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AppSec - value proposition

Why is AppSec important?

With the increasing number of applications developed and used today, mainly through cloud technologies, organisations face more complex cyber threats. As a result, application security measures are integral for protecting assets and sensitive data and reducing the possibillity and impact of a successfully cyber opeartion through an application-related attack.

Organisations need to adopt application security for several reasons, including:

  • Protecting sensitive data: Applications often handle sensitive data such as personal information, financial data and intellectual property. A security breach in an application can lead to this data being compromised, resulting in financial loss, reputational damage, or legal liability.
  • Preventing cyber attacks: Application security helps build protection around applications to make it harder for attackers to access systems and exploit vulnerabilities, reducing the likelihood of a cyber attack.
  • Compliance with regulations: Securing applications enables organisations to stay compliant with regulations to avoid fines, legal action, or loss of business due to gaps in their security measures.
  • Maintaining business operations: Organisations rely on many software applications to run their operations. Protecting their applications can reduce the risk of business disruptions and build trust in their software security.
  • Building customer trust: Applications store large volumes of data that can contain sensitive customer information. Organisations prioritizing application security can increase protection against data breaches, increasing customer trust and loyalty.

The value of AppSec

The value of integrating application security (AppSec) throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

  • Reduced Risk of Vulnerabilities: - Proactive identification and remediation of security flaws early in the development process significantly reduces the chance of vulnerabilities making it to production. This lowers the attack surface and protects sensitive data.
  • Cost Savings: - Fixing vulnerabilities early is far cheaper than patching them after deployment. Early detection helps avoid costly incidents like data breaches, which can lead to hefty fines, reputational damage, and operational downtime.
  • Improved Software Quality: - Building security into the core of the development process leads to more secure and reliable software overall. This enhances user trust and satisfaction.
  • Faster Development: - Integrating AppSec tools and processes into the SDLC doesn't slow down development; instead, it streamlines it. Automating security checks and baking them into CI/CD pipelines catches issues early, preventing delays caused by last-minute vulnerability fixes.
  • Compliance: - Many industries have strict data security regulations. Following AppSec best practices within the SDLC ensures compliance with these regulations, reducing legal risks and potential penalties.
  • Competitive Advantage: - Building a strong security posture demonstrates a commitment to data protection, which can be a significant differentiator in today's security-conscious market.

In essence, AppSec within the SDLC is a proactive approach that saves time, money, and reputational damage, ultimately leading to more secure and successful software.

AppSec artifacts

Application security artifacts encompass various elements that document and support the security posture of your software throughout the development lifecycle. Here are some key types:

  • Security Requirements Documents:
  • Threat Models: These documents outline potential threats and vulnerabilities that the application might face, along with mitigation strategies.
  • Security Architecture Diagrams: These diagrams visually represent the application's security controls and data flow, illustrating how sensitive information is protected.
  • Secure Coding Guidelines: These documents provide developers with specific coding practices to follow, promoting secure coding habits and reducing the likelihood of introducing vulnerabilities.
  • Security Testing Results:
  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Reports: These reports detail vulnerabilities identified through automated scans of the source code, highlighting potential weaknesses.
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Reports: These reports outline vulnerabilities discovered through simulated attacks on the running application, showcasing potential exploitation points.
  • Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) Reports: These reports capture vulnerabilities identified during live application testing, providing insights into runtime behavior and potential attack vectors.
  • Security Policies and Procedures:
  • Incident Response Plans: These plans outline the steps to take in case of a security breach, ensuring a swift and coordinated response to minimize damage.
  • Vulnerability Management Policies: These policies define the processes for identifying, prioritizing, and remediating vulnerabilities within the application.
  • Data Security Policies: These policies establish protocols for handling sensitive data, including access control, encryption, and data loss prevention measures.
  • Additional Artifacts:
  • Penetration Testing Reports: These reports detail the findings of manual security assessments conducted by penetration testers, providing a comprehensive overview of exploitable weaknesses.
  • Security Code Reviews: Documentation of code reviews conducted by security experts, highlighting potential security flaws and recommendations for improvement.
  • Security Training Records: Records of security awareness training provided to developers and other personnel involved in the software development process.

