What is Application Security Software?

Application Security Software offers solutions and services to protect applications, both web and mobile, from any form of cyber-attack by detecting and remediating the hidden vulnerabilities. 

Top Application Security Software Vendors 2020:

  • Acunetix
  • Applause
  • Appthority Inc
  • Checkmarx
  • Contrast Security
  • Erpscan
  • Fasoo, Inc
  • High Tech Bridge
  • HPE
  • IBM Corporation

Application security is the method of making apps more secure by finding, fixing, and enhancing the security of apps. It encompasses the security considerations that occur through application development and design. It also involves systems and approaches to protect apps after they get deployed.  Application security software helps organizations to protect all types of applications used by internal and external stakeholders as well as customers, business partners and employees.

Application Security Software market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.5% in the forecast period of 2019-2024.

COMPETITIVE LEADERSHIP MAPPING TERMINOLOGY

Top 25 companies offering Application Security software features were analyzed, shortlisted and categorized on a quadrant under Visionary Leaders, Innovators, Dynamic Differentiators, and Emerging Companies to identified best Application Security Software providers.

VISIONARY LEADERS

Visionary leaders in Application Security Software quadrant are the leading market players in terms of new developments such as product launches, innovative technologies, and the adoption of growth strategies. These players have a broad product offering that caters to most of the regions globally. Visionary leaders primarily focus on acquiring the leading market position through their strong financial capabilities and their well-established brand equity.

DYNAMIC DIFFERENTIATORS

Dynamic Differentiators have established players with very strong business strategies. However, they have a weaker product portfolio compared to the visionary leaders. They generally focus only on a specific type of technology related to the product.

INNOVATORS

Innovators in the competitive leadership mapping are vendors that have demonstrated substantial product innovations as compared to their competitors. The companies have focused on product portfolios. However, they do not have very strong growth strategies for their overall business, when compared with the visionary leaders.

EMERGING COMPANIES

Emerging companies under Application Security Software have a niche product and service offerings. Their business strategies are not as strong as that of the established vendors. The emerging vendors include the new entrants in the market, emerging in terms of product portfolio and geographic reach, and require time to gain significant traction.

Importance of Application Security Solution:

Application security software remains a crucial component of the IT security ecosystem to safeguard enterprise applications and data from external threats and breaches. Presently, organizations face security breaches in their email systems and web applications, which are attacked due to their mishandling of large amounts of data, resulting in financial losses, loss of customer trust, and damage to brand reputation. Hence, it has become very important for organizations to protect themselves against such attacks.

Various technology solutions such as SAST, DAST, IAST, penetration testing, Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP), and Software Composition Analysis (SCA) are used in the application security software market to assess applications for vulnerabilities. Businesses have become more application-oriented as applications are now integrated into devices and platforms, which enable users to interact with each other as well as outside the organization.

Since traditional security solutions can be easily bypassed by advanced threats and zero-day vulnerabilities, the need for application security software has become critical. Application security software offers complete visibility into applications, users, and data running across organizations.

Types of Application Security Software:

Application security software falls into two main categories mentioned below:

  • Testing Tools also called as Application Security Tools which are designed for software development teams who ensures that security is built into applications prior to deployment.
  • Runtime protection tools, which are designed to protect applications running in their target, operational environments.

Testing tools: SAST, DAST, and IAST

Static testing application security (SAST), also called as white-box testing, offers developers a comprehensive evaluation of their source code and often involves use of a compiler to analyze data flow through an application.

Dynamic application security testing (DAST) test web applications while they are running, that is it provides an assessment from the perspective of a user.

Interactive application security testing (IAST) is a hybrid of SAST and DAST that checks vulnerabilities in the code itself as well as after development is complete.

Runtime protection tools: WAF and RASP

Web application firewall (WAF) tools, are designed to protect the security perimeter against intrusion.

Runtime application security protection (RASP) tools are designed to detect intrusion from inside the running application, or inside the security perimeter.

Top features in Best Application Security Solution:

Application Level Security: It enables user to control application access on a per-user role, or per-user basis. This typically includes a role-based menuing system, which displays different menu options to different users based on their role.

Row-level (or multi-tenant) security: Multi-tenant security lets user control data access within a single application at the row level. It means multiple users can access the same application, but only view the data they’re authorized to see.

Application inventory: It is the ability to catalog and classify all of your existing application assets. This includes the ability to profile each application, determine its business impact and, after assessment, calculate its overall security risk. 

