AppSec Blog

Keep up with the latest news on cybersecurity, technical trends, and programming best practices.

What to Do After a Data Breach

What to Do After a Data Breach

For many of us, one of the worst professional scenarios we can fall victim to is the dreaded data breach. However, as companies expand their digital footprint, so does their risk of experiencing...

What Is Software Composition Analysis (SCA)?

What Is Software Composition Analysis (SCA)?

With software development progressing quickly, many developers turn to third-party and open-source components to speed up the build process and add requested user functionality. That opens the door...

Maintaining Security With AI Programming Tools

Maintaining Security With AI Programming Tools

The technological landscape has undergone seismic changes in the past decade, with artificial intelligence (AI) being at the forefront of this transformation. For software developers, AI tools are...

AI: How It Is Changing Application Security Testing

AI: How It Is Changing Application Security Testing

As organizations increasingly rely on digital solutions to stay competitive, the importance of application security has skyrocketed. In response to this growing need, AI is stepping into the...

What’s New in the OWASP Top 10 for 2023?

What’s New in the OWASP Top 10 for 2023?

The need for application security has never been greater. In a world where technology is ubiquitous and applications are key to day-to-day operations, organizations must protect their data against...

How AppSec Can Improve Pharmaceutical Security Risks

How AppSec Can Improve Pharmaceutical Security Risks

Pharmaceutical companies face an increased risk of data breaches due to the lack of application security. Recent research has found that pharmaceuticals are among the top three industries for data...

LATAM Data Breaches: Top 3 Countries Affected

LATAM Data Breaches: Top 3 Countries Affected

 Gone are the days when data breaches were only a concern for countries in the developed world. In today's increasingly connected and fast-growing digital economy, cybercriminals have shifted their...

Women Making Digital Waves Throughout History

Women Making Digital Waves Throughout History

As we enter March, let's take a moment to recognize Women's History Month and celebrate the many contributions that women have made throughout history. Women have been at the forefront of innovation...

Support Corner: Improving Code Quality With Kiuwan

Support Corner: Improving Code Quality With Kiuwan

Kiuwan is a world-class application security platform.   Kiuwan SAST (Code Security) identifies and helps remediate security vulnerabilities in our source code.  Kiuwan SCA (Insights) identifies and...

Using JavaScript Safely With Your Projects

Using JavaScript Safely With Your Projects

Read on to learn about the risks of using JavaScript and the best practices for securely developing JavaScript projects. We’ll also cover how Kiuwan security tools can keep JavaScript projects safe.

Top 5 CVE Risks to Watch in 2023

Top 5 CVE Risks to Watch in 2023

As developers, we know that security is paramount in our projects. But with the ever-evolving nature of cyber threats, staying up to date on the latest vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) can be...

Things to Know About AppSec in Europe

Things to Know About AppSec in Europe

The European Union has made significant upgrades to its cybersecurity framework in response to critical infrastructure threats. In order to make Europe a safe place to live and work, the Network and...

2023 AppSec Trends & Predictions

2023 AppSec Trends & Predictions

The Application Security (AppSec) landscape is constantly evolving and adapting to the changing times. As more organizations are looking to AppSec to protect their digital assets from malicious...

Support Corner: Securing Android Apps With Kiuwan

Support Corner: Securing Android Apps With Kiuwan

We’ve recently worked with several clients in the process of building mobile apps for their organizations.  As with desktop, IoT, cloud, and browser-based apps, it is critical to secure our mobile...

Recap of Cloud Security in 2022

Recap of Cloud Security in 2022

As cloud computing continues to experience double-digit percentage growth, security concerns remain a top priority for many organizations. With sensitive data increasingly stored in the cloud and...

Tips to Stay Safe During Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Tips to Stay Safe During Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Two of America’s biggest and busiest shopping days — Black Friday and Cyber Monday — are just around the corner. And as you prepare to shop till you drop, cybercriminals are also hard at it,...

How Holiday Hacking Puts Your Company at Risk

How Holiday Hacking Puts Your Company at Risk

The holiday season brings many good things. Family, presents, decorations, joy, good cheer, peace on Earth, and so on. Unfortunately for anyone working in IT or cybersecurity, the holidays also...

