Research by the experts at Positive Technologies shows that up to 90% of web applications contain medium- to high-risk security flaws. In fact, the same research found vulnerabilities of some kind in every single application tested. That’s hardly surprising when you consider that—unlike the operating systems, databases, and application software typically used on corporate networks—web applications are often created in-house by companies with little to no experience in developing commercial software. All too often, developers consider security only as an afterthought or not at all.
Even worse, vulnerabilities in web apps are typically much easier to locate and exploit. So it’s little wonder that websites are now the entry point of choice for hackers and cyberthieves. Mistakes or omissions made in the course of developing and deploying applications can enable attackers to copy or modify information in corporate databases, carry out fraud ("phishing" and "pharming"), penetrate a company’s internal network, and much more.
At Positive Technologies, our experts are actively involved in identifying the world’s most critical web application security flaws through ongoing hands-on research and contributions to security projects such as OWASP TOP 10, Web Application Security Consortium Threat Classification and Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
Positive Technologies Web Application Security Tests involve detailed analysis of an application’s design, networking, operating system settings, external data sources, data warehousing, authorization mechanisms, and authentication components. We can perform an analysis from the perspective of an outside intruder ("black box") and by analyzing the source code itself ("white box"). And if you've already fallen victim to a web attack, or have detected any anomalies in your applications, we can provide incident response services to verify the problem. In all cases, our experts will provide detailed recommendations for fixing the flaws they find.
An assessment typically follows these steps:
- Determine the analysis method (black box, white box, or a combination of both)
- Conduct automated and manual audits and inspections for individual types of vulnerabilities
- Analyze the characteristics of identified vulnerabilities (for example: complexity of use, availability, methods of operation, and potential damage in the event of an attack)
- Create scenarios that could be used by an actual attacker, and build and execute simulated attacks
- Attempt to exploit the most critical vulnerabilities through a series of coordinated attacks
- Review logs from the web application to verify whether a suspected incident has occurred and, if so, identify the specific vulnerabilities that were exploited
- Assess outcomes and present recommendations to address identified weaknesses
Results
The key deliverable from our testing is a report, which details:
- Test methodology
- Explanations for all identified vulnerabilities
- Likely success/impact of hacker exploitation of the most critical vulnerabilities identified
- Recommendations to mitigate the identified vulnerabilities, including those which may have already led to a confirmed incident
Positive Technologies may also provide sample application code to illustrate how the detected vulnerabilities could be eliminated, as well as guidance on web application firewall security policies and features.
