Application security posture management: Why you need it

With the growing complexities associated with securing applications in modern and dynamic environments, the need for application security posture management (ASPM) solutions becomes more critical. 

This blog explores the main use cases for an ASPM and what to look for when choosing an ASPM solution. 

What is ASPM?

Application security posture management (ASPM) refers to an agile security delivery model that correlates, identifies, prioritizes, and remediates vulnerabilities to help improve an organization’s overall risk posture. It also shows an organization where sensitive data lives and where it’s at the most risk of causing a potential breach. 

ASPM emerged recently as a successor to Application security orchestration and correlation (ASOC) tools due to its enhanced capabilities in effectively managing and optimizing the security posture of modern applications.

The importance of ASPM

Security teams are quickly recognizing the importance of adopting ASPM tools and best practices:

Vendors in the application security category have built solutions targeted at assisting security teams in mitigating risks. Although effective to a certain degree, these tools only offered partial visibility over the supply chain attack surface, leaving security teams struggling to comprehensively manage and mitigate risks with prioritized context. 

Read more: App security prioritization: the top inputs 

4 main use cases for an ASPM solution

Software supply chain security

ASPM solutions provide full visibility into the software supply chain. ASPM also correlates security findings with contextual information such as asset severity and business impact to prioritize risks effectively.

Existing application security tools cannot provide contextual analysis, creating many gaps in the software supply chain security posture.

ASPM eliminates the guesswork and efficiently identifies any critical vulnerabilities in open-source dependencies and third-party vendors, greatly reducing the attack surface and mitigating risks.

Vulnerability management

Can you pinpoint which vulnerabilities are most critical to your business? Mitigation efforts go to waste without a clear understanding of the risks that contribute the most significant impact on your organization.

ASPM enables security teams to make sense of all the vulnerability data and focus mitigation efforts based on context. 

DevSecOps automation

CI/CD pipeline security is an integral part of DevSecOps for enforcing security around the pipeline and ultimately, around the supply chain. ASPM tools integrate seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, enabling automated security testing at every stage of the development process, from code repository access to deployment.

ASPM solutions automatically detect vulnerabilities in code repositories, containers, and third-party libraries, providing developers and security teams with actionable insights into potential security risks.

They also integrate with other DevSecOps vulnerability management scanning tools such as Software composition analysis (SCA), Static application security testing (SAST), and Dynamic application security testing (DAST).

Secure development lifecycle (SDLC)

Critical security vulnerabilities may be introduced into the software as a result of coding errors and misconfigurations. Unpatched software can elevate the risks even further and provide attackers with easy entry points to exploit.

What to consider when evaluating an ASPM solution?

Here are the key components of a complete ASPM solution:

Risk-based vulnerability management

An ASPM that correlates findings and prioritizes vulnerabilities based on severity, threat intelligence, and actual business risk. This also helps ensure a secure SDLC early in the development phase.

Advanced reporting capabilities

Reporting is an integral component of an ASPM solution. It should come with pre-baked templates that are easily customizable for all teams to manage. The ASPM should also track software vulnerability remediation KPIs, such as MTTR, SLA tracking, patch deployment speed, and vulnerability closure rate.   

Application tool integration

Look for an ASPM that enables you to integrate your existing application tools rather than replacing them entirely. The ASPM should seamlessly integrate with your CI/CD pipelines, vulnerability scanners, and code scanners. 

Streamline application compliance

ASPM tools help enforce security policies across the organization’s applications. ASPM solutions usually integrate with industry-standard compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2, PCI DSS, and ISO-27001, enabling organizations to map their security controls to specific regulatory requirements. 

Visibility into your software supply chain

An ASPM solution that provides complete visibility over your software supply chain security posture and enables consolidation and management of supply chain risk from a single pane of glass rather than with fragmented security tools.

How ASPM stacks against other application security tools

The table below highlights the key advantages and disadvantages of modern AppSec tools and where they fall short in comparison to ASPM solutions:

ASOC

Advantages

• ASOC tools correlate and orchestrate security events from various sources.
• Provides continuous security monitoring across CI/CD pipelines and helps automate DevSecOps workflows.
• Provides a centralized approach to incident response.

Disadvantages

• Operates in silos, leading to fragmented visibility and coordination across security tools and processes.
• Lacks the agility required to keep pace with evolving threats.
• Lack of contextual understanding of application security risks.
  

CSPM

Advantages

• Highly effective at identifying data risks in cloud environments.
• Enable organizations to enforce security policies and detect policy violations across cloud environments.
• Restricts permissions to prevent unauthorized access.

Disadvantages

• High potential for false positives in misconfiguration detection.
• Limited support for application-specific compliance requirements such as the OWASP Top 10.
• Difficulty assessing and prioritizing security risks to the applications running on cloud infrastructure.
  

CNAPP

Advantages

• Multi-cloud visibility.
• Offers advanced security features for container orchestration platforms and microservices architectures.
• Leverage cloud-native telemetry and behavioral analytics to identify and address threats.

Disadvantages

• Dependency on container runtime and orchestration platforms for data collection.
• Complexity in managing security policies across diverse containerized environments.
• Minimal visibility into vulnerabilities and application misconfigurations.

Enhance your software supply chain security posture

Don’t leave any gaps in your software supply chain. The Vulcan Cyber ExposureOS platform enables you to prioritize findings based on severity early in the application development process. 

Gain continuous visibility over your software supply chain security posture from a single operational view. Automate DevSecOps workflows and mitigate application risks faster with Vulcan Cyber. Get a demo to learn more.