How to Prevent Reverse Shell Attacks

How to Prevent Reverse Shell Attacks

Reverse shell attacks are one of the most common ways that hackers gain control over a computer. It may seem like a strange concept, but it's fairly simple: a reverse shell is created when someone...

Application Security for Energy Providers

Application Security for Energy Providers

In any industry, cybersecurity threats lurk around every corner. Cybersecurity breaches are costly.  In 2021, the average cost of a cybersecurity data breach was $4.24 million, and can substantially...

Seamless DevSecOps Integration Made Easy

Seamless DevSecOps Integration Made Easy

The tide of change that’s washed over the world in the past few years has had sweeping implications for how we live and work. It’s estimated that 26% of American workers were fully remote in 2021...

How to Turn False/Positives Off

How to Turn False/Positives Off

A common topic of conversation we have with software developers is how to reliably and accurately scan code for vulnerabilities while minimizing the number of false positives. And when false...

Top 3 Notorious Hacking Groups

Top 3 Notorious Hacking Groups

The application security world is constantly under attack. One of the most common attacks comes in the form of hacker groups. These notorious hacking groups are often organized and motivated by...

A Holistic Look at Cloud-Native App Security

A Holistic Look at Cloud-Native App Security

One of the key benefits of cloud computing is that it has given organizations the ability to more quickly accelerate applications to market, providing increased business agility. That means...

Understanding Github Repojacking

Understanding Github Repojacking

Threat actors have been using GitHub's repojacking flaw to hijack and inject thousands of repositories with malicious code. This flaw has yet to be fixed, meaning GitHub users will likely see more...

Collaborating for Better Applications

Collaborating for Better Applications

With the rise of collaborative software development environments, it's more important than ever to ensure that code quality and security are top priorities. After all, when multiple developers are...

Creating a Pervasive Security Approach

Creating a Pervasive Security Approach

Implementing a comprehensive security framework requires a strategy that brings security to the front of every stage of the development process — and zero trust is the answer. Here's how it's done...

How Mature Is Your Application Security?

How Mature Is Your Application Security?

For the first time in the survey's history, respondents to the Allianz Risk Barometer cited cyber incidents as their number one concern for 2022. This worry isn't surprising, considering...

A Guide to Security Risks for Financial Services

A Guide to Security Risks for Financial Services

Banking in the 21st century has brought on new innovations but also new threats. Nowadays, most financial services take place in the digital realm. Financial institutions of all sizes need a...

A 20% Increase In Security Scanning Cadence

A 20% Increase In Security Scanning Cadence

Organizations are now scanning for security vulnerabilities at a rate 20 times faster than just a few years ago. The increase in scanning activity is driven by several factors, including the growing...

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Payments Organizations

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Payments Organizations

On March 31, 2022, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) released the latest version of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), outlining technical and operations requirements for...

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Banking Organizations

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Banking Organizations

On March 31, 2022, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) released the latest version of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), outlining technical and operational requirements for...

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Finance Organizations

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Finance Organizations

On March 31, 2022, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) released the latest version of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), outlining technical and operations requirements for...

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Your Organization

What PCI DSS 4.0 Means for Your Organization

On March 31, 2022, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) released the latest version of the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), outlining technical and operations requirements for...

The Risk to Public Sector Applications

The Risk to Public Sector Applications

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard that cybercrime threatens small- to large-sized organizations across the globe. And not only are public sector organizations not immune, they're...

Looking at a New Threat Vector: Protestware

Looking at a New Threat Vector: Protestware

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, a new threat vector has circulated in the open-source community. This threat vector, known as protestware, involves activists injecting malicious content into...

3 Steps to Better Code

3 Steps to Better Code

No matter the project, no matter the industry, having secure, quality code is a critical factor to an organization’s success. If the code quality is lacking, or if there are significant...

Accelerate Digital Transformation With Code Security

Accelerate Digital Transformation With Code Security

Organizations are increasingly embarking on digital transformation journeys. The transformation is enabling them to keep pace with the competition,  optimize IT asset security, and meet evolving...

