Your application security program forms your organization's first line of digital defense, protecting the software tools that run your business and connect your internal network with the Internet. However, many AppSec programs fail because they try to run before they crawl, putting peripheral issues and advanced tactics ahead of a systematic examination of fundamental priorities, according to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), which helps set AppSec industry standards. To help your efforts succeed, here's an overview of application security essentials and what goes into implementing an effective AppSec program.
An application security program is a set of measures to protect your company's apps. This includes your web apps, cloud apps, mobile apps, and APIs. Your AppSec program works in coordination with security measures designed to protect other layers of your digital environment, such as your network, data, and physical access to your devices.
Your AppSec program protects your application layers from the technical and business impact of IT risks such as poor access control, sensitive data exposure, and malicious code injection. It reduces these risks by applying techniques such as authentication, encryption, and validity checking.
To implement these defenses, AppSec deploys tools such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST), and Run-time Application Security Protection (RASP). Testing methodologies such as penetration testing (pentesting) and red teaming evaluate the effectiveness of security measures.
Application security encompasses several major specializations, including cloud, web, mobile, and API application security:
Cloud AppSec protects apps and data on third-party servers, internal clouds, or hybrid clouds, including those in infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) environments. It typically uses tools supplied by cloud providers, such as built-in firewalls and encryption.
Web AppSec protects websites and web-based applications. It has a narrower scope than cloud application security and gives users more responsibility for securing application code.
Mobile AppSec protects software downloaded from app stores and data stored on smartphones, laptops, and other mobile devices. It depends heavily on mobile device and software providers to ensure security, with security software running directly on devices.
API AppSec protects attacks on programs that connect software together and on data flowing between software. It relies heavily on API developers to implement security best practices such as access control, input validation, and rate limiting. API AppSec has become increasingly important as attackers have shifted their focus to API vulnerabilities, including APIs that integrate software with AI, ML, and LLM tools.
Application security forms a cornerstone of cybersecurity because app attacks offer hackers one of the simplest and most effective ways to access accounts and steal information. Web application attacks represent the leading attack vector for security breaches, accounting for 40% of security incidents in 2023, according to Verizon research. Basic web application attacks such as stolen credentials, brute force hacks, and vulnerability exploits enable hackers gain access to accounts and steal personal information, often setting the stage for other attacks. APIs also have become a primary target, with cloud security provider Akamai reporting that 84% of security professionals experienced API issues in 2024. Simple AppSec best practices such as account management, access control management, and vulnerability management can prevent a significant percentage of cyberattacks.
How do you go about starting an application security program or ensuring that your existing AppSec program is effective? OWASP recommends the following key steps to starting an AppSec program:
Whether your organization is new to application security or you have an AppSec program in place, OWASP recommends that you begin by reviewing your basics and making sure your program covers AppSec essentials. Start by reviewing your current AppSec governance, design, implementation, verification, and operations and identifying which areas need urgent attention. OWASP provides a Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) covering 15 key best practices spanning 5 business functions to assist organizations in identifying their current AppSec weaknesses and planning a long-term strategy for improvement.
After you identify your AppSec priorities, OWASP recommends planning a security development lifecycle (SDL) that integrates secure practices into every phase of your app development and deployment. To facilitate this, you can use a "paved road" approach where a central team coordinates with your security and development teams to replace insecure elements with secure replacements consistent with enterprise-wide policies and libraries. Establishing communication between the relevant components of your organization forms a foundation for consistent integration of AppSec best practices into your standard operating procedures.
Applying your SDL strategy to your development and operations teams is the next step. Holistic coordination between your DevOps teams, your business objectives, and your app ecosystem helps ensure steady increases in application security.
Once standards have been implemented, the focus shifts to maintaining them. This requires using coding reviews, security tests, and detection tools to ensure that both current and upcoming apps remain aligned with AppSec policies and free of vulnerabilities. Detection systems should be configured to trigger alerts to insecure components and redirections to secure alternatives.
