Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 41 | Page 20

LATEST INTELLIGENCE GET STARTED WITH APPLICATION SECURITY IN 3 EASY STEPS E nsuring your applications are secure doesn’t have to be a cumbersome process. With the right program and tools, you can improve your organization’s security without getting in the way of developer productivity. Introduction PRESENTED BY Download whitepaper here Think about the applications you use every day in your organization from emails to browsers, business applications, and office productivity tools such as Google apps and Microsoft Office. Companies rely more than ever on mobile and web applications to communicate with customers and partners. And as development teams struggle to keep up with the growing demand for rapid delivery of new business applications, security is often neglected. Fortify’s Software Security Research team has found that 80% of web applications contain at least one critical or high vulnerability. According to the 2017 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), web applications are under attack even more so than last year. 20 INTELLIGENTCIO In over half of the reported breaches, personal data was compromised. It has become common to read about large data breaches caused by application vulnerabilities on company websites. These breaches affect millions of consumers as criminals gain access to sensitive data including Social Security Numbers, birth dates, addresses, and driver’s license numbers. It’s not a surprise that application-layer attacks are a leading cause of breaches. Since development is highly competitive and driven by speed, security is often sidelined, increasing unintended flaws or weaknesses in the software. By exploiting these flaws in the application, cybercriminals enter the system and steal sensitive data. Also, many organizations continue to wrongly assume that their perimeter security such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) and Secure Web Gateways are sufficient in protecting against cyberattacks. But building higher walls isn’t enough to protect your “crown jewels”– your applications and sensitive data. You need an application security program that ensures the security of your web and mobile applications. n www.intelligentcio.com