What is OWASP Top 10 in Cybersecurity?

Frameworks & Standards
ByDecipherU Editorial
Version 1.0 · Published April 2026 · Last verified April 2026

OWASP Top 10 is a community-maintained ranking of the ten web application risks that the Open Worldwide Application Security Project sees showing up most often in real assessments. The 2021 edition surfaced broken access control, cryptographic failures, and injection at the top. It is meant as an awareness document, but most application security teams use it as a baseline scope for testing and code review.

Why OWASP Top 10 Matters for Your Cybersecurity Career

The OWASP Top 10 is the de facto checklist for web application penetration tests. Penetration testers structure findings around OWASP categories. Security engineers reference it when building secure code guidelines. It appears on nearly every cybersecurity certification exam and is mentioned in most application security job postings.

Which Cybersecurity Roles Use OWASP Top 10?

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Where OWASP Top 10 is used across DecipherU

3 public surfaces on the platform reference this term in a meaningful way. Sorted by relevance.

OWASP Top 10 is a community-maintained ranking of the ten web application risks that the Open Worldwide Application Security Project sees showing up most often in real assessments. The 2021 edition surfaced broken access control, cryptographic failures, and injection at the top. It is meant as an awareness document, but most application security teams use it as a baseline scope for testing and code review.

The OWASP Top 10 is the de facto checklist for web application penetration tests. Penetration testers structure findings around OWASP categories. Security engineers reference it when building secure code guidelines. It appears on nearly every cybersecurity certification exam and is mentioned in most application security job postings.

Cybersecurity professionals who work with OWASP Top 10 include Penetration Tester, Security Engineer, Security Architect. These roles apply OWASP Top 10 knowledge within the Frameworks & Standards domain.

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