Importance Of Web Application Vulnerability Management

Forward planning is vital to the success of any business, and this is as applicable to web application security and vulnerability management as it is to any other aspect. The implementation of a WAF (Web Application Firewall) of the kind offered by Indusface is a crucial step in order to avoid not just a great deal of time and effort but also to stop malicious hacking attacks and intrusions.

Why is Web Application Vulnerability Management Important?

Any computer program that is responsible for the operation of a specific function with the use of a web browser is known as a web application. Computers or whatever else the program was running on have previously served as the client in this situation, but the web browser serves that function in regards to web applications.

Web applications are interwoven in our everyday lives in today’s world, used thousands of times per day at home and at work. They come with a number of benefits including scalability and flexibility as well as greater redundancy, with usability no longer affected by the type of device being used or the location where they are being accessed from. This means that collaborations can be undertaken from anywhere and at any time, and developers are able to scale and tailor web applications to the precise requirements of particular businesses.

However, because the devices that are compatible with web applications are so dispersed, this means that the number of threats that need to be worried about also increases, and security strategies need to be able to cope with the whole of the interconnected system that has web application access to address any possible threat entry point.

It is therefore of crucial importance to be proactive and develop a web application vulnerability management plan well in advance rather than making use of reactive measures after a breach has already taken place. Doing so will not only improve the reliability and reputation of your organization but will also significantly cut down on damage costs.

Web application attacks are costing companies around $3.1 million every year, according to a study from the Ponemon Institute. Technical support and incident response are the biggest resources drains, and the sheer level of data that is connected to web applications is even more of a concern, with just one single breach able to impact on millions of individuals, destroy the trust between clients and a company, and leak an extraordinary PII amount. Monetarily and in terms of public relations, the development of a web application vulnerability management could not be any more important.

How to Conduct Successful Assessments of Web Security?

There are a number of simple building blocks that need to be in place in order to ensure the success of web application security assessments.

These blocks are:

• Aims
• Objectives
• Strategy
• Methods

1. Aims

Your aims are simply the specific endpoint that you want your company to reach in relation to web application vulnerability management. One of the most important aims most organizations will have is to ensure that there is a scorecard to measure the security risk posture continuously and take steps to ensure they are ready for all compliance /audit request to meet those guidelines which have become mandatory for many online businesses.

2. Objectives

Objectives are essentially smaller aims that need to be met along the way to achieving a company’s major aims. For example, the establishment of a periodic web application plan for security testing to take place over the course of the next twelve months. This could take place monthly or every four months or at any time that business web applications undergo changes in code and in addition also have on-demand / daily assessment using automated tools.

3. Strategy

The strategy that a company develops will determine how they are going to approach the testing of their web application security. A strategy could involve external security testing resources or be done in-house, and will also deal with the tools that need to be used including the likes of a web vulnerability scanner, and the precise web applications and websites that are going to be tested and a plan in place along with KPI to measure execution outputs

4. Methods

Methods are essentially smaller strategies that detail the precise steps that need to be taken for the successful execution of web application security tests. It is important to be willing to learn from the examples set by others and to remember that it is only too easy for web application security testing to be under-scoped. Although it is impossible to have everything tested simultaneously, all business-critical applications should be tested immediately, even if in the long term all web systems should be examined eventually.

Any oversights within this area can have serious negative consequences for businesses if critical applications are untested, or high priority vulnerabilities are left undetected.

Conclusion

There is a process to the formulation of a web application vulnerability management plan, and new challenges will always come along. Existing security measures need constant re-evaluation to find areas to need improving and the installation of a high-quality web application firewall is an absolute necessity. Contact Indusface today!

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