Why business-critical apps need DAST

For companies following the cybersecurity headlines, the need for disciplined security testing to protect their web applications against attack is clear. Unfortunately, too many IT departments still lack the expertise, let alone the tools, to do more than offer basic security measures, leaving their many business-critical apps vulnerable to attack.

Mission-critical vs. business-critical vs. non-critical applications

In terms of risk, business web applications generally fall into one of three major buckets:

• Mission-critical: When a mission-critical app, such as an e-commerce website, experiences downtime, the business can no longer operate or generate revenue. Typically, companies have only a few mission-critical applications and frequently dedicate teams or, in smaller organizations, administrators who supervise their smooth operation.
• Business-critical: When a business-critical app goes down, the business cannot perform essential functions – such as issuing invoices or reordering inventory – but can still run and make money. Unlike mission-critical apps, the implications of a temporary outage are not catastrophic, but service needs to be restored within a brief period.
• Non-critical: Non-critical apps are still essential, but an outage does not represent an urgent situation in the near term. For example, an airline app that awards frequent-flier miles to passengers for travel would fit in this category.

When companies suffer a malicious attack on their IT systems, their first reaction – and rightly so – is to protect their mission-critical apps. But if they don’t also invest in safeguarding their business-critical web applications, they have only displaced the entry point of attack. Many of the most publicized attacks are of this nature, where a company’s mission-critical apps are unaffected. Still, customer data is drawn from a database that’s accessible via a vulnerability in a business web application.

Keeping The Internet Secure

Invicti’s DAST solutions help protect web applications around the world.

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