These artifacts serve as tangible evidence of the effort put into securing the application, demonstrating compliance with security standards and regulations. They also provide valuable insights for continuous improvement of the software's security posture.

What are the consequences of inadequate application security?

Application security is a crucial aspect of overall cybersecurity because applications often serve as the primary entry point for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities and gain unauthorized access to confidential data. Some of the most severe consequences of inadequate application security include data breaches, legal implications due to violating laws and regulations, financial loss, system downtime, reputational damage, and disruption of business operations resulting from security incidents.

Inadequate application security makes it challenging for organisations to gain complete visibility of their attack surface and maintain a strong security posture, putting them more at risk of application-related attacks. Without proper protection and practices, attackers can easily access, exploit or manipulate applications to carry out an attack.

Examples - consequences of inadequate application security :

  • Data breaches
  • Cyber attacks
  • Regulatory fines
  • Legal implications
  • Financial loss
  • Reputational damages
  • System downtime
  • Disruption of business operations

To mitigate these consequences, organisations must adopt measures that protect their application throughout the entire software lifecycle – from design to deployment and onward. Such practices include conducting application security testing to ensure that applications are adequately protected and functioning, regular cyber risk assessments to determine critical risks across the network, continuous vulnerability scans and penetration tests, deploying fixes to close security gaps and evaluating application security controls to improve protection.

What are the most common cyber attack vectors in the context of application security?

Cyber attack vectors are the methods or ways an adversary uses to breach or infiltrate an entire network or system. Adversaries use various vectors to orchestrate cyber security attacks on applications, with the most common being:

  • Phishing attacks: Phishing attacks are fraudulent emails or messages designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information, passwords, personal data, or downloading malware. An example of a phishing attack within an application is credential phishing, where users are directed to fraudulent login pages that mimic legitimate application interfaces.
  • Malware attacks: Malware is an attack where software takes over a system and performs malicious activity like stealing sensitive information or taking control of the network. Malware attacks in applications involve injecting malicious code into the application’s source code or database or Trojan Horse, where attackers disguise malware as legitimate software components within the application.
  • SQL injection attacks: SQL injection attacks involve inserting malicious SQL code into a software application’s input field, allowing attackers to view or modify the database, leading to unauthorized access to data.
  • Malicious Insiders: Malicious insider attacks involve manipulating individuals within a company into revealing sensitive information or performing actions that can compromise a system or application. This form of attack can disrupt or sabotage application functionality, lead to authorized changes within the software and introduce vulnerabilities to the application’s code or configuration.
  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks: DDoS attacks involve flooding an application’s servers or infrastructure with massive volumes of malicious traffic, overwhelming it with resources and causing disruptions to its availability.
  • Password attacks: Password attacks employ methods to guess or crack passwords, such as brute-force attacks, credential stuffing and keylogging, to gain unauthorized access to a system or application.
  • Misconfiguration attacks: Misconfiguration attacks in applications refer to when the software and its underlying infrastructure are not properly configured, resulting in security gaps that can lead to data exposure or system compromise.
  • Missing or Poor Encryption: Missing or poor encryption in software applications refers to using weak or inadequate encryption methods to protect sensitive data, including credentials being transmitted either in plaintext or using weak cryptographic ciphers or protocols.
  • Weak or Stolen Credentials: Weak or stolen credentials within applications refer to using weak or easily guessable passwords or other credentials, making it easier for attackers to gain unauthorized access to applications and the sensitive data they store.

What - Application Security Testing

Application security testing is the process of evaluating and identifying an application’s vulnerabilities and security weaknesses. It involves various techniques and tools to test the application’s risk posture and evaluate its resilience against common attack vectors.

There are several types of application security testing - examples:

  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST): SAST, performed during the development process of the application, analyzes the application’s source code for potential security vulnerabilities. This type of testing identifies issues early on so they can be fixed before the application is deployed.
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): DAST, performed after the application has been deployed, tests the application while it’s running to identify vulnerabilities and observe its response to simulated attacks.
  • Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST): IAST combines the techniques used in SAST and DAST. The test analyzes code for security vulnerabilities while the application is being used, either by a human user or an automated test, and can detect vulnerabilities in real-time and provide recommendations for quick remediation.
  • Software composition analysis (SCA): SCA automatically scans the code of an application to identify its third-party and open-source software components and detect common security vulnerabilities.
  • Runtime application self-protection (RASP): RASP is a security technology designed to monitor an application while it’s running and protect it from adversary behavior that traditional security measures such as firewalls and antivirus software might not detect.
  • Application Program Interface (API): API is software testing that verifies the reliability, performance and security of API endpoints, the interface that enables information sharing between different software systems.
  • Infrastructure as Code (IAC): IAC tests the code that is used to automate the deployment and management of the infrastructure resources, such as servers, networks, databases and other components, to verify its reliability and correctness.

