, and other bugs that can make my application susceptible to penetration. <br />
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The application is built on the Codeigniter framework, using Bootstrap 3.
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What type of expert would be appropriate for verifying that an application is secure and implementing any necessary security measures?

Specifically, I'm concerned about user data being safe and secure, checking for backdoors, and other bugs that can make my application susceptible to penetration. 

The application is built on the Codeigniter framework, using Bootstrap 3.

What type of expert do I need to verify and implement security for my web application?

A vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance. Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw. To exploit a vulnerability, an attacker must have at least one applicable tool or technique that can connect to a system weakness, known as the attack surface. Vulnerability management is the cyclical practice of identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities. Other vulnerabilities include security risks, security defects and constructs in programming languages that are difficult to use properly.

Vulnerabilities

Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it. In an encryption scheme, the intended communication information or message, referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, generating ciphertext that can only be read if decrypted. For technical reasons, an encryption scheme usually uses a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm. An authorized recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key provided by the originator to recipients, but not to unauthorized interceptors.

Encryption

Web applications are systems that run in browsers that perform functions normally associated with other client-based programs. One of the most commonly used web applications is email; instead of downloading individual emails to a local machine, the data is shown through a website. Other examples of web applications are collaborative systems like a wiki or an online game.

Web Applications

PHP is a widely-used server-side scripting language especially suited for web development, powering tens of millions of sites from Facebook to personal WordPress blogs. PHP is often paired with the MySQL relational database, but includes support for most other mainstream databases. By utilizing different Server APIs, PHP can work on many different web servers as a server-side scripting language.

MySQL is an open source, relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. Acquired by Oracle in 2009, it is frequently used in combination with PHP installations, powering most of the WordPress installations.