Last Updated on November 6, 2023 by Team Experts

Enterprise application security is one of the major concerns of tech industries. Although, today, enterprise web app development is much more advanced and has come a long way, new threats can always jeopardize these applications and need to be dealt with regularly. The latest threat is SQL injections which, according to a survey, amounts to as much as 42% of vulnerabilities in applications. 

It simply goes to show that maintaining enterprise applications at 100% security becomes increasingly crucial and challenging as the boundary separating the real world from the digital world continues to blur. IT security is a continual and continuing effort. 

What is Enterprise Application Security?

Enterprise Application Security refers to all the practices involved in protecting an enterprise’s assets and applications from cyber threats. These cyber-threats include data theft, access, and exploitation of confidential user data. While enterprise app security is mainly about protecting data it is also about maintaining security over other elements such as hardware, operating systems, and third-party applications amongst others. 

Most businesses are as secure as their assets which is why enterprise application system and enterprise application security is of utmost importance for a business. Every time data is exchanged, the node needs to be included in security parameters. Day-to-day transactions, financial decisions, connections, and purchases make operations susceptible to cyber infiltrations and cost an organization in money, resources, brand faith, and time. A company loses brand faith and customer loyalty very quickly once the word gets out that the company has been hacked.

Due to the surge in vulnerabilities and the increasing value and personalization of data, enterprise application security is crucial. Organizations can’t afford to damage their brand even once in this very transparent and interconnected world.

Here are a few areas of vulnerabilities enterprises should look out for when developing enterprise applications.

Enterprise Application Security Threats

• Threats by personal devices

Organizations that allow their employees to work on their personal devices are especially susceptible to this kind of threat. This is because such devices when connected to the office network, become vulnerable nodes to breaches. The device which is often unchecked for viruses, threats, and crawlers has insecure applications with unrestricted access to customer’s data. Many applications also hoodwink the users into thinking that it’s harmless but secretly collect user credentials or purposely inject organizations’ networks with malware.

• Unsecured Network Connections

Unsecured intranet or Wi-Fi can be quite dangerous for an organization as it acts as a portal into the company’s more confidential assets. This is furthermore dangerous in organizations that allow remote work as these remote logins access the data via a public network. These specific risks can be mitigated by proper practices like masking IPs, using VPNs, and more.

• Poor Checks of employees’ history

It is also important to vet recruits thoroughly before hiring. Negligence and employees with malicious intent do more harm than good to the company. While some employees may leak sensitive data to competitors to earn under the table, others can cost the company by large for their negligent behavior. It should be put into practice to conduct regular seminars on web practices, information on types of cyber hazards, and implement a strict policy for mischief makers.

• App-specific threats

There are quite a few threats to business-owned applications. Given are a few prevalent ones:

• Malware Injections – Malware is often injected into database systems to corrupt the database or extract information. NoSQL, OS, and LDAP are a few data systems extremely susceptible to such injections.
• Poor Authentication Systems – Stringent authentication systems with regularly updated credentials are a must for any data system. 
• XML External Entities (XXE) – An application’s XML input parsing vulnerability is known as XXE. It occurs when an attacker injects unauthorized external entity XML into an XML parser with inadequate configuration.
• Broken access control (BAC) – When a program does not completely limit user rights for proper access to administrative operations, it is known as broken access control. Material that has been seen without authorization, material that has been altered or removed, or complete program takeover are all possible outcomes of failed access control.

• Security misconfiguration – Unsecured or insufficient default configurations and open cloud storage are examples of security misconfiguration and a primary cause for hacking, data breaches, and theft of money and resources.
• Unchecked Components- Enterprises especially those who have recently undergone digital transformation must ensure that components of applications are original and unadulterated. They can get in touch with their software vendor for authentication and testing proofs.

Steps for Strong Enterprise Application Security

Here are some ways enterprises can implement to mitigate the risks of these threats. Employing them is inexpensive and can ensure long-term protection of client data, operations, and resources:

• Educate your employees of the potential risk of improper credentials and security negligence.
• Implement a strict access control policy through excellent organizational tools like Microsoft Active Directory.
• Force strong user authentication by giving up single sign-on or SSO security. Instead, implement two-factor authentication for more security.
• Encrypt all data to avoid phishing attacks, illegal extraction, or exploitation of data.
• Regularly update firmware with the latest just-in-time security tools.
• Monitor, track, and attack security vulnerabilities. Enterprises should employ the latest systems like Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) or DynaTrace which track and monitor hardware, firmware, networks, and applications.

Conclusion

With almost every industry digitally transforming itself, it becomes extremely important to safeguard businesses and their assets in the digital space. Enterprises can do so by recruiting a reliable enterprise software development company to meet their development needs and guarantee enterprise level security. Services offered by these organizations include development, security tools integration, deployment, and post-launch maintenance which are crucial to the success of modern-day enterprise.

Rad more: Top security applications for Android