Table of Content

1. What Is API Security?
2. Common API Security Risks and Attacks
3. Stay Current with Security Risks
4. Encrypt Your Data
5. Identify API Vulnerabilities 
6. Eliminate Confidential Information 
7. Apply Rate Limits
8. Validate API Inputs
9. Use an API Security Gateway
10. Build Threat Models
11. Use API Firewalls
12. Use OAuth and OpenID Connect
13. Test Your APIs with Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
14. API Testing with Bright Security

What Is API Security?

API security is the use of any security practice relating to application programming interfaces (APIs), which are common in modern applications. API security involves managing API privacy and access control and the identification and remediation of attacks on APIs. These attacks exploit API vulnerabilities or reverse engineer APIs. 

APIs help developers to build client-side applications, which target employees, partners, consumers and the like. The client-side of an application (such as a web application or a mobile application) interacts with the server-side via an API. APIs are also central to microservices architectures.

APIs are typically available through public networks (accessed via any location), making them easily accessible to attackers, and they are well-documented, making them simple to reverse-engineer. This makes APIs a natural target for cybercriminals, and they are especially sensitive to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. 

A cyber attack commonly involves side-stepping the client-side application in an effort to disrupt the workings of an application for other users or to obtain private data. API security focuses on securing this application layer and attending to what may happen if a cybercriminal were to interact directly with the API.

In this article you will learn about the following API security best practices:

Common API Security Risks and Attacks
1. Stay Current with Security Risks
2. Encrypt Your Data
3. Identify API Vulnerabilities
4. Eliminate Confidential Information
5. Apply Rate Limits
6. Validate API Inputs
7. Apply an API Security Gateway
8. Build Threat Models
9. Use API Firewalls
10. Use OAuth and OpenID Connect
11. Automate API Security Testing with Bright

Common API Security Risks and Attacks

Understanding the common API security risks and attacks is the first step towards implementing API security best practices. Let’s discuss some of these threats in detail.

Injection Attacks

An injection attack occurs when an attacker sends malicious data to an API, tricking it into executing unintended commands. For example, an attacker might send a SQL query that deletes data from a database as part of an API request. Injection attacks can result in data breaches, data loss, or even complete system takeover.

Broken Authentication

Broken authentication attacks happen when an attacker is able to impersonate a legitimate user by exploiting weaknesses in the API’s authentication mechanism. This could involve stealing user credentials, session tokens, or exploiting vulnerabilities in the authentication protocol itself. Once inside, the attacker can perform any action the impersonated user is authorized to do.

Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR)

Insecure Direct Object References (IDOR) occur when an API exposes direct references to internal resources. An attacker can manipulate these references to gain unauthorized access to data. For example, if an API uses sequential numbers as identifiers for user profiles, an attacker might guess the number of another user’s profile to access their data.

Exposure of Sensitive Information

Exposure of sensitive information is a common API security risk. It occurs when an API unnecessarily reveals sensitive information, like user passwords or credit card numbers, in its responses. This can happen due to poor coding practices or lack of proper data sanitization procedures.

Lack of Rate Limiting

Rate limiting is a technique used to control the number of requests a client can send to an API in a certain period. If an API lacks proper rate limiting, it may be susceptible to DoS (Denial of Service) attacks or brute-force attacks.

Misconfigured CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a mechanism that allows many resources (e.g., fonts, JavaScript, etc.) on a web page to be requested from another domain outside the domain from which the resource originated. Misconfigured CORS can allow unauthorized domains to make requests, potentially leading to data breaches.

API Versioning

API versioning refers to the practice of having multiple versions of an API to accommodate changes in its structure or functionality over time. If not managed properly, API versioning can lead to security risks. For instance, deprecated versions of the API might still be accessible and lack the security enhancements of newer versions.

Now that we have reviewed some of the most common security threats, let’s dive into best practices that can help you improve API security.

1. Stay Current with Security Risks

One of the most critical aspects of API security is staying informed about the latest threats and vulnerabilities. This includes regularly consulting resources such as OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) API Security Top Ten, security blogs, and industry news. Additionally, it’s essential to participate in security forums and mailing lists to stay informed about the latest trends and best practices in the field of API security.

It is also important to ensure that your software and APIs are always up-to-date. This includes applying security patches, updating libraries, and upgrading to the latest version of the platforms you are using. Outdated software is more vulnerable to attacks, so it’s crucial to keep everything current to minimize the risk of a security breach.

Having a well-defined security policy is vital to ensure that all team members are aware of the best practices and guidelines for API security. This policy should cover various aspects such as authentication, authorization, data protection, and monitoring. Additionally, it should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the latest security trends and best practices.

Related content: Read our guide to API security testing

2. Encrypt Your Data

Encrypting your data is one of the most critical steps in ensuring API security. One way to do this is by using HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) to secure the communication between client and server. HTTPS and TLS help protect sensitive information from being intercepted, modified, or stolen by attackers.

It is also essential to protect data at rest. This includes encrypting data stored in databases, file systems, or other storage systems. Various encryption techniques can be used, such as transparent data encryption, column-level encryption, or file-level encryption. By encrypting data at rest, you can prevent unauthorized access and data breaches in case your storage systems are compromised.

When using encryption, it’s crucial to have a robust key management strategy in place. This includes generating, storing, and managing encryption keys securely. Ensure that encryption keys are stored separately from the encrypted data and access to the keys is restricted to authorized personnel only. Additionally, you should regularly rotate encryption keys to minimize the risk of compromise.

3. Identify API Vulnerabilities 

To identify vulnerabilities in your APIs, it’s essential to perform regular security audits. These audits should include a thorough examination of your API architecture, design, and implementation. Ensure that you check for common vulnerabilities such as injection flaws, broken authentication, and insecure data storage. Regular security audits help you identify potential weaknesses in your APIs and address them before they can be exploited by attackers.

Continuous monitoring is another essential aspect of identifying API vulnerabilities. This includes monitoring your APIs for unusual activity, performance issues, and potential security threats. By implementing continuous monitoring, you can detect and respond to security incidents more quickly and efficiently.

4. Eliminate Confidential Information 

One of the best ways to protect confidential information is to avoid storing sensitive data in your APIs altogether. This includes data such as passwords, access tokens, and API keys. Instead, use secure methods like token-based authentication and OAuth to grant access to your APIs.

If you must store sensitive data, it’s essential to use data masking techniques to obfuscate the information. Data masking can help protect sensitive information by replacing it with random or fictitious data, making it harder for attackers to gain access to the actual data. This is particularly useful when dealing with personally identifiable information (PII) or other sensitive information that should not be exposed.

Another aspect of eliminating confidential information is implementing proper access controls. This includes using role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC) to restrict access to sensitive data and API endpoints. By limiting access to the data and functionality of your APIs, you can prevent unauthorized access and protect sensitive information from being exposed.

5. Apply Rate Limits

Rate limiting helps prevent API abuse and denial of service (DoS) attacks. By limiting the number of requests that can be made to your API within a specific time frame, you can ensure that your APIs remain available for legitimate users while preventing attackers from overwhelming your system with a flood of requests.

In addition to rate limiting, you can also implement API quotas to restrict the number of requests that can be made by a single user, application, or IP address. This can help protect your APIs from abuse and ensure that your resources are allocated fairly among your users.

Adaptive rate limiting is a more advanced technique that involves dynamically adjusting the rate limits based on factors such as user behavior, traffic patterns, and resource usage. This can help you provide a better user experience while still protecting your APIs from potential threats.