Developing Data Security for Finance / Banking

The average cost of a data breach, according to the Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021 is $161 ($146 in 2020) per record. And the average total cost of a data breach in 2021 is $4.24 million, up from $3.86 million in 2020. The costs of fighting cybercrime, restoring data and services following a breach, lost revenue, and reputation damage are increasing.

Kiuwan 101

Kiuwan 101

Before jumping on the DevOps security solutions bandwagon, businesses need a Kiuwan 101 introduction to understand which challenges Kiuwan solves and how it makes application security testing a breeze. Keep reading to find out.

Combining SAST & SCA Tools

Combining SAST & SCA Tools

Learn how cybersecurity teams can combine SAST and SCA into a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.

Overcoming Microservices Architecture Risks

Overcoming Microservices Architecture Risks

Microservices architecture gives developers a flexible, scalable, agile solution for building high-performing apps that quickly deploy. It has been widely adopted because of its game-changing benefits. However, developers must overcome some challenges and risks to implement solutions with microservices effectively. 

The API Security Top 10 List

The API Security Top 10 List

In an effort to increase API security, the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) maintains a list of the top 10 security risks.

How to Safely Leverage Open Source in Your Codebase

How to Safely Leverage Open Source in Your Codebase

All major innovations in recent years, including cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, have been built in open source ecosystems. According Gartner, most organizations use some form of open-source assets within their critical applications. 

Remediate Log4j Risk: A Warning From the FTC

Remediate Log4j Risk: A Warning From the FTC

Stick with us to find out everything you need to know about the Log4j vulnerability and how to keep your business and its applications safe from the potential exploit.

Modern Application Development Risks

Modern Application Development Risks

There are many risks to be found in modern application development. Still, development risks can be reduced, if not eliminated, by following DevSecOps practices designed to identify those risks and resolve them before they create problems.

Data Breaches Are More Expensive Than They Seem

Data Breaches Are More Expensive Than They Seem

Data Breaches are more expensive than they seem, recent reports have shown that ransomware cost much more than they appear on the surface, notifaction, escalation, notifcation, lost business and response costs.

A Developer’s Guide to Managing Open-Source Code Risks

A Developer’s Guide to Managing Open-Source Code Risks

The power of open source code lies in the massive number of developers who contribute to it and test it. However, the same elements that make open-source code so appealing also make it vulnerable to security risks. 

What the Log4J Vulnerability Means for Your Business

What the Log4j Vulnerability Means for Businesses Most businesses using Apache's open-source Log4j logging framework should already know about the vulnerability in the system. Known as Log4Shell or...

Most Severe Cyberattacks of 2021

Most Severe Cyberattacks of 2021

Cyberattacks have become increasingly prevalent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many employees working remotely. In 2020 alone, malicious emails have gone up by 600%. 

Travis CI | Kiuwan Integration

Travis CI | Kiuwan Integration

Travis CI X Kiuwan Integration   Connect Kiuwan with your Travis CI workflow, this new integration is designed to empower teams to seamlessly add security to any development project. This relatively...

5 Steps to Enhance Developer Security

5 Steps to Enhance Developer Security

Developer play a crucial role in enhancing security and ensuring high performance throughout the development pipeline. Baking security into the code is more effective and efficient than testing a release candidate after the fact, only to be forced into corrective action.

The Full Extent of the Twitch Hack

The Full Extent of the Twitch Hack

Once believed to be indestructible, big tech companies like LinkedIn, Adobe, and even Facebook have succumbed to data breaches, hacks, and leaks in recent years.
The latest of these is the hack of livestreaming site Twitch.

Cybersecurity How IT Security Will Evolve in 2022 and Beyond

Cybersecurity How IT Security Will Evolve in 2022 and Beyond

The advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), robotic process automation (RPA), cloud computing, and no-code or low-code platforms, has been changing the way organizations deliver their offerings.

OWASP Top 10 for 2021: A Summary

OWASP Top 10 for 2021: A Summary

Want to learn how to design more secure web applications? Here’s what to look out for, according to the latest OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities list.

