How To Scan and Validate Image Uploads in Java

Direct image upload processes create a highly efficient path between client-side users and a website’s underlying file storage instances, significantly benefiting both ends of the client/web service relationship. Due largely to the ever-increasing availability (and affordability) of cloud storage resources for independent developer projects and small business ventures, we see the option to upload our own image files more and more frequently everywhere we look online, growing in tandem with steady demand for new forms of social engagement and commerce.

The trouble is, however, that file upload security is a very serious issue – and image files are rather easily exploited by client-side threat actors. Image files aren’t unique in this respect, of course (many common file formats including PDF, DOCX, etc., for example, can house a variety of hidden threats), but their monumental value on the internet – a mostly visual platform – sets them apart as one of the more expedient vessels for malicious content.