Passwords are a part of our every day life. It is no wonder they are under such scrutiny, with many breaches focusing on them. We all know how to manage our passwords, or at least we should by now. We know that we should change our passwords every once in a while, especially if we believe they may have been a part of a recent breach. What about those access tokens? Access tokens are typically used by your mobile devices to access your account without the need for you to enter in your username … [Read more...] about Should Password Change Invalidate All Access Tokens?
application security
Application Security and Responsibility
Who is responsible for application security within your organization? While this is something I don't hear asked very often, when I look around the implied answer is the security team. This isn't just limited to application security either. Look at network security. Who, in your organization, is responsible for network security? From my experience, the answer is still the security group. But is that how it should be? Is there a better way? Security has spent a lot of effort to take and … [Read more...] about Application Security and Responsibility
Understanding the “Why”
If I told you to adjust your seat before adjusting your mirror in your car, would you just do it? Just because I said so, or do you understand why there is a specific order? Most of us retain concepts better when we can understand them logically. Developing applications requires a lot of moving pieces. An important piece in that process is implementing security controls to help protect the application, the company, and the users. In many organizations, security is heavily guided by an … [Read more...] about Understanding the “Why”
The Hidden Reason for Switching to HTTPS
If you run a website, you have probably debated on whether or not you need to make the switch to HTTPS instead of using HTTP. For those that still don't know, HTTPS is the encrypted version of HTTP. This is typically seen on banking sites, touted to protect your sensitive information when transmitted between you (your browser) and the application. I wrote on this topic about a year ago in the post: Is HTTP being left behind for HTTPS? Back then there was a big push for making the switch … [Read more...] about The Hidden Reason for Switching to HTTPS
Introduction to Penetration Testing for Application Teams
In this presentation, James Jardine focuses on educating application teams on what a penetration test is and how to extract the most value from it. Application teams learn how to participate in the engagement and better understand the report. You can watch the recorded session at any time at: https://youtu.be/I1PukF8Glh0 https://youtu.be/I1PukF8Glh0 … [Read more...] about Introduction to Penetration Testing for Application Teams
Application Registry: Knowing Your Assets
If an auditor asked you what applications exist on your network, how accurate do you think your answer would be? Do you have a repository or registry of the applications your company maintains? A good application security program starts with knowing what you have. Without this knowledge it is very difficult to understand the risk the applications bring to the company. Depending on the maturity of your application security program, the way that applications are registered can be very … [Read more...] about Application Registry: Knowing Your Assets