6. Validate API Inputs

To ensure the security of your APIs, it’s essential to validate all input data before processing it. This includes checking for data types, lengths, formats, and allowed values. By validating input data, you can prevent various security vulnerabilities such as injection attacks and buffer overflows.

Another crucial aspect of checking API parameters is sanitizing output data. This includes removing any potentially harmful content, such as HTML, JavaScript, or SQL code, from the data returned by your APIs. By sanitizing output data, you can protect your users and applications from potential cross-site scripting (XSS) and other code injection attacks.

When working with databases, it’s essential to use parameterized queries and prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. By using these techniques, you can ensure that user input is treated as data rather than executable code, making it more difficult for attackers to inject malicious SQL code into your queries.

7. Use an API Security Gateway

An API security gateway is a specialized software or hardware solution that helps protect your APIs from external threats. By acting as a proxy between your API and the client, an API security gateway can enforce security policies, authenticate and authorize users, and monitor API traffic for potential threats.

By implementing security features at the gateway level, you can offload some of the security responsibilities from your API, making it more scalable and easier to manage. Some common security features provided by API security gateways include authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and encryption.

API security gateways can also help you monitor and log API traffic, allowing you to analyze patterns and detect potential security incidents. By collecting and analyzing logs, you can gain insights into your API usage, identify potential security issues, and improve the overall security of your APIs.

8. Build Threat Models

Threat modeling is a process used to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities in your APIs. By understanding the possible risks and attack vectors, you can develop appropriate countermeasures and security controls to protect your APIs.

To build effective threat models, it’s essential to analyze the various components of your APIs, such as endpoints, data stores, and communication channels. Additionally, you should examine the data flows between these components to understand how data is processed, stored, and transmitted.

Based on the identified threats and vulnerabilities, you can develop appropriate security controls and countermeasures to mitigate the risks. These controls may include encryption, access controls, input validation, and monitoring. By implementing these security measures, you can help protect your APIs from potential attacks and breaches.

9. Use API Firewalls

API firewalls are specialized security solutions that help protect your APIs from malicious traffic. By filtering incoming requests based on predefined rules and policies, API firewalls can block potential attacks and prevent unauthorized access to your APIs.

Using access control lists (ACLs), you can define the rules and policies that determine which clients are allowed to access your APIs. This can help you restrict access to specific IP addresses, users, or applications, ensuring that only legitimate users can access your APIs.

API firewalls can also help you monitor and analyze API traffic, allowing you to detect potential security incidents and respond more quickly. By collecting and analyzing logs, you can gain insights into your API usage, identify potential security issues, and improve the overall security of your APIs.

10. Use OAuth and OpenID Connect

OAuth and OpenID Connect are widely used standards for securing authentication and authorization in APIs. OAuth provides a secure way for clients to access protected resources on behalf of users, while OpenID Connect enables user authentication and single sign-on (SSO) across multiple applications.

By using token-based authentication, you can ensure that your APIs are protected from unauthorized access. OAuth and OpenID Connect use access tokens and ID tokens, respectively, to grant access to your APIs. These tokens are short-lived and can be revoked or refreshed as needed, providing a more secure alternative to traditional username/password authentication.

OAuth and OpenID Connect allow you to leverage existing identity providers (IdPs) such as Google, Facebook, or Azure Active Directory for authentication and authorization. By using these services, you can offload the management of user accounts and credentials, making it easier to maintain and secure your APIs.

11. Test Your APIs with Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a technique used to identify security vulnerabilities in running applications. By interacting with your APIs and analyzing the responses, DAST tools can help you detect potential issues such as broken authentication, insecure data storage, and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

By integrating DAST into your development and deployment pipelines, you can automate security testing and ensure that your APIs are continuously monitored for potential vulnerabilities. This can help you catch security issues early on and save time and resources by fixing them before deployment.

API Testing with Bright Security

Bright has been built from the ground up with a dev first approach to test your web applications, with a specific focus on API security testing tools.

With support for a wide range of API architectures, test your legacy and modern applications, including REST API, SOAP, and GraphQL testing.

Bright complements DevOps and CI/CD processes, empowering developers to detect and fix vulnerabilities on every build. It reduces the reliance on manual testing by leveraging multiple discovery methods:

• HAR files
• OpenAPI (Swagger) files 
• Postman Collections

Start detecting the technical OWASP API Top 10 and more, seamlessly integrated across your pipelines via:

• Bright Rest API
• Convenient CLI for developers
• Common DevOps tools like CircleCI, Jenkins, JIRA, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and more

Learn more about Bright

Table of Content

1. Introduction
2. Rapid Scanning: A Preliminary Line of Defense
3. Intensive Examination: The Deep-Dive Approach
4. How to choose the best approach
5. Summary

Introduction

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a crucial component in fortifying web applications against potential vulnerabilities. By taking a proactive stance, DAST systematically detects and addresses security flaws. Employing a black-box testing methodology, it scrutinizes the application from an external perspective, focusing on exposed interfaces without relying on internal source code knowledge. Through simulated cyberattacks, DAST diligently monitors application responses, exposing exploitable vulnerabilities like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection, and Security Misconfigurations. The scanning process encompasses two distinct categories: rapid (or shallow) scans and intensive (or in-depth) scans. By delving into these approaches, we gain a comprehensive understanding of their unique attributes, advantages, and limitations.

Rapid Scanning: A Preliminary Line of Defense

Rapid scans, sometimes referred to as lightweight or shallow scans, provide a quick yet effective assessment of an application’s security posture. These scans work by rapidly crawling the application and testing for common, surface-level vulnerabilities. They are typically employed during the initial phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) or as part of continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) in DevSecOps environments.

Rapid scans offer notable advantages in terms of speed and efficiency. Their swiftness enables a prompt security feedback loop, facilitating quick remediation and reducing the likelihood of vulnerabilities making it into production. Furthermore, their non-intrusive nature ensures minimal impact on system performance, making them well-suited for regular and frequent testing in agile development contexts.

However, it is important to recognize the limitations of rapid scans. Due to their focus on speed, they may provide a less exhaustive assessment, potentially overlooking complex, nested, or multi-step vulnerabilities that require a deeper understanding of the application’s behavior. Moreover, rapid scans may not comprehensively test all potential attack vectors, as they often prioritize higher-level, easily accessible interfaces.

To achieve a comprehensive security posture, it is crucial to supplement rapid scans with intensive scans. By combining the two approaches, organizations can leverage the efficiency of rapid scans while addressing the shortcomings through in-depth assessments. This balanced approach ensures that both the speed and thoroughness required for robust security are achieved.

Intensive Examination: The Deep-Dive Approach

Intensive scans, also known as deep or exhaustive scans, offer a far more thorough and comprehensive exploration of an application’s security landscape. This methodology involves an in-depth assessment of the application, probing parameters, analyzing responses, and validating potential vulnerabilities in detail. Techniques employed in this method often include advanced fuzzing, path traversal checks and analysis of business logic vulnerabilities.

The primary advantage of intensive scans is their thoroughness. They are capable of uncovering complex, multi-step vulnerabilities that rapid scans may miss, providing a detailed and comprehensive view of the application’s security standing. As a result, intensive scans are particularly beneficial for applications with high-security requirements, complex architectures, or those processing sensitive data.

Nonetheless, the exhaustive nature of intensive scans presents its own challenges. These scans are time and resource-intensive, often less feasible in fast-paced, agile environments. Their thoroughness can also lead to an increased number of false positives, requiring additional resources to analyze and validate the results. Furthermore, their invasive nature may disrupt regular operations or cause performance degradation, making them less suited for live or performance-sensitive systems.