After you're applying a secure development strategy to your apps, you should confirm that your AppSec strategy is mitigating any priority vulnerabilities identified in the OWASP Top 10 that impact your apps. For instance, you should select one Top 10 issue such as broken access control and verify that your apps are free of this vulnerability. Prioritizing the OWASP Top 10 will cover many of the most common vulnerabilities likely to face your apps.
While the OWASP Top 10 is strategic for identifying priorities, it doesn't cover all possibilities, so you should follow up by covering other bases. OWASP's Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) provides a more comprehensive framework for meeting secure development requirements.
Application attackers are constantly developing new tactics and tools, and AppSec programs must pursue continuous updates and improvements to stay ahead of adversaries. Grow your AppSec program to maturity by improving security architecture conceptualization, automating security procedures, instilling a security-conscious culture, and monitoring performance.
AppSec programs deploy a wide variety of techniques to mitigate common attack strategies. Major categories of mitigation techniques include:
AppSec resources like OWASP provide detailed prescriptions for applying appropriate techniques to specific vulnerabilities.
Application security teams use a battery of specialized tools to apply AppSec methods. The most important tools include:
Automated application security tools augment manual methods to support AppSec strategies.
To verify the effectiveness of application security measures, security teams use offensive security testing methods to simulate attacks and identify vulnerabilities that need attention. The most important testing methods include:
Tests may mimic attacks where the attacker lacks internal knowledge of app code (black box), where the attacker does have internal access (white box), or hybrids of these scenarios (gray box).
Pentesting generally takes a broad approach based on predefined criteria to identify and prioritize a range of potential vulnerabilities, whereas red teaming exploits specific vulnerabilities identified by the testing team. Together pentesting and red teaming provide complementary insights into application vulnerabilities.
Today's secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) methodology stresses that application security testing (AST) should be performed throughout the software development lifecycle, from the earliest phases to the deployment phase. This approach helps pre-empt security mistakes and catch vulnerabilities early before apps go live, minimizing the need for reactive fixes after deployment and reducing burdens on security teams. Regulatory requirements increasingly require security considerations to be built into apps from the earliest stages of development.
As apps are being planned and designed, teams should already be mapping attack surfaces and potential security vulnerabilities. As coding begins, SAST and SCA tests can be run to keep vulnerabilities from creeping into source code and dependencies. In a runtime environment, DAST and pentesting can help catch vulnerabilities missed during earlier testing phases.
During the transition from development to deployment, automated pipelines help maintain testing standards by implementing version control, checking compiled code, enabling realistic development environments, and utilizing simulated production environments and canary tokens to support quick version rollbacks. To maintain integrity after deployment, conduct ongoing testing with support from security logs, real-time alerts, and update and patching procedures.
Implementing application security from the early stages of the development cycle is known as a shift-left security strategy, intended to transfer the focus of security from reaction to prevention. Shift left is both a strategy and a mentality which needs to become part of company culture for successful implementation. Cultivating a shift-left mentality and practices can help security teams and organizations save time on post-deployment fixes, reduce customer support issues, cut labor and costs, streamline development, and achieve regulatory compliance. Getting security leaders and company management on board with the benefits of a shift-left approach will help ensure implementation of effective AppSec practices.
With all the moving pieces you need for a successful AppSec program, running your own in-house application security can be challenging, especially if you're starting from scratch or trying to meet rigorous regulatory requirements. The shortest path to success is teaming up with experienced AppSec partners who can guide you through implementing established best practices.
Cobalt makes it easy to jumpstart your AppSec program through our pentesting as a service (PTaaS) platform. The Cobalt platform enables you to connect with expert pentesters on demand and rapidly schedule and execute customized tests in days, not months. Our elite team of vetted pentesters works with OWASP and other industry leaders to develop and maintain today's AppSec standards, giving you deep insight into how to bring your AppSec program into alignment with best practices. Our experts work with your internal security team to plan customized tests matching your requirements, report on results in real-time, and help you implement fixes through integration with your existing security tools and software apps. Contact us about our AppSec pentesting services to book a meeting with us, get a demo, or learn more about how Cobalt can help you optimize your AppSec program.