There’s nothing like the start of a new year to bring out the predictions of online oracles. Everyone from Gartner to ZDNet, and nearly every technology vendor in between, has been busy forecasting the top trends for cybersecurity in 2020.

One of the longest lists available comes from Forbes. If you want a seemingly comprehensive list of what could be ahead this year in cybersecurity, this article might be a good read for you. A recurring theme throughout this list was the increased urgency for application security. From expanding data privacy regulations to the heightened security concerns of IoT devices, application security is coming into focus for cybersecurity professionals.

What is application security?

Application security at its core is the protection of software. It is an area of practice within the larger scope of the cybersecurity plan. Application security focuses on minimizing vulnerable surface area through development and testing. This includes analyzing application code while in development, dynamic security testing of live applications, and utilizing the development security operations (DevSecOps) approach.

Tools for application security

Because web applications are being produced and adopted at a quick pace, many IT departments are turning to tools that help provide full-function, defense-in-depth platforms. Sirius partners with technology providers like Imperva that can provide platform defense in the cloud, on-premises, or with hybrid models.

The role of platforms such as Imperva’s is to provide multi-layered protection that makes applications and websites always available, always user-friendly, and always secure.

 

How app security benefits the organization

At the center of any discussion about application security should be the end-user. Optimizing their experience—no matter where they are in the world—is vitally important to meeting their expectations. Empowering the IT team with tools such as Imperva’s application security platform helps organizations avoid unforeseen disruptions, mitigate risk and deliver the secure, consistent, seamless experience users demand.

With Imperva, IT teams are empowered to:

  • Act on critical insights. Gain visibility across your data and applications to quickly distill security alerts into those alerts that need further investigation. Artificial intelligence can help prioritize risks and provide insight to the level of exposure across the organization.
  • Secure critical applications. With a layered approach, security can be enforced from within the application to the end-user, in the cloud or on-premises. This includes protection incorporated through the software development cycle.
  • Avoid business disruption. Disruption campaigns are waged every day by cybercriminals driven by a variety of purposes. With DDoS protection aimed at eliminating attacks before they start, security teams can prevent disruption to enterprise traffic.
  • Ensure a seamless user experience. Optimized website delivery enables access to web content quickly and consistently. Imperva’s global CDN sites and load balancer help organizations deliver web experiences that meet end-user demands and lower bandwidth costs.

Effective application security

Defending your applications effectively requires considering your users and ecosystem, as well as your compliance requirements. The experts of Sirius’ Security practice can help you identify your critical applications, which processes to implement to protect them, and which tools best suit your needs.

Learn more about Sirius Security solutions here and see a list of Security services in our online catalog. Or, if you’re ready to take the next step in securing your applications, reach out to our Security experts today.