How to choose the best approach

In the landscape of application security testing, both rapid and intensive scans serve indispensable roles. The decision between them should hinge upon a careful consideration of several factors including risk profile, development pace, resource availability, and the complexity of the application.

Rapid scans serve as a valuable preliminary measure, swiftly identifying and resolving common vulnerabilities during the early development stages. On the other hand, intensive scans deliver a comprehensive security audit, offering an invaluable layer of assurance for high-risk applications or prior to deployment.

A balanced and effective security strategy often leverages both approaches. Employing rapid scans early and often, followed by intensive scans at strategic points, can provide a layered and robust defense, delivering both speed and depth in your application security testing protocol.

The frequency and timing of these scans should align with the rhythm of your development cycle and the specific characteristics of your application. For instance, after the integration of new features or significant code changes, a rapid scan can provide immediate feedback to developers. This early detection reduces remediation costs and time, and prevents security debt from accumulating in the codebase.

Following the rapid scan, intensive scans can be scheduled at key milestones, such as before major version releases or after a significant architectural change. This in-depth scrutiny assures stakeholders that more intricate vulnerabilities have not been overlooked, thereby providing a solid security foundation for the application.

Apart from the scheduled scans, it’s worth noting that an agile DAST strategy should also allow room for unscheduled, trigger-based scans. These can be triggered by events such as the discovery of a new common vulnerability, a significant increase in traffic, or the release of a new version of a third-party component that an application relies on.

While integrating both rapid and intensive scans into your DAST strategy, it’s also important to remember the role of false positive management. With the potential for an increased number of false positives, particularly from intensive scans, the establishment of an efficient triage process is essential. This will ensure that false positives are quickly identified and disregarded, saving valuable time and resources.

In addition, it is beneficial to foster a strong culture of security awareness within your development team. Training developers to understand and address security issues identified by DAST scans reduces the security feedback loop and strengthens the application’s security posture. This symbiosis between automated scanning and human expertise is a cornerstone of an effective, balanced security strategy.

Summary

In making the decision between rapid and intensive scans, it’s important to recognize that it’s not a simple binary choice. Instead, it requires a thoughtful consideration of specific requirements and constraints. By adopting a stratified approach to DAST scanning, organizations can achieve an optimal balance between immediacy and thoroughness.

Leveraging rapid scans offers the advantage of swift identification of potential vulnerabilities, providing immediate insights into critical security issues. On the other hand, intensive scans delve deeper into the application, meticulously examining every nook and cranny to uncover even the most intricate vulnerabilities. The combination of these approaches enables organizations to build a comprehensive security framework.

By employing rapid scans for timely responsiveness and intensive scans for meticulous scrutiny, organizations can strike the right equilibrium between speed and depth. This approach ensures the establishment of a robust and comprehensive security posture, safeguarding web applications against a wide range of potential threats.

Table of Content

1. What Is Web Application Scanning? 
2. 4 Reasons You Need Web Application Security Scanning 
3. Web Application Scanning vs. Web Vulnerability Scanning
4. Types of Web Application Scanning Tools 
5. How to Choose Web Application Scanning Tools 
6. Security Testing with Bright Security

What Is Web Application Scanning? 

Web application scanning involves systematically testing a web application for potential security vulnerabilities. The goal of web application scanning is to identify security weaknesses before they can be exploited by attackers. 

This is typically accomplished by using automated tools to scan the application for known vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS). Some tools can also attempt to identify vulnerabilities that are not well-known or documented. 

Web application scanning is an important part of an organization’s overall security posture, as it can help identify and prioritize vulnerabilities that need to be addressed to reduce the risk of a successful attack.

This is part of a series of articles about security testing

In this article:

• The Importance of Web Application Security Scanning
• Web Vulnerability Scanning vs. Web Application Scanning
• How to Choose Web Application Scanning Tools

4 Reasons You Need Web Application Security Scanning 

Web application scanning has several advantages, including:

1. Detecting and fixing security vulnerabilities early: By scanning a web application for vulnerabilities, organizations can identify and address security issues before they can be exploited by attackers. This can help prevent data breaches and other security incidents.
2. Producing detailed website health reports: Web application scanning can provide detailed reports on the health and security of a website. This information can help organizations better understand their website’s vulnerabilities and take steps to address them.
3. Ensuring compliance: Many industries have regulatory requirements for website security. Scanning can help organizations ensure that their website meets these compliance standards.
4. Maintaining uptime: Security vulnerabilities can lead to website downtime, which can result in lost revenue and damage to an organization’s reputation. By identifying and addressing vulnerabilities early, web application scanning can help maintain website uptime and availability.

Learn more in our detailed guide to web application security 

Web Application Scanning vs. Web Vulnerability Scanning

Web vulnerability scanning and web application vulnerability are two related approaches to web application security testing.

Web application scanning involves evaluating web applications for security vulnerabilities and threats, but with a focus on the application layer. It involves using automated tools to scan web applications for potential security flaws, such as input validation errors, authentication and authorization issues, session management vulnerabilities, and other application-level vulnerabilities – including web vulnerability scanning, as defined below.

Web vulnerability scanning refers to the process of automatically scanning a website or web application to detect known security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. This process usually involves crawling the website or application, submitting various inputs and requests, and analyzing the responses to detect potential vulnerabilities.

Learn more in our detailed guide to microservices security.

Types of Web Application Scanning Tools 

There are three main types of web application scanning tools:

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools check the source code of web applications to identify potential security vulnerabilities. This type of tool can detect issues such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and buffer overflows.
• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools test web applications while they are running to identify vulnerabilities that cannot be detected through static analysis. These tools simulate real-world attacks to identify weaknesses in the application’s security posture.
• Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools focus on identifying vulnerabilities in third-party components that are used in web applications. SCA tools examine the software dependencies of web applications to identify known vulnerabilities in the third-party components.

How to Choose Web Application Scanning Tools 

Choosing the right web application scanning tool is an important decision for organizations looking to improve their website security. While web application scanning can be an effective way to identify vulnerabilities in a website, traditional scanners have some limitations. These limitations include:

• Incomplete coverage: Traditional scanners may not detect all vulnerabilities, especially those that are more complex or require manual testing. It is important to choose a tool that provides adequate coverage for the organization’s website and the types of vulnerabilities that are most relevant to their business.
• Time-consuming scans: They can take a long time to complete, which can be a significant burden on resources and may cause delays in addressing vulnerabilities.
• False positives: They may generate many false positives, which can be time-consuming to review and can lead to frustration and wasted resources. The accuracy of a scanning tool is another important factor to consider. False positives can waste time and resources, so it is important to choose a tool that minimizes false positives and provides accurate results.

To choose the right web application scanner and make the most of it, there are some recommended practices that organizations should follow:

• Choose a tool with integrations: Integration with other security and vulnerability management tools is also important. A tool that integrates well with other tools can help streamline the vulnerability management process and provide more comprehensive coverage.
• Calculate costs in advance: Cost is also an important consideration when choosing a web app scanning tool. Some tools may be expensive, while others may be more affordable. It is important to choose a tool that provides good value for the organization’s budget. 
• Implement continuous discovery: Web application scanning should be an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Implementing continuous discovery can help ensure that new vulnerabilities are identified as soon as they are introduced.
• Implement continuous testing: Similarly, testing should be an ongoing process. Regular testing can help ensure that vulnerabilities are being addressed and that the website remains secure over time.
• Expand the scope of vulnerability scans: Traditional scanners may not detect all vulnerabilities, so it is important to increase the scope of vulnerability scans by incorporating manual testing and other tools.
• Integrate security and vulnerability management into the CI/CD pipeline: Organizations can ensure that security is built into the development process from the beginning. This can help prevent vulnerabilities from being introduced in the first place and can help ensure that vulnerabilities are addressed quickly and efficiently.

