Top Application Security Trends for 2024

A survey by Forrester Research reported that 42% of companies suffering from external attacks attributed the incidents to vulnerabilities in software security, with 35% of these organizations reporting that they were caused by web application defects.¹ When it comes to safeguarding applications, adopting new strategies and technologies is essential to staying ahead of the evolving threat landscape in 2024.

This blog aims to highlight those strategies and technologies, delving into the top application security trends seen in 2024 and how they can be applied to enhance organizations’ application security posture.

The Shift from Defensive to Offensive Security

Application security, and security in general for that matter, has traditionally been reactive, focusing on building strong defenses to prevent attacks. Rather than reacting to attacks and preparing to defend against them, offensive security is a proactive approach that enables security teams to identify and mitigate threats to their defenses to prevent the need to defend against an attack in the first place.

Over the past few years, and especially in 2024, there’s been a growing adoption of an offensive approach to application security. More enterprises have increased their investments in offensive security measures such as attack surface management (ASM), penetration testing, and red teaming.

• ASM helps organizations identify, categorize, and prioritize their assets for further testing based on risk.
• Penetration testing goes a step further, identifying vulnerabilities that need attention by simulating an attack on an organization’s systems.
• Red teaming exercises not only identify vulnerabilities in a system, but they also assess an organization’s ability to detect and respond to an attack.

All three of these offensive security tactics help organizations stay proactive against emerging threats.

Integration of AI and ML Into Application Security Solutions

Recent advancements in AI and ML have increased the integration of AI into application security solutions and strategies. For example, the latest AI technology used in cybersecurity has improved the accuracy and speed at which vulnerabilities are identified and prioritized in penetration testing exercises.

BreachLock, for instance, leverages a proprietary AI engine that uses a supervised NLP-based AI model to analyze vast amounts of data derived from thousands of pentests, attack surface discovery scans, and vulnerability classifications in real-time. This level of threat intelligence enables faster and more accurate identification of vulnerabilities and ensures that vulnerabilities are not overlooked due to human error.

Developers and application security teams have also begun leveraging generative AI to troubleshoot and fix code at an accelerated rate, among other uses. We can expect the integration and utilization of AI to increase further moving forward.

Continuous Application Security Testing Throughout the SDLC

Constant development and release cycles make for a rapidly evolving attack surface. Cisco reported that 50% of IT professionals agree that security is an afterthought in the application delivery chain, suggesting that the speed at which applications are deployed requires a new approach to validate the security for every application throughout every stage of development.² Implementing continuous security testing, or better, continuous penetration testing is the foundation for a secure SDLC.

By integrating continuous pentesting throughout the entire development pipeline, security teams, developers, and stakeholders can ensure that they are fully aligned from both a security and business perspective. Catching security issues as early as possible is now and will continue to be a critical component of application security moving forward.

It is important to note that while implementing manual penetration testing throughout the SDLC phases can be resource-intensive, there are many innovative providers that offer both fully automated and hybrid penetration testing solutions to combat this. DevOps teams can integrate continuous pentesting solutions that leverage automation into their SDLC to save time and resources when it comes to identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities for remediation proactively. Not only does the use of automation help with efficiency, but it also ensures that no vulnerabilities are left undetected due to human error.

By embedding penetration testing early in the development phase and throughout the entire SDLC, organizations can adopt a “shift-left” approach to application security, which emphasizes designing and building applications with security in mind, rather than as an afterthought. We can expect the adoption of this approach to application security to increase in 2024 and beyond.

Increased Focus on Risk Prioritization

A whopping 41% of security professionals report that their biggest challenge in implementing and running an application security program is vulnerability prioritization.³ When it comes to managing thousands of applications in an enterprise environment, it is nearly impossible for DevSecOps and security teams to remediate ALL the vulnerabilities that are identified. Because of the volume of applications and other assets being managed, risk-based prioritization is essential.

Luckily, both ASM and penetration testing providers have been increasingly integrating evidence-backed, risk-based prioritization into their solutions to solve this challenge for security leaders. For example, providers like BreachLock assess the attractiveness of an asset, the criticality of vulnerabilities, and their likelihood of exploitation, and reference rich threat intelligence to prioritize vulnerabilities for users automatically. This way, security teams can focus their resources and efforts on assets and vulnerabilities that could impact their business the most in the event of a breach.

Increased Focus on API Security

According to CrowdStrike’s 2024 State of Application Security Report, 57% of security professionals reported that getting full visibility into applications and APIs is a top challenge for them.⁴ Given that organizations heavily rely on APIs (application programming interfaces) to facilitate the sharing of information and functionalities, which increases their attack surfaces, it’s not surprising that security leaders are challenged by managing them. Not to mention, they are incredibly attractive target assets for cybercriminals across all industries, especially healthcare and financial services.

This challenge underscores security professionals’ deep need to gain full visibility beyond an attacker’s view into not only their applications and APIs, but also their full internal and external attack surfaces. To cater to this need, security providers have increasingly been integrating attack surface management into their product portfolios to enable the continuous discovery, classification, and inventorying of their assets, including APIs. Taking it a step further, application security leaders use the insights from ASM to identify which applications and APIs may need further testing and prioritize them based on risk. We can expect the focus on API security to increase further in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the application security landscape in 2024 is driven by proactive strategies, advanced technologies, and a comprehensive approach to safeguarding applications. By staying informed about these trends and implementing the insights shared, organizations can enhance their security posture and protect their digital assets from evolving cyber threats.

Download the 2024 BreachLock Application Security Guide to gain insights on how to prioritize a holistic security strategy across applications, web apps, APIs, and more technical insights on the state of application security in 2024.

About BreachLock

BreachLock is a global leader in Continuous Attack Surface Discovery and Penetration Testing. Continuously discover, prioritize, and mitigate exposures with evidence-backed Attack Surface Management, Penetration Testing, and Red Teaming.

Elevate your defense strategy with an attacker’s view that goes beyond common vulnerabilities and exposures. Each risk we uncover is backed by validated evidence. We test your entire attack surface and help you mitigate your next cyber breach before it occurs.

Know your risk. Contact BreachLock today!