Application Security: Why You Should Be Protected and What’s at Risk

Application-level security refers to all measures that are taken to protect any data that is collected and stored within an app. This includes company information, customer identifying information, and any other data that is considered to be confidential.

App security is something that should begin during the development of every business app. It should continue after the app has been deployed as well.

Application security includes measures taken at the software, hardware, and network-level to prevent unauthorized access. It also includes security policies and procedures.

Why You Need App Security Protection

Without the appropriate security measures, application data is at significant risk for unauthorized access, theft, or destruction. 84% of security breaches and data loss occur at the application level. Hackers often target this level simply because it is seen as the weakest point.

Why is app security such a major point of risk? There are a few reasons for this.

Insecure Data Storage

App data is unique and risky because it is often stored in various locations. Data includes cookies, SQL databases, and binary data stores. If any of those are vulnerable, they are potential access points to the rest of the app.

Lack of Input Validation

Input validation is the process to ensure that data going into the app is formatted correctly. This validation is done to ensure that improper information isn’t entered via input fields.

Communication Vulnerabilities

Data in an app isn’t contained within a device. Instead, it is communicated through an internet connection which may or may not be secured. That creates several layers of vulnerability that include any lack of security on the client device, compromised network connections, and insufficient security originating from telecommunications carriers.

Lack of Security Validation and Authorization

Without proper authorization and validation, bad actors can access app data, or take other actions that may compromise app security. It’s important that companies build in security measures such as multi-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access.

What’s at Risk?

Any data that is stored or processed through an app is at risk. The only way to mitigate this risk is to implement application security measures. By doing this, you also meet your obligations to protect customer information, financial data, and proprietary business information, all of which may be present on your business apps.

If your application security measures fail, then any data is vulnerable. This failure can lead to financial loss, legal liability, penalties, and damage to your reputation. Many application layer breaches involve the theft of intellectual property.

Also, consider the nature of the information that users submit through your app. In addition to personally identifying information, many apps involve entering financial data or other sensitive data. There are also significant costs to finding and fixing vulnerabilities that have been exploited.

SEAM Is Part of Your App Security Solution

Application data becomes stale or outdated for a variety of reasons. Part of application security is ensuring that information is disposed of in a way that doesn’t create a risk for your business or users.

SEAM offers a suite of shredding services and data sanitization services to help businesses in North Dakota and South Dakota dispose of app data correctly. Get in touch with us today for more information on our secure data destruction, device recycling and resale services.