Starting an online business, or making a website, blog or any portal, seems to be of great ease! Isn’t it? We know it is. However, just launching an online venture be it? Nothing for your business’ security? A flimsy security might land you up in a huge loss of data and capital. Many people launch online businesses but are not able to establish a robust security for their networks which often lead to hackers feasting upon their confidential data, inculcating massive losses in the long run.
Once an afterthought in software design, security is becoming an increasingly important concern during development, as applications become frequently accessible over networks and as a result, vulnerable to a wide variety of threats. There is a need for the developers to execute countermeasures, and induce application security to minimize the intrusion of unauthorized codes into the database of applications.
What is application security?
- Application security is the use of software, hardware, and procedural methods executed by developers congruously with application security companies to fortify an application from hazardous softwares that are constantly trying to steal, modify or corrupt the valuable information stored in the database.
What is the need for application security?
- As technologies evolve and change, so do hacking attack methods. The proliferation of the Web as the medium of choice for communication means hackers concentrate their efforts there. Network firewalls, which were once constructed to block dangerous protocols, particularly remote procedure calls, now find themselves helpless as these same protocols reemerge, encapsulated in a firewall of their own. Sensitive data such as online web transactions, credit card information and other financial information is at a risk of getting hijacked or overridden. This opens up new avenues for technical experts to explore and exploit concealed loopholes in the programs in order to shield data from getting leaked.
- With such technological advancements in hand & with a diversity of sublime hackers filled to the brim in today’s online world, security of confidential data has become a cumbersome task. Therefore, it is imperative to figure out malicious codes in order to keep hackers at bay.
Threats to Application security-
- SQL injection
- Cross-site scripting attacks
- Denial of service
- Buffer over flows
- Session hijacking
- Firewall override
Equipping an application with a firewall won’t make much of a difference as a firewall is easily bypass-able and overridden. A comprehensive security testing approach in order to find and rectify loopholes should be properly implemented.
App and site developers boast of a novice misconception that they are responsible only for the overall application functionality, while security is by-default expected from the QA and testing teams performing the functional testing. It should be noticed that the quality of any application is an enterprise-wide effort and not a single team responsibility.
Conclusion-
With new threats and new malicious codes coming to light every single day, each code being more hazardous than its predecessor, it’s high time web application security be enhanced for the better future of safeguarding confidential information, helping your online business ace new horizons.