Learn more in our detailed guide to security testing tools 

Security Testing with Bright Security

Bright Security helps address the shortage of security personnel, enabling AppSec teams to provide governance for security testing, and enabling every developer to run their own security tests. 

Bright empowers developers to incorporate an automated Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) solution into their unit testing process so they can resolve security concerns as part of their agile development process. Bright’s DAST platform integrates into the SDLC fully and seamlessly: 

• Test results are provided to the CISO and the security team, providing complete visibility into vulnerabilities found and remediated
• Tickets are automatically opened for developers in their bug tracking system so they can be fixed quickly

Bright Security can scan any target, whether Web Apps, APIs (REST/SOAP/GraphQL) to help enhance DevSecOps and achieve regulatory compliance with our real-time, false positive free actionable reports of vulnerabilities. In addition, our ML-based DAST solution provides an Automated solution to identify Business Logic Vulnerabilities.

Learn more about Bright Security testing solutions

Table of Content

1. What Is Shift Left Testing? 
2. Benefits of Shift Left Testing 
3. How a Shift Left Testing Strategy Works 
4. 4 Best Practices of Shift Left Testing 
5. Application Security Testing with Bright 

What Is Shift Left Testing? 

Shift left testing is a software testing approach that emphasizes moving the testing process earlier in the software development life cycle (SDLC). The term “shift left” refers to the notion of shifting the testing activities towards the left side of the project timeline, meaning they are conducted earlier rather than later in the development process.

The goal is to identify and resolve issues more quickly, improve overall software quality, enhance collaboration between team members, and reduce time to market and associated costs.

This is part of a series of articles about application security testing.

In this article:

• Benefits of Shift Left Testing
  • Reduced Costs Involved in Development and Testing
  • Early Bug Detection Ensures Better Code and Product Quality
  • Enhanced Test Coverage
  • Effective Use of Time and Resources
• How a Shift Left Testing Strategy Works
• Best Practices of Shift Left Testing
  • Identify & Plan Testing Life cycle
  • Specify Quality Standards
  • Offer Continuous Feedback
  • Embrace Test Automation

Benefits of Shift Left Testing 

There are multiple benefits to shifting testing to the left:

Reduced Costs Involved in Development and Testing

Shifting testing to the left helps identify and fix issues earlier in the development process, which typically reduces the costs involved in development and testing. Early bug detection and resolution often require fewer resources and less time, resulting in lower overall expenses. Fixing issues later in the development process can be more complex and time-consuming, increasing the cost of remediation.

Early Bug Detection Ensures Better Code and Product Quality

By performing tests early and frequently, shift left testing enables developers to catch defects and issues as soon as they occur. This early bug detection helps ensure that the code is of higher quality, as issues are resolved before they can compound or cause additional problems. As a result, the final product is more reliable, stable, and less prone to defects, leading to increased customer satisfaction and reduced support and maintenance costs.

Enhanced Test Coverage

When testing is performed later in the development process, time constraints can lead to incomplete or inadequate test coverage. In contrast, shift left testing allows for more comprehensive test coverage, as testing activities are integrated throughout the development process. This expanded coverage helps identify a wider range of issues, from functional defects to performance and security vulnerabilities, further improving the overall quality of the product.

Effective Use of Time and Resources

Shift left testing promotes the efficient use of time and resources by encouraging collaboration between developers, testers, and other stakeholders. Early involvement of testing teams in the development process fosters a shared understanding of requirements and expectations, allowing for more effective planning and execution of testing activities. 

Continuous feedback loops and automation help minimize repetitive tasks, allowing team members to focus on more critical aspects of the project. Ultimately, this effective use of time and resources can result in faster development cycles and more efficient use of project resources.

Related content: Read our guide to IAST

How a Shift Left Testing Strategy Works 

A shift left testing strategy involves integrating testing activities earlier in the SDLC and employing a continuous approach to testing and deployment. Two key components of this strategy are continuous testing and continuous deployment

Continuous testing

Continuous testing involves running automated tests throughout the entire development process to ensure that the software remains in a releasable state at all times. This approach provides immediate feedback on the quality and functionality of the code, allowing developers to quickly identify and address issues.

Continuous testing typically includes the following aspects:

• Unit tests: Focus on individual components or functions of the software, ensuring that each part behaves as expected.
• Integration tests: Verify that different components of the software work together correctly, identifying any issues that may arise when the components are combined.
• System tests: Evaluate the software as a whole, ensuring that it meets overall requirements and behaves correctly in its intended environment.
• Performance tests: Measure the software’s response times, throughput, and stability under various workloads, ensuring that it meets performance requirements.
• Security tests: Identify potential vulnerabilities and ensure that the software adheres to security best practices.

Continuous deployment

Continuous deployment is the practice of automatically deploying code changes to production as soon as they pass the required tests. This approach allows new features and bug fixes to be released more quickly, reducing the time it takes to deliver value to customers.

Continuous deployment typically involves the following steps:

1. Code changes are committed to a version control system (e.g., Git).
2. Automated tests are run against the changes, verifying that they do not introduce any new issues or break existing functionality.
3. If the tests pass, the code changes are automatically deployed to a staging environment, where further testing and validation can take place.
4. If the changes pass all tests and validations in the staging environment, they are automatically deployed to production.

Implementing a shift left testing strategy with continuous testing and continuous deployment helps ensure that software is of high quality, stable, and secure. This approach also promotes faster development cycles, more efficient use of resources, and improved collaboration between team members.

Learn more in our detailed guide to mobile app security testing.

4 Best Practices of Shift Left Testing 

1. Identify & Plan Testing Life cycle

Planning the testing life cycle early in the development process is crucial for a successful shift left testing approach. This involves defining the testing scope, objectives, and expected outcomes, as well as identifying the types of tests needed and the tools required to execute them. 

Proper planning helps ensure that testing activities are aligned with project goals and that they provide the desired level of coverage and depth. Additionally, planning helps identify potential challenges or constraints and enables teams to allocate resources and time effectively.

2. Specify Quality Standards

Establishing clear quality standards and expectations from the outset is essential for a shift left testing strategy. These standards should be well-defined, measurable, and agreed upon by all stakeholders, including developers, testers, and product owners. 

By specifying quality standards early on, teams can better align their testing efforts with project goals and ensure that the final product meets the desired level of quality. Quality standards may include aspects such as performance benchmarks, security requirements, and functional specifications, as well as adherence to coding best practices and industry standards.

3. Offer Continuous Feedback

One of the key benefits of shift left testing is the ability to provide continuous feedback to developers throughout the development process. This feedback is essential for identifying and resolving issues quickly, improving the overall quality of the code and product. 

To facilitate continuous feedback, it’s important to create a culture of open communication and collaboration between team members. Encourage developers and testers to work closely together, share insights and knowledge, and address issues as they arise. Regularly review test results and use them to inform development decisions, and leverage tools that enable real-time monitoring and reporting of test progress and outcomes.

4. Embrace Test Automation

Automated tests should be run quickly and frequently, providing immediate feedback on code changes and allowing developers to catch and fix issues early in the development process. Automation also helps reduce the manual effort required for testing, enabling testers to focus on more complex or high-priority tasks. 

To make the most of test automation, invest in tools and frameworks that support the project’s specific needs, and prioritize automating tests that are repetitive, time-consuming, or prone to human error. Additionally, ensure that all automated tests are maintainable and scalable, and regularly review and update them to keep pace with evolving requirements and standards.

