Application Security Is Fraught With Mystery – 3 Myths Busted

It is not surprising to see that many companies continue to grapple with application security. It could be the ever-evolving digital tools and platforms or the ever-growing risk of breaches and hacks—whatever the reason, if you plan to sell over the internet, you will inevitably have to create web applications with their own security needs and preferences.

However, since the modern business environment is all about start-ups these days, not many entrepreneurs are well versed with web application security.

This means, for them, application security still sits in the grey area. A lot of misconceptions shadow their approach to maintaining security and of course, cost them big bucks down the line.

Here are some of the common myths about applications security and all you need to know about them:

1. We Have A Reliable Penetration Testing Provider On-board, Which Should Be Enough!

Penetration testing offers benefits. Its ability to precisely point out vulnerabilities in the network proactively make it a must have tool for modern business owners. However, penetration testing isn’t enough. By all means, you are still vulnerable to devastating hacks and breaches.

Penetration tests are also conducted on a scheduled basis. This means, your penetration testing provider will probably know what to do and what to expect before they start the next testing cycle. The case isn’t the same with malware attacks that come unscheduled. Without amply application security you could see your business operations at the knees, overnight.

2. There Is No Need To Worry About Application Security Before It Is Launched

If you think so, you are going to multiply your work, increase risks of failure and chances of inappropriate security.

Web applications and mobile applications need reliable security features at all stages of the development process. Once you have the first, potentially buggy version of your application ready for launch, the security features will ensure the shortcomings don’t serve as entry points for hackers.

3. We Primarily Rely On Commercial Software, Therefore Web Application Security Is None Of Our Concern!

You might want to reconsider. Commercial software today contains third party and open source code. These types of codes can contain vulnerabilities that impact surrounding codes until the risks extend to your website.

Whether you are looking for web security testing or mobile application security testing, our pros have you covered. For years, we have been providing a diverse range of clients with exceptional web vulnerability scanner and security tools that directly improve business operations and profitability.

3 PCI Compliance Mistakes You Need to Stop Making Today!

With the digital business environment falling victim to breaches and hacks every day, it is now more important than ever to protect your business operations by ensuring safety for customer data.

Remember the data breach at Target that exposed debit and credit card details of more than 40 million customers? Not much later, FBI found out that there were at least twenty similar cases in the same year.  

This is why if you process customer payments over the internet, it is essential for you to comply with the latest PCI regulations and standards.

But how do you become compliant? While the latest DDS is available on the regulatory authority’s website, there are many companies still encounter compliance failure.  

Here a few mistakes making which may lead to failure in PCI compliance audits.

Network Segmentation

Most business owners don’t realise this but PCI allows segmentation of internal network environments into different silo segments.

Majority of Qualified Security Assessors will advise setting up a PCI only segment that runs only PCI related devices and applications. Simply put, if you separate the PCI components into a segmented silo, you may not need to employ PCI controls across your entire IT network. If you fail to segment your network this way, you may find that low level security parameters lead to PCI non-compliance.

Data Encryption

Since credit and debit card details are constantly in transit from one network to another in order to process payments, this transition is perhaps the most attractive for hackers to breach. This is PCI focuses on implementing stringent encryption for credit card details in transit.

Strong encryption makes the data practically useless when in transit. This is because the complex nature of encryptions require a special key to decrypt, which is only available with you.

Failure to implement the right degree of encryption will always lead to PCI non-compliance.

Basic Configurations

Most of PCI’s configuration instructions are relatively easy to implement across Unix, Windows and other operating systems. However, don’t be dinged for the smaller details.

To stay on the safe side—make sure your company practices basics like default system access set to ‘deny all’, audit logging and stringent password requirements. The passwords should include expiries, length specifications, complexity ratings and all these setting should be in line with PCI’s regulatory guidelines.

Even though you might find this list intimidating, but it is quite easy to implement. Most importantly, all of this is only to help you safeguard your customer’s data and instil a sense of confidence in their behaviour when buying from you.

As the leading provider of penetration testing services, we have been at the forefront of the ecommerce industry, helping a diverse array of clients become PCI compliant. Get in touch to learn more about how PCI compliance works and how our web vulnerability scanner makes things easier and safer for your company.

Web Application Mistakes That Lead To Security Risks

According to a research study conducted by WhiteHat:

· 8 out of 10 web sites have serious flaws

· 71% of Web sites are vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS)

· 30% are prone to information leakage

· 28% have predictable resource locations

· 26% are subject to content spoofing

· 21% have insufficient authentication

· 20% are prone to SQL injection

Alarming? Not really. What’s alarming is the whopping number of business owners who still consider web applications security an afterthought. This leaves space for disastrous mistakes that leave websites, web applications and practically all sorts of digital products open to mistakes.

In this blog post, our web application security professionals brush up on some of the most common mistakes that inevitably lead to security risks:

Lack Of Constant Monitoring

It is quite evident that web applications are evolving constantly. What is secure today may be vulnerable tomorrow.

