Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) Acts as the Best Application Security Approach

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An app on a smartphone is easy to download and use for various tasks. One can find these apps from various platforms as the makers provide them on almost every platform for the users. For the makers, the security of the app is also of high importance and that is why they have to keep on working to safeguard the same against various threats.

Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) concept has been developed to follow the ad-hoc approach which is adopted by developers of the app when they come across with threats. The applications that are deployed in enterprises or organizations sit in a complex and uneven environment in a combination of networks, databases as well as operating systems. This often leads to disintegration in application security architecture. It is also combined with a lack of specific and fool-proof security road map.

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There are high-risk vulnerabilities in mobile applications of Android and iOS. These apps get affected by viruses due to weakness in their security architecture. The developers tend to find as well as adopt static and traditional Application Security or App Sec approaches instead of addressing the design flaws in the apps. With RASP security solutions the app security is more casual to the threats affecting the applications.

RASP: When application security ecosystem is innovated and equipped with additional features to deal with runtime attacks on the software’s application so that it could provide more visibility to hidden vulnerabilities or attacks. In order to check the security of the apps, security software gets integrated with an application or its runtime environment and frequently intercepts calls to the application. RASP hunts proactively for any malware in the traffic coming in the app and also prevents any fraudulent calls executing inside the app. RASP does not wait for the threat to impact the app. Without any human intervention and staying in the application, RASP security solution neutralizes the effect of known threats and also protects the apps against zero-day attack.

Working of RASP: RASP works side by side with the application code and observe the incoming traffic to the application and server. As soon as RASP detects any threat it applies runtime protection measures and at the same time secures the application from any type of malware practices. Without any impact on the performance of the app, RASP sets all requested between the application and the server. RASP is instilled with powerful capabilities that not only detect the threat vectors but also with any loophole in the app.

Benefits of installing RASP: The biggest advantage of installing RASP technology is that it works from inside the application rather working alone for network protection. With this benefit the RASP is allowed to provide services like- APIs, system configuration, taking necessary information from the database, runtime data, logic flow etc. With a broad range of security protection and better accuracy in identifying and handling these threats, RASP is instilled with a list of other benefits.

  • Cost-effectiveness: The security solutions offered by RASP are cost-effective to the user. It is much focused as compared to traditional web application firewalls (WAF) as they are much more generalized. RASP reduces the cost of operation as it works together with the application.
  • Application Security: RASP handles application security onboard intuitive ways, as it is instilled within the application. This certainly limits false positive and offers a complete security solution, as it protects critical APIs and web applications.
  • Close monitoring of the Application: RASP monitors the application security very closely for any threat or troublesome behavior, ranging from network sniffing, tampering with codes, reverse engineer and leakage of unauthenticated data. The need is of constant monitoring through RASP and quick actions should be taken to address any loopholes in the application to guard against hackers.
  • CI /CD Approaches: Continuous integration and Continuous delivers (CI/CD) approaches are lined up in RASP. RASP solutions find out the source of the attack whether it comes from APIs or initiated from web services, SQ Lite, database etc. In an ever-changing environment, the need to maintain long-lasting security that too synced up with a host of features and functionalities is a very challenging task. Continuous monitoring and information transparency in RASP sits well with the projects to set up coordination between development and security teams.
  • Penetration Testing:  To detect security loopholes in an application against probable security threats penetration testing is the best technique. RASP can help and complement the development team in the efforts of testing through proper visible information. By using the dashboards, application threat intelligence can be coupled up with the provided information about sections already tested, sections that are most insecure, line of code where security threats exist, transaction information etc.
  • Effectiveness: RASP is very effective in dealing with application-layer attacks as they are having a solution that is in-built incident logging cum-response. RASP finds out the source of threat and also has the capability to deal with any unknown security threats occurring to the application.
  • Approach with minimum resources: Sometimes the development team feels doubted about implementing solutions related to security that can affect the performance of the app adversely. The approach of RASP uses minimum resources and the performance level is generally within the range of acceptance. RASP has a very less impact on the performance of the application while traditional security tools often have an impact on the application’s performance.

If RASP is applied in proper situations, that too in combination with other Application Security frameworks like pen-testing, WAFs etc. RASP will certainly prove to be the best security expert for your company. Your company might need it desperately to enhance application security. The organization might require to quickly and effectively deal with sophisticated threats. It can monitor, analyze the traffic as well as learning capabilities of RASP. The application can be layered up RASP that holds capabilities to stop the attacks with high accuracy. The application gets secured as the threat to the application can be checked at the starting with RASP layer.

Rizwan Ahmad
Rizwan Ahmad

Rizwan is an avid mobile geek and a gaming lover. He loves to keep a tab on new tech and loves to share the latest tech news and reviews on Smartphones, Gadgets, Apps, and more.

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