Application Security Assessments: Key for Modern Enterprise Security
It is no longer enough for companies to just have security measures that prevent hackers from gaining illegal entry into the organizations main computer system. With so many companies using web applications for major business activities, it is important for modern enterprises to conduct risk assessments of web applications and maintain security procedures for all business systems.
In The Mix
Many businesses do not just have third-party software, in-house software or specially designed software for their web applications. Very often it is a combination of these types of software along with open source coding. With this melting pot of programming, web applications are often left exposed. In application security assessment will help determine if the act of combining these different types of software make sure company vulnerable.
Exposure
If you are in a fort in the middle of hostile territory you wouldn’t wait for the enemy to find and exploit your weaknesses. You would send soldiers to scour the fort for any possible points of entry and fortify those areas before the enemy could attack. Your business applications on the Internet are like a fort in the wilderness. The best defense is a good offense. It is better to do an assessment before a vulnerability is exposed and hopefully prevent illegal entry.
Stay Sharp
An application security assessment is important, but once you have determined the health of your web applications, you need to maintain a schedule of regular checkups. Sometimes if your IT department changes or updates your applications than those changes can become vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Information that users input into the online system, especially customers, can also create a point of entry that did not exist before. Conducting routine checks of your web applications will make sure that your web program stays safe. It is also important to update your security software because hackers are always looking for new ways to gain entry and manipulate data. Up-to-date software will have the most recent information available on new viruses and new vulnerabilities.
Dynamics
When you conduct a security assessment for your web application it needs to be done on many different levels. A dynamic analysis is necessary in order to help prevent vulnerabilities that are not exposed with standard security measures.
Inspecting web applications at a code level is also important. If there is unfinished code or code that was entered incorrectly then hackers can find and exploit this vulnerability. Hackers are very patient people and will spend hours using different attempts to enter a system. By doing security inspections on multiple levels you are closing the most doors possible in order to help prevent these people from illegally entering and exploiting your online software.
Modern enterprises need to conduct a security assessment on their online web applications. It is important to make sure that by combining different types of programming the company is not vulnerable to attack. The assessment needs to be conducted on multiple levels, including dynamic analysis and an assessment on a code level. It is also important to make sure the company as always using up to date security software when conducting this analysis. If you haven’t had a security assessment conducted for your web applications or if you have only had one done a while ago, you should consider having another application security assessment from Veracode conducted as soon as possible to protect your business.
