It’s no secret that with the evolving nature of software, SaaS organizations are seriously at risk of security breaches. They need to implement efficient vulnerability management processes that can help them find and resolve their specific weaknesses in time before they’re exploited by hackers (or too complicated to fix quickly enough when an attack happens anyway!)
With agile development now mainstream in many software development lifecycles (SDLC), it’s crucial for CTOs and product owners to ensure security lies at the heart of the development and CI/CD pipeline. By adopting a DevSecOps approach, SaaS organizations can effectively reduce vulnerabilities and improve their security posture.
What are vulnerabilities, and how are they introduced?
Vulnerabilities are weaknesses or exposures within software, IT systems, and underlying infrastructure. They could be exploited by an intruder as an attack vector to gain access to privileged networks, systems, and data. In other words, they are security defects that could render organizations vulnerable to a cyber attack.
Vulnerabilities and configuration issues can be introduced at any point — especially if sound security practices are not integrated into the development culture and lifecycle. Most software projects contain countless external dependencies which introduces serious risk as open-source components may have security flaws — not to mention deliberate dependency confusion attacks — meaning the attack surface grows at an intractable speed.
The flaws can occur through many security defects such as user input, lack of training, and poor design, and can go unnoticed until it’s too late. An undiscovered exposure and any left unattended could lead to significant financial and reputational repercussions.
What are common types of software vulnerabilities?
The US National Vulnerability Database has uncovered more than 18,000 software vulnerabilities and exposures against NIST’s Vulnerability Database last year including:
The agile development process means SaaS organizations can potentially introduce vulnerabilities with every release unless rigorous security processes don’t take place. This emphasizes why security must be at the heart of development to decrease the chance of a vulnerability being deployed to production environments.
Cybercriminals prey on vulnerabilities, profiting substantially as the evolving threat landscape continues to offer endless avenues for attack. Although this fact may leave CTOs and their security teams feeling vulnerable, there a solution — and it’s simpler than you might think.
What is Vulnerability Discovery and why do SaaS companies need it?
Often referred to as an innovative and more productive approach to cyber security, Vulnerability Discovery is a form of continuous security monitoring. Security tools like this provide ongoing mapping, analysis, and management of an organization’s external attack surface.
Today, automation is critical in fast-evolving DevOps to reduce risk along the development pipeline. Sophisticated analysis no longer takes multiple tools and being a scalable solution, continuous vulnerability management won’t hinder productivity.
Automated Vulnerability Discovery is being increasingly adopted by CTOs, empowering SaaS companies to determine what their specific vulnerabilities are (focussing on real — not perceived — risk), where they lie, and their severity (with criticality rating). This allows them to speed up remediation by fixing the most critical issues first and effectively improving their cyber security posture.
Ultimately, cyber security needs to be prioritized in the boardroom — particularly for SaaS companies — to effectively protect data, resources, and critical technology from cybercriminals throughout the development process.
How we help secure our SaaS clients and optimize vulnerability management
Through continuous surveillance, Informer’s specialized external attack surface management platform finds vulnerabilities on all known and unknown assets, which are then compared against our vast vulnerability database for accurate risk quantification. Features and benefits of our vulnerability management solution include:
Full-stack security scanning (for infrastructure and application)
Comprehensive vulnerability management and scanning allow organizations to stay ahead of attackers by automatically scanning assets to find infrastructure and application-level vulnerabilities ( OWASP Top 10 and zero-day vulnerabilities — 40,0000 in total), reducing the attack surface.
Attack surface visibility
Insightful dashboards allow you to view your up-to-date external attack surface through clearly presented security metrics, revealing trends that help analyze your problem areas. Findings allow product and information security teams to visualize how effectively the organization is achieving vulnerability management objectives.
Risk-based prioritization
The platform enables security teams to prioritize vulnerabilities for mitigation for risk-based remediation, focusing efforts on those that pose the greatest threat. We provide all the information needed in order to effectively remediate risks identified, including extensive details of the vulnerability, technical evidence, screenshots, and references for developers.
Real-time alerting
You receive real-time notifications of changes to your attack surface. This helps drive productivity by keeping you focused on real risk while reducing noise and avoiding the disruption of workflows — enabling DevSecOps teams to respond to security events as soon as they arise.
Don’t get caught out, identify vulnerabilities with automated vulnerability assessments
Inadequate security management strategies can be detrimental for businesses of all sizes. A forward-thinking approach is essential, and organizations must recognize cyber security as a priority in light of increasing risk. The problem of vulnerability management is now solvable.
Informer enables CTOs, who will likely face more legal obligations to protect data over the coming years, to identify security vulnerabilities and understand their risk and resolve their concerns before they are exploited. and find out how you can
- take the reins on your digital ecosystem
- revolutionize your security strategy
- improve the cyber security of your workforce for the future
Originally published at https://informer.io on January 10, 2022.