This means that your typical annual scan compliant with PCI standards might be far from enough to stay protected.

Many companies fail to perceive web application security as a continuous, nonstop process. Many consider it as a one-time, annual audit inevitably leaving their infrastructure vulnerable to risks.

Considering Business Needs More Important Than Security

Breaches and hacks are a daily thing for businesses, even in cases where security systems have matured and are appropriately integrated across all applications.

It is only natural to forget about security when other issues are on the top of your mind. In any case, it is the business that covers salaries for IT staff and the business always has the final say. This also means that regardless of all frontline issues, the business should be able to take full responsibility for high tech breaches and consequent costs.

Overlooking Third Party Risks

Most companies roll out strict compliance guidelines for any third parties involved in their business, but often ignore the same importance to application security.

Consequently, attackers may choose to compromise the third party’s website and host malware on your applications. In reality, any third party involved is a trusted partner and hackers may achieve the same results by breaking through their website.

Why not avoid all these mistakes by partnering with a state-of-the-art web application vulnerability testing company? At Lean Security, we provide web application security testing and penetrating testing services! Get in touch with us to learn more today.

Testing For Application Security—Can You Skip It?

As technology continues to imbed itself in practically all aspects of our daily lives, the risk of crucial information—business and personal—being leaked becomes more real.

Many major companies like Google now offer massive cash rewards to hackers who can expose vulnerabilities in web applications and websites.

While traditionally, the internet was considered an entirely different world, it would make sense if we now call it a universe of its own.

Consequently, security isn’t just a major concern for individual users but also business owners who are trusted by customers to handle their confidential data.

The nature of data could range from contact details to credit card information and more.

Many would agree that data is the new currency and plenty of individuals are willing to risk anything to get as much of it as they can.

With all of these things in mind, it is now more important than ever that business owners invest in robust security testing plan for websites, application and all sorts of online products. Practically any online platform that stores, process and transfers key customer data should be adequately protected.

But You Need An End-To-End Approach

With a practically never-ending list of all reasons why you shouldn’t ignore security testing, it is clear that testing is now mandatory. But what methods will help business owners gain the right results?

Traditionally, many business owners considered application security an afterthought; doing it only once an application was completed. However, the field has evolved today. Many vendors are now utilising an end-to-end approach when it comes to security testing.

Even though many vendors utilise code scanners to conduct quick reviews, we advise not skipping a comprehensive manual review to identify each bug.

Lean Security’s approach is to test everything rigorously before deployment to later move to penetration testing. Even in cases where you have fully functional web applications, we conduct in-depth security testing to surface all sorts of vulnerabilities. With so much at risk for our clients, we consider the old adage ‘better safe than sorry’ truly applicable here.

Security Testing Is Like Anti-Virus—For Your Business

In its essence, security testing is more like anti-virus for your business. It helps ensure that everything keeps running smoothly. Whether you are small or medium business owner, you need enterprise level security to avert potential cyber attacks and also avoid a PR nightmare in the process.

Ready for your web application security testing? Get in touch with us to learn more about our services.

Major Challenges That Hamper Penetration Testing

Penetration testing is a part of the software testing process that helps identify how the application responds to various breaches and attacks. However, with technologies advancing rapidly, the threats are becoming more complex and even harder to avert.

This makes penetration testing an ongoing process, not one that is to be done merely on an annual basis.

However, just like everything else, experts conducting pen tests often face a variety of challenges that hinder their progress.

Here are some of the most common challenges we, as a leading penetration testing company, face when working with clients:

Logical Flow

Penetration testing on websites comes with its own set of challenges. Websites act differently. This often leads to dramatic changes in the penetration testing process.

For example, some websites might require visitors to go through a verification process before they can be redirected to the main page while others might require no authentication at all. This obviously impacts the testing process.

Session State Management

One of the most common problems for professionals conducting tests is to stay logged into a particular system while testing it.

Developers use a wide array of tracking systems to monitor traffic inflow into different software. Therefore, testers are required to manually define limitations according to the specific software testing parameters. More than often, attacking the software to check vulnerability will result in invalidation of the current session.

Custom URLs

Another challenge faced during the penetration testing of web applications is the presence of different URLs that act in varying ways when implemented.

While some of them are quite straightforward and can be tested in simpler methods, others expose testers to a dramatic number of possibilities in the types of attacks that should be tested.

False Positives or Negatives

It often becomes close to impossible to pinpoint the vulnerability that is associated with a specific software.

In addition to that, there is always the possibility of creating an attack for the test process that leads to a false positive or negative signal. Therefore, working further becomes difficult as the results are merely real. This often leads to overlooking underlying key problems.

These are some of the most important challenges faced by testers when performing penetrations tests on websites, web applications and software.

If you are looking for penetration testing services, work with a company that knows its way around all of these challenges and more. Get in touch with us to find out how we provide world class web security audits and penetration testing.