Application Security Testing with Bright 

For a robust AppSec programme, it is important to ensure that security vulnerabilities are detected and remediated early and often. With agile development and CICD, security testing needs to shift left and into the hands of developers.

To succeed, you need to adopt developer friendly tools like Bright’s DAST scanner, built from the ground up to enable developers to own the security testing process, with the following key features:

• Developer first – built for DevOps / CICD
• Test everything – WebApps and APIs (SOAP, REST, GraphQL)
• Accurate – NO false positives 
• Automation – integrated automatic validation of findings removes manual validation bottlenecks that stifle your release cycles and compound your technical and security debt
• Feedback Loop – Easy to use, fast scans and integrates across your pipelines 
• Easy fixes – Developer friendly remediation guidelines, start fixing security issues early and often
• Detect more – automatic Business Logic vulnerability detection

For more information and resources, see our blog and documentation. Better still, request a demo today and start automating your security testing across your pipelines

Table of Content

1. Recent Hacks
2. Types of Application Security tools
3. Choosing the Right Tool
4. Evaluation Criteria

Choosing the right application security tools can be a daunting task, as there are countless options available in the market. With the rapid advancement of technology, the complexity of these tools has increased, making it even more challenging for individuals and organizations to select the most appropriate solution. The sheer volume of options can be overwhelming, and it can be difficult to determine which tools will meet the specific security needs of an organization. Additionally, many of these tools require a high level of technical expertise to implement and operate effectively. As a result, careful consideration and research are essential to ensure that the right application security tools are selected to protect against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

To help you make the right decision, we have put together a 2023 Guide to Application Security Tools. We understand the importance of selecting the right application security tools, and our guide is designed to simplify the process, making it easier for you to choose the most appropriate solution for your organizational needs. 

Recent Hacks

To prepare your organization for possible attacks, it’s essential to comprehend how your adversaries function, what vulnerabilities they target, and what kind of harm they can cause. By answering these and other related questions, you can develop an effective Application Security strategy. 

To that end, in the guide we have compiled a list of seven software attacks that have taken place in recent years, complete with an explanation of the attack type, exploited vulnerabilities, and the consequences for the affected organization, so readers can gain a better understanding.

Types of Application Security tools

The guide provides an overview of different types of application security testing techniques, including Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST), and Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP). 

SAST is a white-box testing technique that can detect vulnerabilities in source code, making it popular for detecting issues early in the development process. DAST, on the other hand, tests the running application from the outside to identify potential security weaknesses. IAST combines both SAST and DAST techniques to analyze an application’s internal flow and link findings to source code. RASP, a complementary solution to SAST and DAST, monitors applications in production to detect and stop malicious behavior. In the 2023 AppSec tools guide you will find a list of popular tools for every testing technique, including features, advantages, and disadvantages for each. 

Vendors discussed in this guide include: 

Choosing the Right Tool

Choosing the right application security (AppSec) testing tool can be a challenging task due to the plethora of options available in the market. To assist organizations in making an informed decision, we delve into the key factors that should be considered when selecting an AppSec tool. Our white paper covers various considerations, such as effectiveness, false positives, ease of use, compatibility, and team empowerment, providing practical guidance to help readers choose the most suitable tool for their specific needs.

Evaluation Criteria

In order to streamline the process of evaluating potential security tools, we have developed a practical checklist that can be used to approach this task in a step-by-step manner. Given the large volume of information that needs to be gathered and digested when considering various security technologies and vendors, this checklist will prove to be an invaluable resource. By utilizing the checklist, you can effectively compare each vendor and technology to ensure that the selection you ultimately make meets all of your requirements. By taking a systematic approach to this process, you can rest assured that you are making an optimal choice that will help to safeguard your organization’s valuable assets.

Best AppSec Practices

The Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) is a crucial framework that enables high-quality software development at a low cost, while also shortening the development time. By integrating security into each phase of the development process, organizations can ensure that by the time code hits production, it’s ready for the market. However, security is often an afterthought in the SDLC, which can result in costly security vulnerabilities that are found and fixed too late. 

Regular testing and updates are important to ensure that products are protected from known vulnerabilities that hackers may exploit to compromise devices. Implementing new security measures makes it harder for attackers to successfully compromise devices, which could otherwise result in the theft of sensitive data. Although regular software updates may be inconvenient, they are necessary. As many of us know, humans are often the most vulnerable link in an organization’s cybersecurity chain, which is why cybersecurity training and education is crucial. The importance of cybersecurity training cannot be overstated, as security on the web is constantly evolving, and it is essential to keep employees up to date on the latest cybersecurity trends to ensure both their safety and the security of the company.

The Ultimate Application Security Testing Guide is Here!

Overall, Selecting the right Application Security tools can become overwhelming as the market is flooded with various options. However, we understand the difficulty you may face and strive to make your job easier with our comprehensive guide to AppSec testing. Our guide provides detailed information on recent hacks, different types of application security testing tools, and a list of popular tools along with their pros and cons. We also help you choose the right tools by highlighting the factors to consider and evaluation criteria. In addition, we emphasize the best AppSec practices to ensure that you can confidently make the right decision while purchasing. If you are looking for a simpler purchasing process and want to be sure about your final choice, our guide is the perfect solution for you. Click the link below to gain instant access to the valuable insights and recommendations we have to offer.

2023 Guide to Application Security Testing Tools

Table of Content

1. Starting an AppSec Program
2. Budgeting and Building Blocks
3. Selecting Appropriate Tools
4. Collaboration and Selection for Successful Implementation
5. Prioritization: Tools, Business Logic, and Risk Scoring
6. Collaboration and Alignment 
7. Additional Resources

Whether you’re starting your Application Security (AppSec) program from scratch or looking to improve an existing one, it’s important to consider various factors such as program maturity, organizational structure, and effective strategies. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as each organization has unique needs and requirements. 

Luckily, four industry experts came together for a live discussion on the quest of a perfect Application Security program. They provided insights on best practices, approaches, and tips for addressing common challenges. By the end of the event, participants left equipped with the knowledge and confidence to create, build, and scale a successful AppSec program.

Starting an AppSec Program

When starting an Application Security program, the first step is to gain buy-in from all relevant parties. Without buy-in, the effectiveness of any subsequent activities will be limited. This buy-in must come from the developers, engineering teams, and the entire company at the corporate level. Once buy-in is achieved, a risk framework should be established. After all, identifying risks and performing scans is pointless if there is no one to remediate the issues. 

If you are starting your AppSec program from scratch, the framework of people, process, and technology is crucial. It is essential to have a deep understanding of how the organization functions to ensure that the AppSec program’s framework seamlessly integrates with the rest of the organization. If the framework does not fit in well with the organization’s existing processes and fails to make it easy for everyone, then the adoption of the program will be challenging. It is necessary to examine the organization’s current activities and identify the technology assets and gaps to create a comprehensive plan. 

Budgeting and Building Blocks

The size of an organization is not necessarily the determining factor for whether it needs an AppSec program. Any organization that is involved in software development, regardless of size, should have an AppSec program to ensure that the applications it produces are secure. It is important to start building the right building blocks for AppSec early and make it a part of the organization’s culture. This can involve starting from the first line of code with easy-to-onboard solutions that are free. Even a small amount of AppSec is better than none.

When it comes to budgeting for an AppSec program, it is important to understand the organization’s specific needs and risks. This will help determine the level of investment required to build and maintain an effective program. This may involve investing in tools, training, and personnel to support the program. It is also important to consider the potential cost savings that can be achieved through early identification and remediation of vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the budget should be based on a realistic assessment of the organization’s needs and risks, and should be adjusted as necessary to ensure that the AppSec program remains effective over time.

