Enterprises Losing Billions Due to Vulnerable S/W Applications

Forbes recently published an article called '#1 Cyber Security Threat to Information Systems Today', based on the survey conducted by Sungard Availability Services. 55% of respondents gave the top spot to vulnerable web applications.

According to Joe Caruso, the founder and CEO of GDF (Global Digital Forensics), a leading cyber security provider in New York, 'There are a few factors that converge to make applications a tricky cyber security concern for many organizations'.

Organizations today use so many web apps on so many different platforms that the numbers can get dizzying, not to mention the human resource and tools required to keep tabs on security. Then, there are a large number of developers creating apps, who come from every corner of the world with promises of offering customized apps at low costs. But, most often than not, security is not a part of the codes. They are able to provide functionality, effectiveness and convenience, but the safety features are not up to the mark. If security is not a part of the development cycle of an application, organizations can find themselves at the risk of cyber-attacks that can exploit their most valuable and sensitive data. Such attacks can prove to be very costly as well as messy for an organization.

The most effective software security solutions prioritize threats , from both the cause and effect standpoint. Complete in-depth testing of applications is usually not an option. It may be possible for a small company with limited amount of apps, but for a bigger organization that has thousands of apps on the books and where new applications are being implemented all the time, the expense and man-hours related to testing would be restrictive.

But, all apps are not the same, some do not pose a threat as they are not connected to sensitive company information and client data. They do not provide a gateway to intruders and they are of lower priority than others, which may be of medium or high risk. Specialized tools are required to judge the risks as there may be a lot of room for interpretation. Specific methods and expertise is required to approach the problem, for any real hope of success.

Vulnerability Tests to Determine the Risks

A skilled vulnerability assessment is required to determine the risks posed by every application. These assessments may include comprehensive penetration testing of every application, which determines whether they are susceptible to attacks.

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Analyze World Encryption Software Market Trends and Predict 2019 with Applications and Deployment

The encryption software market is growing in popularity mainly due to the new trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). There is a huge demand among organizations these days, to increase efficiency by safeguarding data transfer across mobile devices, with the help of emails.

Although encryption software market provisions have influenced both the user segments of enterprises as well as SMBs, there are some factors that confine growth in this market. For example, increase in organizational overhead expenses slows the process of its adoption. Also, expansive heterogeneity in devices platform augments the issue of functional interoperability among encryption solutions.

Taking this into consideration, the report further identifies the latest trends and patterns boosting the progression in the encryption software market in all regions.

The working ways of organizations are changing with extensive technological advancements like mobility and cloud. Diverse technological progressions such as social media, mobility, cloud and PC's, have been incorporated in businesses and they have led to growth in the data being generated across companies. Mobility is being used for superior productivity and this fact is quite evident from the widespread usage of mobile devices in businesses. Thus, the extensive usage of mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones, as well as removable media that accesses and transmits business data, increases the chances of data loss and breaches. This encourages adoption of data security solutions and Mobile Application Security across organizations. Also, the increasing security apprehensions in accessing business information and transfer of data across devices, calls for more security solutions.

Moreover, the adoption of encryption software is protected because of the evolution of authorized regulatory standards connected to data transfer and its security, which needs to be adhered with diverse industry verticals such as PCI DSS for BFSI and HIPPA for healthcare, as these solutions follow certain regulatory norms and facilitate secured access to data. Therefore, the development of these solutions further increase the demand of encryption software around the world.

Nowadays, organizations are taking up data security solutions to embrace flexible work culture in a secure way. It allows flexibility in work patterns for employees and increases productivity for companies.

Market sizing and forecasting exercises take different assumptions into considerations. Some of these assumptions include economic, political, technological, social and economic factors. The forecasts in emerging regions are expected not to be seriously affected because of the market fluctuations.

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How Protected Are Your Open Source Systems

Open source software security is a big responsibility. Open source is considered to be more secure than proprietary software, because more widely the open software is available, more closely it is examined. And, the more flaws that surface, the stronger a code becomes.

This would be true if the components, which make up the open source code are constantly analyzed and if web application security services are verified by the developers, before they are incorporated into their work.

But, this is not always the case. Similar to automobile assembly plants, which uses independently manufactured brake components and airbags for building cars, software developers also assume that their supply chain open source components are up to date, patched and reliable.

Regrettably, assumptions like these allow vulnerabilities similar to those that were present in the Heartbleed bug.

There are a number of reasons why flaws exist in the open source system: the components when used for the first time might be old, or they might not have been appropriately tested. But usually, an open source component that makes it into a broadly used application is assumed to be safe, therefore, diminishing the demand for testing.

Be Aware of What's in Your Software

The inventory of open source components is crucial, because without that, IT managers will not be able to know if the system has compromised components. One way of checking is through Application Health Check, which provides free breakdown of each component and also alerts IT managers of likely licensing and security problems.

When there is a defect in the open source, it's revealed, but if you are not aware of the problems in your software, that revelation may tip of enemies who can use it to exploit vulnerabilities. And hackers get immense benefit by going after the components, which are extensively used, such as Heartbleed attck/OpenSSL demonstrated.

