Application Security Report Calls Out Problems With Mobile, IoT Devices and DevOps

Vulnerabilities in mobile backends, web interfaces to the Internet of Things (IoT) and negligent DevOps practitioners are among the fastest growing application security threats, according to a report released at the InfoSecurity Europe conference in London this week.

What’s the Problem?

Research from High-Tech Bridge, a Swiss company that also operates in the U.S., said 83 percent of web service and application programming interfaces (APIs) used in apps for retail, banking and other markets could fall prey to XML or SQL injections.

The report, which is based on data from publicly available sources and the application security testing platform ImmuniWeb, cited problems such as poor encryption and admin credentials that can’t be modified in 98 percent of IoT devices. Additionally, while DevOps is a popular way to create applications quickly, the report said two-thirds of companies using this methodology had at least one high-risk vulnerability affecting an external application.

Addressing Application Security Threats

Many companies have tried to mitigate these kinds of application security risks by offering cash rewards to white-hat hackers who try to discover potential bugs or vulnerabilities. However, Help Net Security noted that the High-Tech Bridge report showed these bug bounty programs aren’t proving very effective: At least two major vulnerability were undiscovered by these individuals in 9 out of 10 bug bounty programs that had been running for a year or longer.

There’s no question enterprises need more than bug bounties to keep up with application security problems. For example, attacks based on cross-site scripting (XSS) were also called out as one of the most common vulnerabilities in the report, and they are among the most difficult to catch. Just a few weeks ago, for instance, Threatpost explained how Verizon had to patch an XXS vulnerability discovered in its messaging client.

Not everything in the application security report was negative. Tech Republic highlighted one finding from High-Tech Bridge, which explained that vast majority of mobile app code — as much as 95 percent — is not at risk of major breaches from cyberattackers. Despite this, the report also said companies should be working harder to protect web servers, improve web application firewalls and harden HTTPS encryption.

To learn more about this topic, download our complimentary Ponemon Institute “State of Mobile and IoT Security” study.

Shane Schick

Writer & Editor

NIST’s role in the global tech race against AI

4 min read - Last year, the United States Secretary of Commerce announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been put in charge of launching a new public working group on artificial intelligence (AI) that will build on the success of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework to address this rapidly advancing technology.However, recent budget cuts at NIST, along with a lack of strategy implementation, have called into question the agency’s ability to lead this critical effort. Ultimately, the success…

Researchers develop malicious AI ‘worm’ targeting generative AI systems

2 min read - Researchers have created a new, never-seen-before kind of malware they call the "Morris II" worm, which uses popular AI services to spread itself, infect new systems and steal data. The name references the original Morris computer worm that wreaked havoc on the internet in 1988.The worm demonstrates the potential dangers of AI security threats and creates a new urgency around securing AI models.New worm utilizes adversarial self-replicating promptThe researchers from Cornell Tech, the Israel Institute of Technology and Intuit, used what’s…

Passwords, passkeys and familiarity bias

5 min read - As passkey (passwordless authentication) adoption proceeds, misconceptions abound. There appears to be a widespread impression that passkeys may be more convenient and less secure than passwords. The reality is that they are both more secure and more convenient — possibly a first in cybersecurity.Most of us could be forgiven for not realizing passwordless authentication is more secure than passwords. Thinking back to the first couple of use cases I was exposed to — a phone operating system (OS) and a…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

What’s the Problem?

Addressing Application Security Threats

More from

NIST’s role in the global tech race against AI

Researchers develop malicious AI ‘worm’ targeting generative AI systems

Passwords, passkeys and familiarity bias

Topic updates