Selecting Appropriate Tools

The next step in creating an AppSec program is to consider the tools required for integration. For startups or small companies below 500 employees, open-source tools can be used if the team has the expertise to implement them effectively. However, for larger companies that are scaling, it may be more appropriate to use commercial tools that integrate with existing pipelines, provide reporting capabilities, and make it easier for developers to remediate issues. If there is a limited budget, opting for open-source tools is still better than having no tools at all.

Operating in a scenario where you don’t know what you are protecting can be challenging. When selecting a tool for this purpose, it is important to involve the developers in the proof of concept (POC) phase and seek their feedback. This will ensure that they are happy with the tool and that it does not flood them with false positives. The tool should be precise and should provide proof that developers can trust. 

Collaboration and Selection for Successful Implementation

Application Security plays a critical role in bridging the gap between engineers and decision-makers by guiding them towards the right decisions. However, AppSec is vulnerable to losing buy-in from either side of the equation, which can hinder its ability to impact decisions. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of both sides and ensure that decisions are made collaboratively to maintain buy-in and ensure successful AppSec implementation.

​​In order to effectively implement an Application Security program, it is essential to select tools and solutions that fit into the organization and drive value, taking into account the segment of the market using DevOps and modern development technologies. Deploying the wrong tools can create antagonism between AppSec and development teams, leading to a lack of alignment and collaboration. It is therefore crucial to carefully examine the organization’s current activities and select tools that align with how the organization works to maximize value.

Prioritization: Tools, Business Logic, and Risk Scoring

Prioritization is one of the core problems that organizations face when it comes to Application Security. The approach to choosing and prioritizing activities will depend on the size of the organization. For a small team with someone who is very technical, creating scripts or communicating with a GitHub API may be an option. For larger organizations, it is important to start looking at tools that will provide visibility over all repositories and services, including what is in production and what is not. Understanding which assets are critical and which are external is important in knowing what to give to developers to fix first.

It is also important to look at the company’s mission and understand how important the application is to that mission. This will help determine how important the vulnerabilities are to that particular application. Here, business logic vulnerabilities should also be taken into consideration, as understanding the logic of the application can help identify the actual threat to the application or API. 

Risk scoring is another important factor to consider, such as whether the application is public facing or private, whether it contains sensitive data, and whether there are any legal or compliance requirements that apply to it. By considering these factors, organizations can prioritize their application security activities effectively.

Collaboration and Alignment 

In order to prioritize effectively, all teams involved in the development and security process must work together seamlessly. It’s important for the AppSec team to operate on the same timeframe and in the same time loops as the development team, and for all teams to consider the business’s overall goals and risk factors. Without proper alignment, there can be a gap between development and AppSec, leading to problems. Empowering people and delegating responsibilities can help to streamline the process and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. With a ratio of 500:1 developers to AppSec, it’s important to focus on collaboration and ensuring that everyone is part of the process, rather than trying to take over the project. By working together and aligning cycles, teams can prioritize effectively and achieve successful outcomes.

Additional Resources

• Enso Security AppSec Map
• We Hack Purple Blog
• Alice and Bob Learn Application Security

What Is Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is an application security testing methodology in which the application is tested at runtime to discover security vulnerabiltiies. DAST tools don’t have access to the application and API’s source code, so they detect vulnerabilities by performing actual attacks, similar to a real hacker. In a sense, DAST tools perform automated penetration testing of your web applications.

DAST solutions can detect and help protect against web application vulnerabilities, such as the OWASP Top 10. Common flaws include SQL injection, cross site scripting (XSS), external XML entities (XXE), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). DAST can simulate these attacks and see if the application is vulnerable. While it is possible to scan source code to find vulnerabilities, the most effective method to protect an application is to determine if an external attacker can exploit them at runtime, when the full application is running with all its components.

This is part of an extensive series of guides about cybersecurity.

In this article, you will learn:

• Why Is DAST Important?
• DAST Pros and Cons
• How Does DAST Work?
• What is the Role of DAST in Application Security (AppSec)?
• DAST Best Practices

Why Is DAST Important? 

Simply testing applications during development is insufficient for protecting them from potential breaches during their production stage. It is crucial to establish a diverse application security program to mitigate overall business risk. By utilizing DAST with other strategies, it is possible to detect potential attack vectors and prevent them from being exploited.

DAST solves these challenges and allows your organization to:

1. Provide accurate vulnerability reports based on the application’s running state
2. Support developer education by providing actionable fixes to security problems
3. Easily integrate security testing into the SDLC
4. Practice DevSecOps more effectively by taking feedback produced from DAST and integrating it into SecOps and DevOps tools
5. Better protect applications and code
6. Provide quality vulnerability assessment reports to expedite the remediation process

DAST is an essential component of a comprehensive security testing program, as it provides a real-world evaluation of an application’s security posture. It is typically performed as part of the software development lifecycle to ensure that security issues are identified and addressed before an application is released into production.

DAST Pros and Cons

Benefits of DAST

DAST offers several benefits, including:

• Identifying vulnerabilities: DAST tools can identify security vulnerabilities in web applications that could be exploited by attackers. This helps developers and security teams understand how an application may be exploited and take steps to remediate these vulnerabilities.
• Real-world testing: DAST tests an application in its operational state, allowing it to identify vulnerabilities that may not be caught by other types of security testing, such as static analysis or manual code review.
• Quick testing: DAST tools can quickly scan an application to identify vulnerabilities, allowing security teams to prioritize remediation efforts based on risk severity.
• Comprehensive testing: DAST can test the entire application, including its user interface, web services, and back-end components, providing a more comprehensive evaluation of an application’s security posture.
• Cost-effective: DAST is a cost-effective way to evaluate the security of web applications, as it does not require access to the application’s source code or specialized security expertise.
• Compliance: DAST can help ensure that web applications comply with industry standards and regulations, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

DAST Limitations

While DAST is a powerful tool, traditional DAST has a few limitations, including:

• Limited coverage: Traditional DAST tools only test an application’s external behavior, such as its user interface and web services, and do not assess its internal workings. This limits their ability to identify certain types of vulnerabilities, such as those that occur in the back-end components of an application.
• False positives: Traditional DAST tools can generate false positives, which are warnings that a vulnerability exists when it does not. This can result in wasted time and effort, as well as lead to potential security gaps if real vulnerabilities are ignored due to too many false positives.
• Limited context: Traditional DAST tools operate without full knowledge of the application’s context, such as business logic or the intended user experience. This can result in a lack of accuracy in identifying vulnerabilities and their potential impact on the application.
• Inability to detect all types of vulnerabilities: Traditional DAST tools may not be able to detect all types of vulnerabilities, such as those that require a complex chain of actions to exploit.
• Requires significant expertise: Traditional DAST tools require specialized expertise to interpret the results and determine the severity of any identified vulnerabilities. This can be a significant challenge for smaller organizations or those with limited security resources.

Related content: Read our guide to dast vs sast.

How Does DAST Work?

DAST tools launch automated scans simulating malicious external attacks on the application. The goal is to identify unexpected outcomes. For example, a test can inject malicious data to uncover injection flaws. A DAST tool typically tests all HTML and HTTP access points. To find vulnerabilities, the test emulates random user behaviors and actions.