Following are the ways for agencies to ensure that their systems uses a secure software supply chain.

Usage of best ingredients: Agencies should ensure that the components used are coming directly from a trusted archive. Search for software that is compatible with CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). These are a set of standard identifiers known for exposures and security vulnerabilities.

Make a list – IT managers should device and secure a bill of materials, for the components that are used in a piece of software.

Scan the code – Automated code scanners, which are compatible with SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol), should be used.

Government-certified software should be used – Using cryptography libraries that are FIPS-certified, for writing encryption applications, eliminates the need of obtaining additional FIPS-certification.

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5 Essential Security and Network Infrastructure Trends for 2015

Web Application audit services

 

With the rapid development of networking and security industries, here are some views on the most important technologies to look out for in 2015:

1. Security breaches are difficult to stop

Data leakage and security breaches will continue to cause trouble for most companies. Studies over the last 10-15 years have shown that new threats are answered quickly by a new defense system.  Once the threat evolves, a brand-new defense system is required. This has given rise to a variety of security appliances, management systems and software agents that in a number of cases are not able to talk to each other. The security architectures of the next generation will implement discrete security systems, which can work with threat life elements and crack the infection chain in various places.

2. Cloud technologies finally taking root

 All kinds of cloud are making their way inroad and are being an essential part of the enterprise infrastructure. Most organizations trust the security provider's capabilities and therefore, Software as a Service (SaaS) has reached a high point. For flexibility, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) still focuses on web application security services. Hybrid clouds, personal clouds and cloud bursting will cause more sharing of distributed management, services and security.

3. Variety in mobile apps and management

The market of mobile devices (handsets and tablets), unlike the PC market, are not dominated by Microsoft. There are at least two to three platforms across the world. This diversity means that management systems need to be more open and flexible. Enhanced JavaScript performance pushes the browser and HTML5, as the mainstream enterprise application development environment. This guides towards richer applications with more focus on usability, rather than cumbersome large applications.

4. Software defined modular infrastructure becomes the rule

The control layer is being separated and centralized for various parts of the infrastructure. Initial focus is mainly on virtualization of the data center, Software Defined Storage (SDS), Software Defined Networking (SDN) and standalone switch fabrics. The result is that API's are being used up at a much higher rate. In today's world, where the infrastructure is segmented and dissected, API's are important, but they also pose to be a potential security hole in the network element.

5. Wired access is being continuously replaced by wireless

Wireless access is a norm across most organizations. Enterprises in new building are mostly not wired. Wireless systems are now becoming the main network access mechanism, which means that an authentic system with tight integration is most essential. Wireless technology continues to get better with ac Wave 1 now coming out and Wave 2 being launched in 2015.

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Major Security Errors in Web Application

Web application developers these days have to be skilled in a number of fields. It becomes important to  create an application which is user friendly, accessible, gives high performance and is secure. And, all this has to be done in an untrustworthy environment that you, the developer, cannot control. I am talking about the User Agent, normally seen as a web browser, but no one really understands what's there on the other side of the HTTP connection.

There are various things to worry about when it comes to security testing of web application. Is your website protected from service attacks? Are your users being tricked into doing things which can harm the security? Is your user data safe? Can fake data from an attacker pollute the database? Is it possible to gain unauthorized access to those parts of your website which are restricted. Unfortunately, the answer to these questions will be yes, unless we are careful about writing the codes.

In this article, we will not mention denial of service attacks, but will take a closer look at other problems. To be more relevant to the context, we will talk about Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), Click-Jacking and SQL injection. We will also assume PHP as the development language, but the problem will occur regardless of the language and the solutions are identical in all languages.

1. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

An attack, in which the user is mislead into executing code from another site, in the framework of our website is called Cross-site scripting. The problem will occur no matter what our website does, but the complexity of the problem will change according to what the user does on the site.

2. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

This is an attack where a bad site can trick the visitors into going ahead and taking an action on our website. This generally happens if a user logs into a website that they regularly use (eg. Their e-mails, Facebook, etc.) and then log into a bad site without first logging out of the previous site. If the former site is capable of getting a CSRF attack, then the malicious site can do whatever it wants on the user's behalf.

3. Click-Jacking

It might not be on the OWASP top ten list for 2010, but still it has gained a lot of popularity due to the attacks on Facebook and Twitter, as both of them make it spread very quickly because of their social nature.

We are protected against CSRF attacks as we use a nonce. However, if the user is made to click the submit link themselves, then the nonce will not be able to guard us. In this type of attack, the website is included in an iframe on their own website. Even though the attacker will not have control over our page, they will have control over the iframe element. CSS is used to set the iframe's capacity to 0 and the JavaScript is used to move it around, so that the submit button comes under the user's mouse.

4. SQL Injection

In this type of attack, insufficient input validation is exploited by the attacker, in order to gain shell access to your database server. The message sent by the attacker can get passed to the database and it could get dropped in the 'Messages' section, causing a lot of trouble to you and your user.  

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