Encryption:
In cloud-based applications, where traffic containing sensitive data travels between the end user and the cloud, that traffic can be encrypted to keep the data safe. 

Logging
: If there is a security breach in an application, logging can help identify who got access to the data and how. Application log files provide a time-stamped record of which aspects of the application were accessed and by whom.

Application security testing
: It is a necessary process to ensure that all security controls work properly.

How to choose best Application Security Software?

Following tips should be followed to select right Application Security Software for your product:

  • Easy Implementation:Security tools should not come with a list of system requirements and complicated installation steps.
  • Results: Ensure that developers are able to understand the scan results and locate the vulnerabilities easily.
  • Compatibility: Ensure that the security tool is compatible with the existing framework and databases.
  • Development environment: Verify that your tool can work with code management tool (TFS, SVN). Development environment (Eclipse, Visual Studio) compatibility must also be examined.
  • Budget: Combine SAST/DAST security tools with Pen Testing. But when on a fixed budget, Source Code Analysis (SCA)is highly recommended.
  • Support: Ensure the company that is providing the security tool has a good support team in place with high-quality technical documentation and online information.

Application Security Software: Trends to watch!

  • Commercial versions of open-source tools are gaining traction
  • Better open-source interfaces
  • Demand for deeper results from tools
  • Gatekeepers are appearing in the CI/CD pipeline
  • Static and dynamic analysis tools are merging
  • Automated results are integrated into the development lifecycle
  • Companies are consolidating their security tools
  • Web application firewalls are getting smarter
  • More cloud security email tools will be entering the market
  • Active monitoring apps are gaining popularity
  • Tools are automating some pen testing
  • Application Monitoring, Alerting and Response
  • The Need for Product Security experts

Best Application Security Software in 2022

Comparing 24 vendors in Application Security Solutions across 24 criteria.
All vendors(0)
No vendors found
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In today’s hyperconnected business environment, there is a rapid emergence of digital solutions, devices, and associated services. The foundation of this digital infrastructure is based on the communication between various business critical applications and data, which are shared across platforms, devices, and users. As these business applications hold critical organizational data, they have become a prime target for hackers and cybercriminals, as they increase the risk exposure in a corporate environment. Due to an increase in the security breaches targeting business applications, organizations across the world are deploying application security solutions to safeguard their web and mobile applications.
The application security market size is expected to grow from USD 2.79 billion in 2017 to USD 9.0 billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26.4%. The market is gaining traction due to the increasing need to protect enterprise applications and data from emerging application layer attacks. Many enterprises across the globe still use web and mobile applications that contain vulnerabilities, which if exploited, might result in huge losses for the organizations. Enterprises are expected to increase their security spending in the upcoming years to ensure robust security for their IT infrastructure.
Market Dynamics: Drivers Need to protect enterprise applications and data Government Regulations Increasing sophistication level of cyber-attacks Increasing deployment of third-party applications Restraints Lack of awareness about cybersecurity Opportunities Increasing smartphone adoption and evolution of IoT Rapid digitalization in emerging economies Challenges High deployment costs and need to quickly deploy applications to end-users
Increasing Digitalization, IoT and smart city initiatives are expected to bring huge growth opportunities for the application security solution providers in the coming years. BFSI, Government and Defense are the top 3 industry verticals to show the highest growth which is an opportunity for the vendors to capture these markets.
The application security ecosystem comprises application security solution vendors such as Veracode (Massachusetts, US), HPE (California, US), Synopsys (California, US), IBM (New York, US), WhiteHat Security (California, US), Qualys (California, US), Checkmarx (Tel Aviv, Israel), Acunetix (St Julians, Malta), Rapid7 (Massachusetts, US), Trustwave ( Illinois, US), High-Tech Bridge (Geneva, Switzerland), Contrast Security (California, US), SiteLock (Arizona, US), Pradeo (Paris, France), and Fasoo (New Jersey, US). It also includes application developers, system integrators, and enterprises. Other stakeholders in the application security market include Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), information security consulting service providers, and security auditors.
Major Market Developments: In March 2017, High-Tech Bridge launched Immunize Mobile to enter into mobile market segment. In January 2017, Synopsys released a new version of its Coverity static analysis tool with version number 8.7. The new version includes the capabilities of Cigital and Codiscope, providing enterprise level security to both mobile and web applications. In January 2017, Synopsys acquired Forcheck B.V., the Netherlands-based static analysis tool provider for Fortran applications.