A new generation of DAST solutions is emerging, which leverages AI to address the challenges of traditional DAST:

• No need for manual tuning – next-generation DAST automatically creates test sets and dynamically identifies the structure of the underlying application.
• No false positives – leverages machine learning algorithms and fuzz testing to analyze findings like a human penetration tester, and determine if they are real vulnerabilities or not.
• Detects business logic vulnerabilities – accesses web applications like a real user and tries different control flows, until it discovers a user interface path that exposes a security weakness. 
• Detects zero day vulnerabilities – while traditional DAST can only detect known vulnerabilities from manually updated lists, next generation DAST leverages AI detection capabilities and real time data from other users of the platform to detect zero day attacks.
• Advanced reporting – provides reports and compliance audits on par with those created by a human tester. 

What is the Role of DAST in Application Security (AppSec)?

Application security testing (AST) tools automate the process of testing, analyzing, and reporting security vulnerabilities. AST tools are an integral part of the DevSecOps movement, which aims to shift security left and add security scans to each stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

AST tools are typically categorized into four main types:

• Static application security testing (SAST) – provides white-box testing which analyzes the source code while its components are at rest.
• Dynamic application security testing (DAST) – provides black-box tests that models how applications are attacked from the outside.
• Interactive application security testing (IAST) – provides instrumentation of the application code. The goal is to detect and report issues during runtime.
• Software composition analysis (SCA) – scans the code and analyzes open source software components, looking for vulnerabilities and checking license compliance.

DAST vs. SAST

DAST solutions have unique advantages when protecting web applications:

•  A downside of SAST solutions is that they have to support the programming language and application framework in use by the application.
• In DAST, only issues that represent a real risk are reported. With SAST it can be challenging to determine if a finding represents a real risk or not.
• Modern DAST can be used as early as the build phase of the SDLC. You can simulate attacker behavior without lengthy pen-testing. SAST takes place earlier in the SDLC, but can only find issues in the code, not the full application.
• DAST detects risks that occur due to complex interplay of modern frameworks, microservices, APIs, etc. SAST solutions are limited to code scanning.
• In comparison to SAST, DAST is less likely to report false positives.

Unlike SAST tools, Dynamic analysis tools are language agnostic. They don’t need to have the same programming language or framework as the application you scan.

Dynamic application security testing solutions, like a real hacker, don’t have access to source code. Using them has more real-world benefits.

Learn more in our detailed guide to iast vs dast.

Integrating DAST into the SDLC

DAST has been around since the mid-90s, but until recently struggled to find its place in the SDLC.

DevOps brought the change. Today, dynamic analysis tools can be easily integrated with popular issue trackers such as JIRA, GitHub, ServiceNow, and Slack. Like any other type of automated AST solutions, DAST solutions can be integrated with CI platforms such as Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, JFrog Pipelines or Azure DevOps.

Organizations want to implement application security testing into the SDLC because the sooner a security issue is detected, the cheaper it is to fix.

DAST Best Practices

Enable Effective Collaboration with DevOps

DAST tools can help not only discover and prioritize vulnerabilities, but also effectively hand them over to DevOps teams to ensure they are addressed correctly. To facilitate this, integrate the DAST tool with ticketing and bug tracking systems used by the DevOps team. Create tickets or issues with the precise information developers need to quickly fix vulnerabilities. This will help them prioritize security issues, and promote a DevSecOps mindset in your organization.

Adopt Defensive Coding Practices

DAST is more effective when the underlying application is built with security in mind. Defensive programming encourages developers to consider how attackers might exploit vulnerabilities and misconfigurations and then design preventive measures into the application while building it.

Developers do not need formal security training to write secure code. It only requires some basic precautions to ensure that the code they write does not contain commonly exploited misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.

Use DAST as Early in the SDLC as Possible

The earlier you integrate DAST into SDLC, the higher your returns will be. In general, early testing is ideal because it can detect vulnerabilities before they hit production, for remediation to be carried out earlier, making the fixes easier and cheaper. 

Integrate DAST with Your CI/CD Pipeline

You can run DAST at every stage of the CI/CD pipeline – early development, testing, staging, and production deployment. At every stage, DAST solutions will provide useful recommendations and reveal vulnerabilities. Identifying these vulnerabilities and fixing them immediately as they are introduced to the pipeline, can dramatically improve security and save time.

Bright’s Next-Gen DAST Solution

Unlike other DAST solutions, Bright was built from the ground up with developers in mind. It lets developers automatically test their applications and APIs for vulnerabilities with every build.

Bright tests every aspect of your apps. It enables you to scan any target, including web applications, internal applications, APIs (REST/SOAP/GraphQL), and serverside mobile applications. It seamlessly integrates with the tools and workflows you already use, automatically triggering scans on every commit, pull request or build with unit testing. Scans are blazing fast, enabling Bright to work in a high velocity development environment.

Instead of just crawling applications and guessing, Bright interacts intelligently with applications and APIs. Our AI-powered engine understands application architecture and generates sophisticated and targeted attacks. By first verifying and exploiting the findings, we make sure we don’t report any false positives. 

See Additional Guides on Key Cybersecurity Topics

Together with our content partners, we have authored in-depth guides on several other topics that can also be useful as you explore the world of cybersecurity.

Application Security

Authored by Radware

• Application Security: 2025 Guide to Risks, Process & Technology 
• SQL Injection: Examples, Real Life Attacks & 9 Defensive Measures 
• What Is Web Application and API Protection (WAAP)?  

API Security

Authored by Radware

• API Security: REST vs. SOAP vs. GraphQL & 8 Best Practices
• Server-Side Request Forgery: Impact, Examples & Defenses 
• Insufficient Logging and Monitoring 

Command Injection

Authored by Bright Security

• Command Injection: How it Works and 5 Ways to Protect Yourself
• PHP Code Injection: Examples and 4 Prevention Tips
• Code Injection Example: A Guide to Discovering and Preventing attacks

In this article:

• How DAST Works
• How IAST Works
• IAST vs DAST: What Are the Differences?
  • Approach
  • Testing Method
  • Information Gathering
  • Performance
  • Ease of Use

How DAST Works 

The basic idea behind DAST is to send HTTP requests to the application and analyze the responses, looking for indications of security issues such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), broken authentication and authorization, and other common web application attacks. DAST tools typically automate this process, sending a large number of requests to the application and analyzing the results to identify potential vulnerabilities.

DAST tools can be used to scan entire web applications or specific parts of an application, such as a particular URL or form. They can be run on a schedule, or triggered manually as part of a security testing process.

How IAST Works

In IAST, security testing is performed while the application is running, similar to DAST. However, instead of simply sending requests to the application and analyzing the responses, IAST instruments the application’s code to monitor its behavior in real-time. This allows IAST to provide more detailed and accurate information about potential security vulnerabilities, as it has access to information about the application’s internal state.

The IAST process works as follows:

1. The IAST tool is integrated into the application, usually by adding a special library or agent to the application’s code.
2. The IAST tool monitors the application’s behavior as it runs, tracking information such as the input and output of each function, the values of variables, and the flow of control through the code.
3. When a potential security vulnerability is detected, the IAST tool raises an alert, providing information about the nature of the issue and the location in the code where it was found.

IAST vs DAST: What Are the Differences? 

IAST and DAST are both methods of testing the security of web applications. However, there are some key differences between the two:

Approach

IAST is a hybrid approach that combines both dynamic and static analysis methods. It analyzes the behavior of the application at runtime and also performs a static analysis of the source code. This provides a more comprehensive approach to security testing as it takes into account both the runtime environment and the source code. On the other hand, DAST is a dynamic testing approach that only analyzes the behavior of the application while it is running.

Testing Method

IAST tests the application while it is running, providing real-time analysis of the security vulnerabilities. It monitors the application’s behavior and provides continuous feedback on the security issues it discovers. DAST tests the application by sending various inputs to it and observing how it responds. This approach simulates real-world attacks and identifies vulnerabilities that exist in the application.

