Posted by: Praveen Joshi
September 30, 2022
Application security is the set of practices and processes to safeguard software application code and data against cyber threats. Experts will always advise you to apply application security during all phases of development, including design, development, and deployment. The activities involved in the process of application security help to minimize the risks of malicious activities against your application software. As a result, your application becomes more secure and less likely to be a victim of unauthorized access or data breaches.
of all vulnerabilities in web applications are associated with the network.
of cyber-attacks against web applications are initiated through SQL injection.
of applications became the victim of unauthorized access in 2020.
is the share of the total budget the banking sector spends on cyber security to make their applications and resources secure.
You can make your applications secure by using security tools and processes in their life cycle. The security of your application depends on how much effort you are putting into making it secure. Things like Application Penetration Testing can help you. But it is something we do after the development and deployment of the application. In today’s rapid speed of development, we cannot wait to integrate security into the application after it is developed and deployed. You need to address security right from the beginning of the SDLC.
Adopting a DevSecOps approach is the first step toward developing a better and much more secure application by design. It eliminates the risk of vulnerabilities in the software architecture. DevSecOps is all about the shift-left strategy. It incorporates security protocols right from the beginning where the application development starts.
Another way is to deploy additional security layers to your applications and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) is one of them. It reduces the risk of unauthorized access to your data and other critical resources. Also, you can add a firewall to your application’s outer layer. It will keep the external attack vectors at bay.
Given the circumstances, you now know what you need for application security. Hence, you can analyze what level of security your applications are on.
Along with different levels, there are several types of application security. Depending on the security needs of your organization, you can choose one, a few, or all of them.
The following are the types of application security:
Authentication is the protocol constituted in the application by developers to make sure that only the user can access it. It is the mechanism to verify the authenticity of the user. A typical authentication procedure involves entering a password at the time of login. However, nowadays MFA Multi Factor Authentication) is becoming popular due to security reasons. This might ask you for any other identification like One time password along with a password for additional security.
It is slightly different from the authentication process. In fact, it is the next step. An authorized user may access and use the functions of the application after authentication is done. The internal system of the application has a list in its database featuring the authorized users. It verifies the name from the list and grants permissions to the user to access the application. Moreover, for proper validation of the user credentials, authentication is necessary before authorization.
While the first two types of application security were about protecting the gates of the application, this one is about what is inside. Encryption is the process of adding a layer of unique codes to your critical data inside the application to make it secure. This ensures your data cannot be misused even if it is in the hands of a hacker. Also, encryption helps in the safer flow of data in cloud-based applications.
Logging refers to keeping track of who accessed the application at what time. It helps to determine a lot of vital things at the time of a breach.
It is the method to verify that all the security functionalities of the application are in proper working condition.
