How It Works
The rapid expansion of corporate application portfolios creates significant challenges for security teams. They are responsible for identifying and remediating security risks in a growing number of applications, some of which may have been created outside of their oversight or knowledge.
ASPM solutions are designed to automate application security processes within an organization’s environment. Some of the key capabilities of an ASPM solution include the following:
- Application Inventory: Companies commonly have applications scattered across on-premises and cloud-based platforms, and agile development processes mean that application portfolios are constantly changing. ASPM solutions automatically identify and inventory an organization’s applications.
- AppSec Testing: Development and security teams have access to a wide range of AppSec testing solutions, including static application security testing (SAST), dynamic application security testing (DAST), software composition analysis (SCA), and vulnerability scanners. ASPM solutions automate and orchestrate security testing to provide ongoing visibility into potential security risks.
- Dependency Analysis: In addition to identifying an organization’s applications, ASPM solutions can also map dependencies and data flows. This enables these tools to map out the structure and functionality of a corporate application portfolio.
Benefits of ASPM
ASPM solutions are designed to automate application security management for security teams. This can provide a variety of benefits for a corporate AppSec program, including the following:
- Application Visibility: ASPM platforms can automatically identify applications in an organization’s various environments. This automated discovery helps security teams maintain full visibility into the company’s software assets.
- Data Collection: ASPM solutions can collect various types of information about an organization’s applications. This information can be used to inform vulnerability management and strategic security decisions.
- Risk Visibility: ASPM solutions can automatically perform vulnerability scans and collect information about application security risks. This contextualized risk data can be used to prioritize remediation operations, maximizing the effectiveness of a vulnerability management program.
- Rapid Remediation: Security teams can only remediate vulnerabilities that they know exist. ASPM solutions’ automated security testing enables security teams to respond quickly to vulnerabilities that have been recently discovered or introduced into corporate applications.
- Data Security: ASPM can map the data flows between an organization’s applications. This makes it easier for security teams to enforce least privilege access controls and remediate potential data security risks.
- Dependency Mapping: ASPM solutions can map dependencies between an organization’s various applications. Understanding these dependencies can be invaluable for designing security policies or optimizing an organization’s application architecture.
ASPM vs CSPM
As companies increasingly move to the cloud, cloud security posture management (CSPM) has emerged as an important part of a corporate application and data security strategy. However, CSPM and ASPM are not the same things.
The difference between CSPM and ASPM lies in where they work in an organization’s cloud infrastructure stack. CSPM is focused on securing the underlying infrastructure of the cloud. Cloud providers give customers access to various configuration settings that, if incorrectly configured, leave the cloud open to attack. CSPM monitors these configuration settings and helps security teams to remediate any cloud security misconfigurations.
ASPM, on the other hand, works at the application layer. It monitors applications in both on-prem and cloud-based environments and identifies security risks posed by these applications. For example, ASPM solutions will perform automated vulnerability scans to identify exploitable flaws in application code.
Application Security and CSPM with Check Point
Effective application security requires securing both the application and the infrastructure where it is deployed. Check Point CloudGuard provides both of these capabilities with its AppSec and CSPM functionality.
Check Point CloudGuard AppSec’s prevention-focused security provides robust application security in the cloud. CloudGuard automatically adapts to changing application infrastructures and blocks attempted attacks before they pose a risk to the organization and its applications.
CloudGuard’s CSPM capabilities secure the underlying infrastructure where these applications are deployed. Cloud security misconfigurations are a common cause of data breaches and other security incidents. CloudGuard helps security teams find and fix these errors before they can be exploited by an attacker.
As DevOps practices speed up the pace of development, security teams need AppSec solutions that can keep up the pace. Learn more about automating and scaling your AppSec program with a free demo of CloudGuard AppSec. To see how Check Point can help ensure the security of your organization’s cloud investment, sign up for a free trial of CloudGuard CSPM as well.
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