Information Gathering

IAST provides more detailed information about security vulnerabilities as it has access to both the source code and the runtime environment. This allows IAST to identify vulnerabilities that are not easily detected through dynamic testing alone. DAST, on the other hand, provides limited information about vulnerabilities as it only has access to the runtime environment.

Performance

IAST may impact the performance of the application being tested, as it runs in real-time and analyzes the application’s behavior. DAST, on the other hand, does not impact the performance of the application, as it only sends inputs to the application and observes how it responds.

Ease of Use

DAST is easier to set up and use, as it requires fewer resources and expertise. It is a good option for organizations that do not have a dedicated security team or the resources to set up and use IAST. On the other hand, IAST requires more resources and expertise to set up and use effectively, as it combines both dynamic and static analysis methods.

In conclusion, both IAST and DAST have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice between them will depend on the specific needs and requirements of the organization. A combination of both IAST and DAST can provide a more comprehensive approach to web application security testing. Organizations should consider their security needs, resources, and expertise when deciding which method to use.

Learn more in our detailed guide to dast vs sast.

Bright Security’s Next-Gen DAST Solution

Unlike other DAST solutions, Bright Security was built from the ground up with developers in mind. It lets developers automatically test their applications and APIs for vulnerabilities with every build.

Bright Security tests every aspect of your apps. It enables you to scan any target, including web applications, internal applications, APIs (REST/SOAP/GraphQL), and server side mobile applications. It seamlessly integrates with the tools and workflows you already use, automatically triggering scans on every commit, pull request or build with unit testing. Scans are blazing fast, enabling Bright to work in a high velocity development environment.

Instead of just crawling applications and guessing, Bright interacts intelligently with applications and APIs. Our AI-powered engine understands application architecture and generates sophisticated and targeted attacks. By first verifying and exploiting the findings, we make sure we don’t report any false positives. 

Get a free plan and try Bright Security today!

Table of Content

1. Why Application Security Matters
2. Top 5 Application Security Trends in 2023
3. AppSec and CloudSec will converge
4. Tighter Open-Source Security
5. Attack Surface Will Continue to Expand
6. Demand for Vulnerability Prioritization 
7. Extreme “Shift Left” 
8. The Year of AppSec 

The term “application security” (AppSec) describes the processes, practices, and tools used to identify, repair, and protect against application vulnerabilities throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). AppSec activities include, but are not limited to, performing a formal secure code review, hiring a pentester, or simply updating an existing framework with the final goal of improving existing security practices.

Why Application Security Matters

Application security activities and practices are beneficial to ensure the security of your applications by proactively identifying and remediating vulnerabilities. With the threat landscape continuously evolving, attackers are finding new ways to gain access to mission-critical data. When an organization undergoes an attack, the resulting data breach causes financial damage from remediation, data loss, downtime and customer attrition, as well as reputational damage in terms of customers losing trust and confidence in the brand and eroding brand image. When it comes to the security of organizational assets, being proactive is better than reactive. By identifying security flaws, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations and fixing them before an attacker finds them, organizations save both time and money. 

In recent years, application security has become increasingly critical as notable security breaches put the field into the spotlight. According to a recent study conducted by Check Point, global cyber attacks increased by 38% in 2022 compared to 2021. This steep incline reiterates the need for increased enterprise interest and effort to strengthen overall security posture. To achieve this, companies are increasing their investments in AppSec, with overall spending predicted to hit $7.503B in 2023, a 24.7% increase from the previous year. 

Top 5 Application Security Trends in 2023

1. AppSec and CloudSec will converge
2. Tighter open-source security 
3. Attack surface will continue to expand
4. Demand for vulnerability prioritization
5. Extreme “Shift Left”

AppSec and CloudSec will converge

Cloud security involves a collection of security measures designed to protect cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and data. These measures help to ensure user and device authentication, data and resource access control, and data privacy protection. Historically, AppSec and CloudSec functioned as independent security functions. However, to properly determine attack surface and overall security posture, both application code vulnerabilities and misconfigurations of the cloud service hosting must be examined. By converging AppSec and CloudSec, organizations can benefit from better context and remediation. Understanding the attack surface cohesively by looking at how the application code interacts with the cloud service provider, business-critical vulnerabilities can be identified, allowing for task prioritization. Mainly, this is due to determining the root cause of the vulnerability, which in turn, will allow for increased efficiency and effectiveness. 

Tighter Open-Source Security

An expanding cyber attack surface leads the open-source ecosystem to be under constant risk of an attack. Countless data breaches have left hackers at an advantage and open-source libraries vulnerable to manipulation from typo-squatting, hidden code insertions, and other attack techniques. However, 2023 will likely bring about new initiatives to introduce additional controls for open-source security. For instance, we will experience an increased demand for open-source validation, including authenticity checks, reputation checks, and regular vulnerability scanning. Open-source repositories will demand higher standards on uploaded software for increased security. Lastly, 3rd parties will include a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), which can be used for validation before consumption. 

Attack Surface Will Continue to Expand

Technological improvements have resulted in the cybersecurity attack surface to expand for many years. Unfortunately, this trend is unlikely to slow down in 2023. The Covid-19 pandemic streamlined the growing trend of a distributed workforce. While there are many advantages of a distributed workforce, including having access to a much larger talent pool, without proper measures in place, this becomes a double-edged sword. Having multiple systems and plugins, the utilization of numerous access keys, tokens, machine accounts, and automation could leave an organization vulnerable. Those not baking security into every aspect of their organizational layout leave room for attacks resulting in data manipulation, loss and/or theft.

Demand for Vulnerability Prioritization 

Vulnerability management typically involves sorting through copious amounts of noise to determine what needs remediation and what doesn’t in order to prioritize remediation efforts. Of course, false positives negatively impact efficiency as the mountain of noise grows to what may seem unbearable. In 2023, there will be increased pressure on vendors to provide tools with minimal false positives and help prioritize efforts by providing actionable data on relative risk. No one wants to be left guessing whether a vulnerability is exploitable or waste countless hours getting to the root cause of a vulnerability without knowing the severity of the threat. For instance, is the vulnerability exploitable? Where is the code running? Is this business-critical? 

Extreme “Shift Left” 

The philosophy of shifting left refers to introducing security as early as possible in the Software Development Life Cycle. Historically, organizations would wait to introduce security until the final stages of the SDLC, and by this point, it is too late, resulting in security vulnerabilities present in production. As DevOps continues to grow in popularity, security has been unable to keep up with this newfound speed. Here, the only solution is to Shift Left and ease the burden on AppSec teams. Indeed, the only way to make informed security decisions and ensure good security posture is to catch vulnerabilities early on. In 2023, more companies will adopt this philosophy and begin reaping the benefits. 

The Year of AppSec 

Application Security matters now more than ever. With a growing attack surface and increased threats, organizations must be diligent in adopting best practices to ensure the security of their applications. Luckily, this has not gone unnoticed. As spending increases, organizations will become more knowledgeable and equipped to protect themselves by shifting left, tightening controls, and having a clear definition of remediation to avoid becoming the next big headline on data breaches. 

Is your organization looking to integrate security as early as unit testing? Get ahead of vulnerabilities and save both time and money by adopting an AppSec program that fits your company’s needs. Don’t know where to start? We are here to help! Our Dev-Centric, enterprise Dynamic Application Security Testing tool will enable your organization to secure your applications and APIs at the speed of DevOps. AppSec is now; don’t get left behind.