Speed or Security in Development: Managing the Tradeoff

Speed or Security in Development: Managing the Tradeoff

Speed seems to always be the driving force behind the release of new apps. However, releasing a new app in record time, followed by a regular and consistent stream of updates, often comes at the cost of security in Development

DevSecOps Focus: On the Way to Secure Source Code

DevSecOps Focus: On the Way to Secure Source Code

Developer’s concerns should not boil down only to digital infrastructure security. Source code security becomes a very important factor these days. A stand-alone class of tools is in place to test...

Application Security and Ransomware

Application Security and Ransomware

Ransomware changes the landscape of security from reactive to proactive—meaning that the focus of application security is changing from pre-deployment vulnerability testing to ensuring that developers and security teams perform security checks during every stage in the software development life cycle

Maximizing Development ROI Through DevSecOps

Maximizing Development ROI Through DevSecOps

Managing the software development lifecycle, aka SDLC, can be expensive in most organizations. Anything that slows down development ultimately boosts costs and reduces its ROI. In large part this explains the impetus to integrate security into DevOps approaches and methods.

Increasing Development Pipeline Effeciency

Increasing Development Pipeline Effeciency

Software development organizations define success by providing the right products to their customers that meet quality, schedule and budgetary constraints.

It includes specification, design, development, testing, quality assurance, building and deployment. Increasing the efficiency of the development pipeline makes happier customers and generates higher profits.

Are Some Programming Languages More Secure Than Others

Are Some Programming Languages More Secure Than Others

Security-related bugs can turn up in any programming language, but some are more prone to issues than others. Some newer languages are designed to make such errors harder. Others have “features” that are convenient but encourage coding that’s easy to exploit.

Prestidigitation the Heart of Social Engineering

Prestidigitation the Heart of Social Engineering

Social engineers use many of the same techniques to create an illusion in order to gain a victim’s trust and trick the person into doing their dirty work. They are essentially magicians, with the intent to derive some direct value by deceiving victims.

The State of Mobile App Security 2021

The State of Mobile App Security 2021

The ever-increasing popularity and use of smartphones dwarfs that of more conventional computing devices, such as desktop, laptops, tablets and so forth. Here are some numbers to put things in...

The Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack

On May 7, Colonial Pipeline had to shut down its pipelines due to a ransomware attack. Colonial is a major oil pipeline operator in the southern and eastern United States. Its pipelines extend from Texas to New Jersey and reach Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Understanding Open-Source Licensing

Understanding Open-Source Licensing

Open source licensing isn’t very complicated as license agreements go. Even so, some people find it confusing, and businesses need to pay close attention to how the licenses work. Making a mistake...

How to Implement DevSecOps With Your Team

How to Implement DevSecOps With Your Team

DevOps has been a revolution in software development. It brings together software creation, deployment, and management into a single process. Development and operations may become a single team; if...

How Open Source Is Democratizing Technology

How Open Source Is Democratizing Technology

Many of the software products that everyone uses are open source. The Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, and a large number of software development systems are all open-source software....

Getting Ahead of Payment Card Security Threats

Getting Ahead of Payment Card Security Threats

Payment card attacks are nothing new. Cybercriminals have been targeting payment cards for more than a decade. However, there is a disturbing trend of cybercriminals discovering and leveraging novel...

6 Threats to Development Team Productivity

6 Threats to Development Team Productivity

Productivity rates are critical to success in any industry. That is true of software products, too, that not only need to be efficiently produced but secure from cyberattacks as well. If you’re...

App-Quality Analytics

App-Quality Analytics

As business management expert Peter Drucker once put it:“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This quote feels right in place in the world of application security. Many CISOs are finally...

The Role of SAST in DevSecOps

The Role of SAST in DevSecOps

Most people involved in the process of creating and deploying software applications today are familiar with DevSecOps, which integrates security and operations into the software development process....

Threat Modeling in DevSecOps

Threat Modeling in DevSecOps

Developers often pursue well-intentioned security efforts by focusing on writing secure code. But that’s just part of the puzzle. Instead of focusing only on the code, it’s just as critical to focus...

Create a Web Application Security Blueprint

Create a Web Application Security Blueprint

The best way to make web applications secure is to include security at every step along the development process, from requirements analysis, to design, to implementation and testing, and into...