Our interactions with the family, community, business and government is increasingly becoming digital and powered by cloud based applications. For example whether we are growing our professional network on LinkedIn or interacting with friends on Facebook or making an announcement on X or paying bills through internet banking or filing income tax returns or interacting with a colleague through email, all of it are driven by applications whether on cloud or edge or on-premise. Lastly due to social distancing during Covid-19 period, digital adoption has further accelerated. This has led to exponential increase attack surface from bad actors. Hence this makes application security (or AppSec) a key component of cybersecurity.
AppSec covers technology, tools, cybersecurity best practices to identify, prevent, and mitigate cybersecurity risks in applications.
Contrary to misconception, AppSec is not a one-time project or effort; it’s a continuous process throughout the lifecycle, from conception to design to development to deployment and on-going maintenance.
Why is Application Security Important?
There could be catastrophic impact on the organisation by ignoring the AppSec. The cybersecurity incidents such as data exfiltration, unauthorized access, malware and ransomware etc are just a few of the threats that can severely impact organisation, damage reputation, severe regulatory penalties, and finally loss of revenue or market share.
The following reasons but not limited to make why AppSec is critical:
- Regulatory Requirements:Increasingly countries are enacting data protection and cybersecurity laws that mandate security measures for applications that handle sensitive data.
- Data Protection:Applications increasingly handle sensitive information like financial data, personal details, and intellectual property.
- Ever Advancing Threats:With usage of Generative AI, cybercriminals are increasingly developing advance techniques to break existing security measures.
- Digital Adoption:Our increasingly dependence on digital makes them prime targets for cybercriminals.
- Third Party Integrations: These days applications are integrated with numerous components and third party APIs or applications. These integrations could make it difficult to identify and address vulnerabilities throughout entire supply chain.
- Product Development: The agile methodologies promote speed and efficiency, but that makes security taking back seat or totally ignored.
The Application Security Layers
The AppSec is increasingly becoming vast and fast changing. The key layers of AppSec are:
- Secure Development Life Cycle:Integrating security best practices into every stage of the development process is critical not good to have. This includes cybersecurity risk assessment, code reviews, secure coding practices, and vulnerability assessment.
- Security Testing:Security testing such as static analysis, dynamic analysis, and vulnerability and penetration testing (VAPT) are increasingly used to identify vulnerabilities and attack surface.
- Awareness and Training:Regular cybersecurity awareness and training and senior management commitment make all stakeholders security-conscious.
- Tools:A range of tools are available to automate security testing, manage vulnerabilities, and provide real-time security posture.
Common Application Security Vulnerabilities
Applications are often prone to common vulnerabilities. It is important to understand and mitigate such common vulnerabilities. Here are some of the most widespread ones:
- SQL or Script Injections:These vulnerabilities allow attackers to inject malicious code into an application, often through user input forms. Examples include SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
- Broken Authentication:Weak authentication practices like poor password and insecure password storage can grant unauthorized access.
- Broken Authorization:Poor access controls can allow users to access functionalities or data they shouldn’t.
- Security Misconfigurations:Improper configuration of applications, servers, and databases can create security holes.
- Insecure Direct Object References:These vulnerabilities expose sensitive data by allowing attackers to manipulate references to objects within the application.
- Use of Known Vulnerable Components:Applications that rely on outdated or insecure libraries and frameworks inherit their vulnerabilities.
- Cross-Site Request Forgery:CSRF attacks trick a user’s browser into performing unauthorized actions within a trusted web application.
- Insure Design: It calls for more use of threat modeling, secure design patterns and principles, and reference architectures.
- Server-Side Request Forgery: This is the scenario where the security community members are telling us this is important, even though it’s not illustrated in the data at this time.
OWASP’s Top 10 Web Application Security Risks is a good source to understand most common risks.
Best Practices for Application Security
Here are some best practices to strengthen your application security posture:
- Prioritize Security in the SDLC:Embed security considerations throughout the entire development process.
- Implement Secure Coding Practices:Developers should follow secure coding guidelines to avoid common coding errors that introduce vulnerabilities.
- Regularly Conduct Vulnerability Assessments and Pen Testing:Proactively identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
- Stay Updated on Security Patches:Promptly apply security patches to application frameworks, libraries, and operating systems.
- Implement Secure Authentication and Authorization:Enforce strong password policies, multi-factor authentication, and least privilege access controls.
- Regularly Monitor and Log Application Activity:Monitor application logs for suspicious activity and potential security incidents.
- Educate Developers and Users:Security awareness training for developers and users can significantly improve overall security posture.
Conclusion
Application security is a 24 x 7 process, not a one-time activity or IT project. Organizations can significantly reduce the cybersecurity risks and protect personal and business data by implementing a robust AppSec framework that consists of secure development practices, thorough security testing, and ongoing monitoring.