Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks are one of the easiest hacks to do, and usually pretty effective merely because developers do not guard against the threat.  It is a pain to have to write Server.HtmlEncode( string ) over and over again, or to go into the DataBindings for a label and customize the DataBinding expression to do this.  So instead we created a SecureLabel label.  It inherits from System.Web.UI.Label and overrides the Render, adding one line to HtmlEncode the label's text.  This way we kept all the designer support for a regular label.

Take the code, put it in a library, and just include the dll in your next project.  You can even add it to your component toolbox in VS.NET, so the next time you need a secure label, you can just drag and drop it on the page.  Here's the code:

using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace NorthropGrumman.APEB.StandardWebControls
{
    ///

public SecureLabel()
{ }

protected override void Render(System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter writer)
{
this.Text = HttpContext.Current.Server.HtmlEncode(this.Text);
base.Render(writer);
}

    }
}