Appendix

Cyber Attack Vectors

8 common types of cyber attack vectors.

  • Compromised Credentials - The username and password continue to be the most common type of access credential. Compromised credentials describe a case where user credentials, such as usernames and passwords, are exposed to unauthorized entities. This typically happens when unsuspecting users fall prey to phishing attempts and enter their login credentials on fake websites. When lost, stolen or exposed, compromised credentials can give the intruder an insider’s access. Although monitoring and analysis within the enterprise can identify suspicious activity, these credentials effectively bypass perimeter security and complicate detection. The risk posed by a compromised credential varies with the level of access it provides. Privileged access credentials, which give administrative access to devices and systems, typically pose a higher risk to the enterprise than consumer credentials. And it is not only humans who hold credentials. Servers, network devices and security tools often have passwords that enable integration and communication between devices. In the hands of an intruder, these machine-to-machine credentials can allow movement throughout the enterprise, both vertically and horizontally, giving almost unfettered access.

  • Weak and Stolen Credentials - Weak passwords and password reuse make credential exposure a gateway for initial attacker access and propagation. Recent malware attacks such as Mirai highlight this threat not only for managed devices but also IoT connected devices. Apps and protocols sending login credentials over your network pose a significant security threat. An attacker connected to your network can easily locate and utilize these credentials for lateral movement. For example, in the Target attack, adversaries were able to steal Active Directory credentials and propagate their attack into the enterprise payment network.

  • Malicious Insiders - A malicious insider is an employee who exposes private company information and/or exploits company vulnerabilities. Malicious insiders are often unhappy employees. Users with access to sensitive data and networks can inflict extensive damage through privileged misuse and malicious intent.

  • Missing or Poor Encryption - Data encryption translates data into another form that only people with access to a secret key or password can read. Encrypted data is commonly referred to as ciphertext, while unencrypted data is called plaintext. The purpose of data encryption is to protect digital data confidentiality as it is stored on computer systems and transmitted using the internet or other computer networks. Strong encryption must be applied to data at rest, in-motion, and where suitable, in-processing. Missing / poor encryption leads to sensitive information including credentials being transmitted either in plaintext, or using weak cryptographic ciphers or protocols. This implies that an adversary intercepting data storage, communication, or processing could get access to sensitive data using brute-force approaches to break weak encryption.

  • Misconfiguration - Misconfiguration is when there is an error in system configuration. For example, if setup pages are enabled or a user uses default usernames and passwords, this can lead to breaches. With setup/app server configuration not disabled, the hacker can determine hidden flaws, and this provides them with extra information. Misconfigured devices and apps present an easy entry point for an attacker to exploit.

  • Ransomware - Ransomware is a form of cyber-extortion in which users are unable to access their data until a ransom is paid. Users are shown instructions for how to pay a fee to get the decryption key. The costs can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands, payable to cybercriminals in Bitcoin

  • Phishing - Phishing is a cybercrime tactic in which the targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. It continues to be one of the most effective social engineering attack vectors. Some phishing schemes are incredibly intricate and can sometimes look completely innocent. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack demonstrates how phishing can defeat almost all layers of traditional security such as email gateways and endpoint controls.

  • Trust Relationships - Trust relationships refer to a certain level of trust that exists between users and systems. For example, trust relationships can connect two domains, so a user only has to log in once in order to access resources. The two domains in a trust relationship are the trusted domain (the domain that authenticates the user the first time), and the trusting domain (the domain that relies on the trusted domain to authenticate users and gives access to its resources without re-authenticating the user). One common breach scenario example is when credentials are cached on the trusted client, which then gets breached, wreaking havoc.