Introduction
In today's world, the two things that are filling the news reports are Application Security and Cybersecurity. These two terms have been a buzzword in the IT industry since the breaching of the privacy of millions of users. In the year 2013, the hackers breached 500 million users of the Marriot and 3 million Yahoo user accounts. About 21.5 million people became the victim of this breaching and got in the middle of compromising their sensitive information and identity. However, all that financial information along with credit card numbers disclosure at Target, Home Depot, and eBay are excluded to enter into those figures.
All of these measures could have prevented with the use of advanced measures and by eradicating defected software and hardware. If you keep on working with such dismantled equipment, it will become more difficult to eradicate the error and all the other related discrepancies. One can stamp out such information compromises from the base by implementing secure systems from the start. This is the responsibility of all those security engineers who work in implementing such equipment and if they go wrong in any step, they will be compromising the security of their customers along with the future of their organization.
In this article, we will talk about all those services that are currently providing benefits to society including secure programming. We will also talk about why all of such techniques are diminishing gradually and what researches might be taking place in the future to provide maximum security.
Start Your 7-Day FREE TRIAL with InfoSec Academy.
Present-day Practices
Secure programming applications means that all the developers must have knowledge about present-day practices and how suitable they are to work with the given systems. The one institute of Carnegie Mellon University known as the Software Engineering Institute demonstrated the implementation of these practices and how can you analyze and instill the most suitable system in the organizations. The Open Web Application Security Project also explained the fundamentals of installing secure programming applications which are mentioned as follows:
- The applications must be able to facilitate all the unstructured and unformatted data from all kinds of sources.
- It must be able to deny all those requests that help in accessing the systems by default.
- The libraries used must be mature, effective, and well-tested.
- The design of the system must be kept simple for better understanding.
- All the parts of the systems must be perfectly divided for convenience.
The first step in implementing them is to first practice them theoretically and practically and then when they are ready, one can incorporate them. The second thing to note is the consistency of these programs and how will they support the businesses in the long run.
Are Secure Programming Practices Enough?
These Secure Programming applications consider being useful when it comes to ensuring the security and protection of the systems. However, the cost and time used by these services along with the unreliability of the developers led us to believe that only these applications are not enough to secure the entire organization.
We build codes to protect sensitive information but we lack the tools to aid the implementation of such codes. However, we can ensure the stability of the codes with the help of automated tests but these are not enough to run on the long term basis. We need those tools that can help us in identifying malicious input in the system and help us to dig it out from the roots. For this purpose, advanced tools are required and one of them is the use of the tools of Static Analysis.
Tools of Static Analysis
The tools of Static Analysis has vast importance because these tools are incorporated to detect the possible discrepancies in the given code. It checks all the functions of the code and verifies all the parameters to look out for any authorized entrance that may have passed onto query or SQL. These tools are very valuable but these tools also have a couple of setbacks.
- Prevent Known Vulnerabilities
- False Positives
Firstly, Static Analysis tools are only favorable to prevent those attacks which are known to the system or warned. But these tools are unable to look out for those attacks or vulnerabilities that happen out of the blue and outbreaks that the system or the organization doesn't know about. Secondly, these tools often provide false positives to the employees making them overlook any vulnerability or a possible threat.
Static Analysis Based on Statistics
Statistics can help to provide the most important set of information by researching and looking at the past compromises. These methods are applicable to know those vulnerabilities or threats which can prove to be most pertinent in the eyes of the security engineers. In this way, the developers can focus on the real problem without incorporating false positives. Just like in medical terms, the physicians and surgeons lookout for those cases which the life-threatening and the most dangerous ones, similarly, statistical methods do the same.
A lot of organizations are currently incorporating these techniques to filter the threats and vulnerabilities and making the deadliest one a priority. Such techniques can help in eradicating the most pertinent threats from the core.
Artificial Intelligence
There has always been a war going on between the attackers and the defense teams where, as the passage of time, these attackers are getting more advanced skilled. Therefore, the defense must also be robust to thwart the sudden attacks from these unauthorized invaders. All of the strategies are discussed on Dark Web or sometimes even on some online forums, therefore; we need enhanced solutions to tackle these pertinent norms in our society.
Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence incorporated in the machines which together with the deep learning, makes significant changes in the organization. Using Artificial Intelligence and all those tools that are driven by AI can help in identifying the most disastrous threats. Moreover, by looking at the set of rumors or past incidents, AI can predict what kind of threats may occur in the future. Therefore, it is important to incorporate AI into the business and find out the solutions to the threats which have not even yet taken place.
The merging of Static Analysis and AI can prove to be extremely fruitful as this incorporation can find out about all those discrepancies by analyzing the data. These two keynote software are also utilized for the implementation of the codes for the smooth working of the systems.
Conclusion
Secure programming applications are certainly not enough to tackle the present-day situation of data breaching. Lots of people have been affected by this in the past decade and if one wants to gain customers, he/she needs to incorporate better measures for the betterment of the organization. Several types of research have been going on to gather information regarding Artificial Intelligence and Static Analysis.
However, the only way to win a war against these digital culprits is through robust training and a skilled mindset. Thus, training in every field is important, no matter if it is AI training or Microsoft Azure Security Training. Because only the right skill set you will be able to exterminate such vile attackers and keep them at bay.