{"id":44084,"date":"2021-11-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"urn:uuid:568253c3-e0ad-af57-ca7f-29f044f4ecaa"},"modified":"2021-11-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T00:00:00","slug":"a-complete-guide-to-cloud-native-application-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/a-complete-guide-to-cloud-native-application-security\/","title":{"rendered":"A Complete Guide to Cloud-Native Application Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

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However, these tools have downsides that may cause more challenges for DevOps teams:<\/p>\n

SAST<\/b> has difficulties scanning and reporting on cloud-native applications because static tools only see the application source code it can follow. As more cloud-native apps are now developed with libraries and third-party components, this generates failures in the tool processing these links.<\/p>\n

DAST<\/b> interactively testing the applications from the outside requires the application to be fully built upon every code change. As DAST requires the application to be fully built upon every code change, this prevents the application from fitting well into an agile CI\/CD pipeline. It also only provides an external view of security, while forgoing what\u2019s happening inside the application.<\/p>\n

Both SAST and DAST are older technologies which provide less effective security for cloud-native applications and can impede on faster agile deployment strategies where DevOps teams require security tools to keep up with the pace of development.<\/p>\n

IAST<\/b> is an evolution to combine the benefits of both SAST and DAST with a developer-friendly approach. It is designed to work with development, testing, and\/or QA environments to identify security vulnerabilities inside the application. In addition, it can be used in production environments to test traffic rapidly. This instant feedback can then be easily used to remediate via automation, or back to the developer, for code changes\u2014typically actioned in the next application build.<\/p>\n

There is an urgent need to implement modern security that will protect production applications from malicious and unforeseen threats in real time. Through deep instrumentation, application security must be able to detect weaknesses and vulnerabilities across today\u2019s modern code streams\u2014as well as platforms like APIs, containers, and serverless applications\u2014without deploying numerous tools and relying on multiple skill sets.<\/p>\n

Application security must also bring greater value to both security champions and application engineers by deploying security that can improve the pace of remediation and response. This allows organizations to monitor traffic and block attacks in real-time.<\/p>\n

A New Type of Application Security is Needed: \u201cRASP\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gartner<\/a> defines runtime application self-protection (RASP) as, \u201ca security technology that is built or linked into an application or application runtime environment and is capable of controlling application execution and detecting and preventing real-time attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n

RASP provides a level of visibility and detection that network security controls cannot achieve by operating within the context of the application. Instead of monitoring the application for potentially malicious inputs, RASP only processes inputs that could change the behavior or operation of the application.<\/p>\n

RASP has two modes:<\/p>\n

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  1. In detect mode, the software monitors calls to the application and sounds an alarm if a suspect call is made.<\/li>\n
  2. In mitigate mode, RASP can prevent the execution of suspect instructions or terminate a user session.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This approach has the potential to increase accuracy without significantly impacting the performance of the application.<\/p>\n

    Benefits of RASP<\/p>\n