Application Security Assessment
Detecting and Remediating App Vulnerabilities
Having 35 years of the overall experience in IT and 21 years in cybersecurity, ScienceSoft offers expert application security testing and risk assessment. We detect and help remediate vulnerabilities to keep your app secure from unauthorized access and malicious use.
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Application security assessment aims to find vulnerabilities that can lead to unauthorized access to the app content or administration. It helps SaaS companies check if their new product or functional module is free of security flaws and meets security standards before it is released. For other companies, it is a way to find out if the applications they use can endanger their sensitive data.
Applications ScienceSoft’s Security Assessment Covers
Customer-facing apps
Key asset to protect: customer data
- Ecommerce apps
- Web portals
- Claims management systems
- Social network apps
- Messengers
- Online/mobile banking apps, etc.
Internal apps
Key assets to protect: business data + financial assets + customer data
- ERP
- CRM
- Customer service software
- Accounting systems
- Supply chain management software
- Intranets
- Document management systems
- HR management systems
- Data analytics tools, etc.
How We Assess Application Security
We combine static application security testing (SAST) with dynamic application security testing (DAST) to detect and fix maximum application security vulnerabilities, including the most frequently occurring vulnerabilities from OWASP Top 10 list.
SAST – automated source code review
Typical steps we follow:
- Analysis of the app’s tech stack.
- Manual configuration of scanning tools and running automated code scanners.
- Manual validation of the scanning results to eliminate false positives.
- Providing a report on detected vulnerabilities, the risks they pose and remediation guidance.
DAST – application penetration testing
Typical steps we follow:
- Defining the testing scope and approach (black, gray or white box pentesting).
- Collecting open-source intelligence, if needed.
- Scanning the app to detect vulnerabilities.
- Attempting to exploit the detected vulnerabilities.
- Analyzing the findings and estimating potential danger of the detected vulnerabilities.
- Providing a report, describing and prioritizing revealed vulnerabilities and a remediation plan.
At the customer’s request, we fix the revealed application security issues. For example:
Broken access control
- Mapping the hierarchy of roles and permissions and modelling a secure access control system.
- Setting up secure access with multi-factor authentication.
Cryptographic failures
Employing a strong hashing algorithm to encrypt sensitive data.
Injection vulnerabilities
- Input validation.
- Restricting access to the database according to the Principle of Least Privilege.
Insecure design
Creating a library of secure design patterns to use for app refactoring and future development.
Security misconfiguration
Adjusting the app configurations, uninstall unused components, apply patches.
Vulnerable and outdated components (libraries, modules, APIs)
Uninstalling unused software components and dependencies, upgrading outdated ones.
Identification and authentication failures
- Creating and implementing secure password policy.
- Configuring access controls, setting up multi-factor authentication where possible, limiting failed login attempts.
- Developing a secure session management mechanism.
Software and data integrity failures
Introducing a practice of code review for newly installed components.
Security logging and monitoring failures
Installing a SIEM system.
Server-side request forgery
Whitelisting the hostnames (DNS names) or IP addresses that an application needs to access.
Service Deliverables
Upon the application security assessment, ScienceSoft firm provides documents describing the service process and results:
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A final report describing the detected vulnerabilities, the risks they pose, as well as corrective measures. After retesting, we update the final report by changing the status of known vulnerabilities and adding newly discovered vulnerabilities (if any). |
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A cybersecurity processes assessment report stating the adherence of testing activities to the commonly used security standards (HIPAA, PCI SF, ISO 27001, GDPR, NIST 800-53) |
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An executive summary based on the final report. |
Why ScienceSoft
- 21 years in cybersecurity, 35 years in software development.
- A solid portfolio of IT security testing projects.
- A competent team: Certified Ethical Hackers, senior developers, compliance consultants, certified cloud security experts, certified ISO 27001 internal auditors, and more.
- Recognized as Top Penetration Testing Company by Clutch.
