High-value data, mission criticality, and sheer numbers make web applications a compelling target for cyberattacks. According to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report, web applications were the most commonly exploited vector in both incidents and breaches last year.1
There’s another reason why web applications may be so attractive to threat actors. Most security teams simply cannot keep pace with demands for application updates and patching, testing, and vulnerability remediation. As a result, many organizations struggle to protect their mission-critical web apps, which typically number in the dozens or hundreds.
To uncover current web application security testing challenges, requirements, and approaches, CyCognito sponsored a survey of several hundred U.S. and U.K. cybersecurity professionals.
Key findings from the survey:
Modern organizations rely on a vast number of web applications, both internally developed and from third-party vendors. This sprawling attack surface, constantly changing and growing, creates significant security concerns. These concerns varied among survey respondents, even though all of them had significant experience conducting or managing vulnerability scanning, web app security testing, or other SecOps tasks.
The top concern was the overall threat posed to web applications, highlighting their criticality. Following closely were concerns about siloed teams (Dev, SecOps, etc.) hindering collaboration and the ineffectiveness of existing security tools, such as web application firewalls (WAFs).
From DAST and IAST to penetration testing, organizations use a variety of methods to identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and other weaknesses in web applications. However, regardless of the method, most organizations only test monthly or less often, according to the survey. Also, tools are applied to a small portion of the attack surface. The results showed that comprehensive (100%) coverage of web apps by different test methods was limited, ranging from 5% to 13%. Infrequent or selective testing leaves web apps vulnerable to threats.
Reasons why respondents do not test more often or cover more of the attack surface included:
With an ever-growing number of vulnerabilities discovered each month, prioritizing remediation is crucial. However, over half of survey respondents struggle to address the vulnerabilities identified during testing. Staffing shortages and complex workflows further impede effective remediation. Looking forward, many respondents view automation as a top priority to streamline testing processes.
Taking into account the above constraints, how can organizations improve their testing frequency, coverage, and effectiveness? The following solutions represent best practices that can help achieve these goals:
Automated active security testing incorporates all of these factors. It eliminates tedious, labor-intensive manual processes by conducting continuous or frequent testing of all web apps and associated APIs in the environment, identifying risks with a high degree of accuracy, and filtering out low-priority issues or events.
These sophisticated solutions can meet survey respondents’ top requirements for web app testing tools:
To help meet these requirements, 63% of survey participants said they plan to purchase a solution that enables continuous security testing of all web apps.
CyCognito’s automated active security testing solution, part of its external exposure management platform, features the following:
This SaaS solution delivers unmatched asset coverage and broad and deep insights on par with pentesting.
Interested in learning more about overcoming these web application security testing challenges and how you can achieve continuous testing? Download the report to dive deeper into the findings and discover best practices for conquering your web app security testing woes. Alternatively, contact CyCognito to learn more about how our active security testing can offer a solution for your organization.
1 Barracuda Networks mitigated more than 18 billion attacks against web apps and APIs in 2023. https://blog.barracuda.com/2024/02/07/threat-spotlight-attackers-targeting-web-applications-right-now#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20attacks%20targeting,1.716%20billion%20in%20December%20alone.
Graham Rance is the Field CTO at CyCognito. With more than 20+ years of security and infrastructure experience, Graham and his team are responsible for technical pre-sales responsibilities covering the globe.
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