A recent study into app security has revealed some concerning figures about how safe user data is online.
The study, called “Application Security in the Changing Risk Landscape” was sponsored by F5 and looks into how secure 605 IT and IT security practitioners felt apps are today.
And interestingly, although the majority of respondents said attacks at application layer are harder to detect and contain compared to the network layer (63% and 67% more difficult to contain, respectively), IT security budgets generally only designate 18% to applications, compared to 39% allocated to network security.
Concerns were also raised over how well applications are tested before they are launched, with 67% of respondents saying security was being overlooked due to a “rush to release”, and 63% admitting to having little confidence in developers having “followed secure testing practices”.
The study explains these concerns further: “Almost half of respondents say their organisation does not test applications for threats and vulnerabilities (25%) or testing is not pre-scheduled (23%).
“Only 14% of respondents say applications are tested every time the code changes.”
However, the study did find some positives, noting how developers are looking to improve security levels.
According to the study, an increasing number of developers are integrating DevOps and continuous integration into their processes, making sure that security levels are constantly being tested.
The study explains: “Thirty-five percent of respondents say their organisations have adopted DevOps or continuous integration practices into the application development life cycle.
“Of these respondents, 71 percent say it improves application security and enables them to respond quickly to security issues and vulnerabilities (56 percent of respondents).”
And an increasing number of applications are also using web application firewalls, scanning procedures and penetration testing to help improve security and safety for users online.
To find out more and read the full report of this study please click here.