Friday, November 30, 2012

What Is Application Security?


Distributed denial of service attacks have been more prevalent than ever over the past year. Groups such as Anonymous have launched a number of large-scale attacks against banks, government branches and other entities, causing websites to shut down and resulting in the exposure of private information.

However, these large-scale DDoS attacks are not typical, and may not even be as damaging as consistent smaller attacks. A recent network security survey found 76 percent of attacks assessed were on a smaller scale, but were just as potent, if not more so, than bandwidth-consuming DDoS attacks. Companies should look into application security, such as code signing digital certificates, to help safeguard against attacks that could shut down their website for an extended period of time.

When an eCommerce website or another kind of website uses hardware, software or some other kind of process to help protect its applications from external threats, they are using a type of application security. Measures can be built into these applications to help reduce hackers' ability to steal, access, delete or modify information. This becomes especially important when companies are sending business-critical information over the internet and want to ensure the utmost security.

With more applications now available, application security is an extremely important way for businesses to protect the information that is vital for survival.

Effective application security strategies will protect websites and businesses from internal threats, such as unauthorized users accessing valuable data or performing actions without proper clearance. These security measures may also prevent disgruntled employees, looking to get back at an employer, from causing havoc to a network.

External threats that businesses need to keep on their radar include hackers who may try to illegally infiltrate a system to pilfer valuable data, such as customers' financial data or employees' personal details, and former workers who have a vendetta against their old company. These individuals may know passcodes that enable them to access the company's network and damage its system.

Application security can be further advanced within a website by defining assets of the enterprise, prioritizing and assessing each potential threat and creating a security profile for each application. This can further help defend against DDoS attacks and events such as the failure of a storage device.

Another common DDoS myth that continues to give businesses a false sense of security is that firewalls are able to stop all attacks. The security report said firewalls often are the weakest part of a business' defenses. Although it's important to have this measure in place,companies need to use code signing digital certificates and other types of application security to ensure the safety of their websites.

How To Keep Users and Data Safe On The Web   Reality Overtakes Fiction: We Are Already at War, Albeit Electronic, But War All the Same   An Explanation of CISPA for Small Businesses   Protect Your Privacy With Reputation Management   Top 5 Reasons to Check Website Security   



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