- The information security team qualified to check any threat from the WASC Threat Classification.
- ISO 9001-certified mature quality management to guarantee smooth cooperation and value-driving results.
- 100% security of our clients' data ensured by ISO 27001-certified security management system.
- ScienceSoft is a 3-Year Champion in The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies Rating by the Financial Times.
Our Clients Say
Rob Ellis
CEO
When we were looking for a reliable security testing partner for the first release of our cloud-based application, we chose ScienceSoft to provide us with quality testing services and security code review. Throughout security testing activities, ScienceSoft’s cybersecurity team proved to be result-oriented and attentive to detail. The team responded quickly and produced useful reports which were easy to understand and implement if required.
ScienceSoft’s team found 18 vulnerabilities, delivered a detailed report on all the detected issues, and provided recommendations on how to improve the security of the tested objects. They also provided comprehensive answers to all our questions during and after testing and assisted with remediation of the discovered vulnerabilities.
We partnered with ScienceSoft to carry out penetration testing of our Simpli5® web-based application. We were under some time pressure to get penetration testing performed as quickly as possible. When I reached out ScienceSoft, they were immediately responsive to my inquiry, they provided a very competitive quote quickly, and they were able to schedule the testing shortly after our acceptance of the quote.
Why Choose ScienceSoft for Application Security Assessment
Complete view of application vulnerabilities
We assess the app from the outside (pentesting) and the inside (code review) not to miss a single security flaw.
Quick and accurate results
We balance automated testing tools and manual validation of results to speed up the process without sacrificing the quality.
We filter false positive security alerts, thus saving our clients many hours to handle them.
Application compliance testing
Teaming up with compliance consultants, our cybersecurity engineers help identify and fix non-compliances with HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI SSF, GDPR and other security standards and regulations.
Application Security Challenges We Handle
Challenge #1
Fixing software vulnerabilities is a difficult task that requires both cybersecurity and coding skills.
Challenge #2
Even if an app has all necessary security controls in place, there is always a chance of security breach due to user errors.
Tools We Use for Application Security Assessment
Application Security Assessment by ScienceSoft: Success Stories
Cloud Application Code Review and Pentesting for an Award-Winning IT Company
ScienceSoft performed penetration testing and source code review of a cloud-based application for tax returns for a European developer of tax, accounting and practice management products.
Web Applications Penetration Testing for a Multinational Retail Chain
ScienceSoft’s team executed black box penetration testing and provided a detailed overview of the existing vulnerabilities in the Customer’s web resources that could attract potential hackers aiming to steal sensitive data or harm the corporate network.
Pentesting of a Supply Chain Management Portal and Mobile Apps for a UK Company
ScienceSoft conducted black box penetration to assess the security level of the Customer’s supply chain management portal and complementing mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Web Application Security Assessment for a European Bank
ScienceSoft performed 10 different penetration tests to analyze the security of the web apps and recommended the Customer to focus on authentication and data validation issues to improve the protection of sensitive information.
Comprehensive Application Assessment for a US Healthcare Service Provider
ScienceSoft conducted application vulnerability assessment, malware detection, penetration testing, source code and database consistency review of a patient portal.
Choose Your Service Option
Application security assessment
- Comprehensive testing of an app to detect its vulnerabilities.
- Outlining remediation measures for each vulnerability and prioritizing them based on criticality.
Application security assessment and remediation
- Detecting application security vulnerabilities and defining their severity.
- Developing vulnerability remediation plan.
- Implementing corrective measures to ensure the app is free of security flaws.
Don’t Put Off Your App Security Assessment
- 26% of security breaches involve web application attacks (2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report).
- 88% was the increase in web application attacks in 2021 (2021-2022 Radware Global Threat Analysis Report).
- 71% of top 5,200 most popular mobile apps in 12 industries had security issues and 68% showed privacy issues (2021 NowSecure MobileRiskTracker™ Live Benchmark Report)