The End of Application Security As You Know It
May 4, 2016
The current ‘automating everything’ approach for application security shouldn’t be just replaced. It should be buried down under for greater good.
Think about it.
Why are business owners cautious before making any application changes?
Why are tech teams so indecisive about security, which eventually affects business goals?
Is there a problem with our current security approach? Is it failing us?
I truly believe that startups, new-age growth companies, and digital enterprises cannot survive without changing things, that too frequently. We all are trying to make things simpler, better every day. That doesn’t happen without change, and without ensuring that your security base is covered.
We had been thinking about it at Indusface for a while now. And worked on a solution Total Application Security, which I’ll describe in detail shortly.
Take a Free 14-day Trial for Total Application Security here.
Let’s look at the current app sec issues too.
You Cannot Protect Application from Issues You Don’t Know
It’s not that business owners do not think of security. There have been too many multiple data breaches, security lapses, and DDoS ransom incidents to be ignored.
I think that every company, big or small, is doing something to strengthen Layer 7, but it’s not enough.
A majority of business owners are told to test applications with automated scans while others simply suggested a web application firewall to block attacks. I have two concerns here:
- Has automated testing evolved to a level that it can detect logical issues?
- Is web application firewall smart enough to recognize and block new threats?
You see, the whole ‘automated’ approach to app security is flawed. Problems start when we identify threats as dumb machines and then deploy similar machines to stop attacks.
Often business applications are not attacked by machines, there are intelligent hackers sitting in some part of the world, using automated intelligence, wisely.
We need a similar approach.
Manual penetration testing is the first step towards looking at your weaknesses (read app weaknesses) logically. When security experts, who understand how hackers think and attack websites, test applications for weaknesses, chances are that you will get better results.
Combine that with daily automated scanning reports reviewed by security experts, that’s the base of a solid application security plan.
Applications are Exclusive, Protection Should Be Too
Isn’t every application exclusive?
We change them application frequently. Better user experience, faster payment process, new bonus scheme, an added layer of protection, or just because the competition was doing it. There could be a thousand reasons, but web apps go far away from what we initially wanted them to be, for better or for the worse.
Can we use a one-size-fits-all approach and block attacks on such applications? That’s not how it works.
While a web application firewall is capable of understanding OWASP vulnerability exploitations and blocking such attempts, it’s not enough?
A web application firewall needs to be responsive, repulsive, and adaptive.
Backed those qualities with human intelligence, it can do so much more. Think about registering new attack patterns and blocking them once and for all. Think of custom rules that can block any kind of activity that you find suspicious, rouge IPs or countries you don’t care about. Think of a web application firewall that keeps learning exclusively for your applications.
Change it with Total Application Security
I believed that application security was broken, so we made you a new one.
Allow me to announce the Total Application Security’s availability on Amazon Web Services. It brings you everything that I have talked about and much more.
Now available as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI), Total Application is the industry’s first fully managed web application security that detects, protects, and monitors.
Total Application Security offers web application scanning that detects and reports application-layer vulnerabilities accurately along with web application firewalls to block hacking attempts. The security experts also create custom rules, analyze and block DDoS attacks, maintain zero-false positives, and report incidents in real-time.
Right from the first scan, your applications are dug deep down for weaknesses. These weaknesses are reported to security experts and you, for faster decision-making.
It’s great at blocking attacks too.
Total Application Security blocks hacking attempts with Web Application Firewall. Its rules can be customized to block any kind of suspicious activity. You can request for it at any time.
We call it the ‘end of app sec as you know it’ because of the monitoring advantage. At every level, Total Application Security is managed by a dedicated security team to:
- Test applications manually to uncover security issues related to business logic
- Create custom WAF rules for complex attacks
- Study and block application-layer DDoS protection
- Monitor traffic to rule out the possibility of blocking real visitors and detect new attack patterns
- Integrate it seamlessly with the AWS infrastructure integration
- Provide security recommendations
So, if you’re considering application security at any level, I’d invite you to take an evaluation on the Marketplace and find what value it could add.
