7 Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) Best Practices
Managing risk across complex software portfolios and throughout the software development lifecycle is critical. With the increasing volume and complexity of software, the accelerating pace of development, and the evolving threat landscape, ensuring visibility and powering risk reduction has never been more challenging. This is where Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) comes into play.
Application Security Posture Management helps organizations reduce risk by simplifying the management of security findings across the entire software security ecosystem. It unifies security findings, distills them into the highest-risk priorities, automates and optimizes remediation processes, and streamlines governance and reporting. By doing so, ASPM makes it possible to manage and improve security posture with less effort and cost.
ASPM is rapidly becoming a need-to-have. Gartner predicts ASPM adoption will grow eightfold by 2026 as organizations try to manage overwhelming volumes of security findings spread across disjointed tools. However, ASPM is not just an enabling technology, it is the foundation of a new model for securing the digital enterprise. Successful ASPM programs must complement existing technologies, people, and processes and position the organization to adapt and mature across those three fronts.
Here are 7 Best Practices to help navigate your ASPM journey.
ASPM Best Practice #1: Keep ASPM Governance Separate from Scanning
Scanning and Security Posture Management are Different Competencies
ASPM requires a clear distinction between the disparate tools used to detect vulnerabilities and weaknesses and the central platform to process and prioritize those findings. Detection uses specialized techniques to identify potential vulnerabilities and security issues across application code, components, and infrastructure. Risk management, on the other hand, involves evaluating the identified risks across the myriad detection sources, prioritizing them based on their potential impact, and making informed decisions about remediation. By separating these two competencies, organizations can ensure that each function operates optimally, leveraging specialized tools and processes tailored to their unique needs.
Tool Optimization and Rationalization
Separating governance from scanning also facilitates the optimization and rationalization of security tools. Organizations can use best-of-breed tools for both detection and governance without compromising on either front. This approach not only enhances the effectiveness of each tool but also ensures that resources are allocated efficiently, avoiding redundancy and maximizing the return on investment.
ASPM Best Practice #2: Unify your Entire Software Security Ecosystem
Integrate throughout the Software Development Lifecycle
Securing the application lifecycle proactively requires a comprehensive integration ecosystem that connects all your security tools and processes. Beyond scanning tools, this includes integrating security into the development pipeline, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflows, ticketing systems, and runtime environments. A well-integrated ecosystem ensures that security measures are applied consistently across all stages of the application lifecycle, from design and development to deployment.
Secure the Entire Application
A comprehensive security strategy must encompass all aspects of the application environment, including threat modeling, threat intelligence, code security, cloud infrastructure, on-premises systems, and endpoints. By addressing security at every level, organizations can detect and mitigate threats more effectively, ensuring robust protection against a wide range of attack vectors.
ASPM Best Practice #3: Prioritize Based on Risk
Distill Findings into High-Risk Priorities
One of the challenges in application security is the sheer volume of findings generated by various security tools. To manage this effectively, organizations must distill these findings into a smaller, more manageable set. This involves deduplicating overlapping findings, normalizing data from different sources, and correlating related issues to provide a clearer picture of the security landscape.
Calculate Risk with Adaptive Risk Scoring
Quantifying risk is crucial for effective prioritization. This involves using adaptive risk scoring that takes into account the technical severity of vulnerabilities and weaknesses, relevant threat intelligence, and the potential business impact of each issue. By combining these factors, organizations can prioritize remediation efforts on the most critical vulnerabilities, ensuring that resources are focused where they are needed most. Risk scoring also provides visibility into the security posture of specific business units, applications, and products.
ASPM Best Practice #4: Optimize Remediation Efforts
Focus Effort on High-Risk True Positives
To optimize remediation efforts, organizations should focus on addressing high-risk true positives—vulnerabilities that pose a significant threat and have been verified as legitimate. This ensures that security teams are not overwhelmed by false positives and can concentrate their efforts on the most pressing issues.
Correlate Runtime Scans with Code Analysis
Combining runtime and code analysis provides a comprehensive view of vulnerabilities, helping to identify true positives more accurately and pinpoint root causes. This approach aids in identifying best-fix priorities and determining the appropriate owners for remediation, streamlining the process.
Leverage Automation & Bi-Directional Integrations for Ticketing
Automation plays a critical role in efficient remediation. Implementing risk-based no-code runbooks allows organizations to escalate issues, notify relevant stakeholders, create tickets, and collaborate on remediation efforts seamlessly. Bi-directional integration with ticketing tools ensures that the remediation process is well-coordinated and tracked.
Provide Relevant Remediation Guidance
Providing clear and actionable remediation guidance is essential for addressing vulnerabilities effectively. Developers should have easy access to relevant remediation guidance and training to remediate quickly and avoid introducing security issues in the future. Leveraging generative AI can further accelerate the process by offering tailored guidance or fix suggestions reducing the time and effort required to resolve security issues.
ASPM Best Practice #5: Manage Exceptions
Streamline Exception Workflows for Issues that Cannot Be Fixed
In some cases, certain vulnerabilities may not be fixable due to various constraints. Implementing exception workflows allows organizations to handle these cases appropriately, ensuring that they are documented, reviewed, and approved by relevant stakeholders.
Maintain a Risk Registry to Manage Exceptions
Maintaining a risk registry helps organizations keep track of exceptions and manage them within the context of the overall risk landscape. This registry provides a centralized view of accepted risks, facilitating ongoing monitoring and review to ensure that exceptions remain within acceptable limits.
ASPM Best Practice #6: Conform Data to Organizational Structures
Structure Data Around Organizational Hierarchies
To ensure that security data is meaningful and actionable, it should be structured in alignment with the organization's hierarchies. This allows for clear visibility into security posture at different levels of the organization, from individual teams to the executive level. It also makes it easier to visualize and manage the distribution of risk across business units, products, and teams.
Reporting
Effective reporting is crucial for governance and decision-making. ASPM should support robust reporting capabilities that provide insights into security trends, risks, and remediation progress. Tailoring reports to different audiences within the organization ensures that stakeholders have the information they need to make informed decisions. Automating report generation and distribution can significantly reduce security team effort as well.
ASPM Best Practice #7: Ensure Future Fit
Easy to Adopt and Adapt
ASPM solutions should be designed for ease of adoption and adaptability. This involves providing intuitive interfaces, seamless integrations, and flexible deployment options that can be tailored to the organization's specific needs and workflows. It also means solutions should meet organizations where they are with out-of-the-box capabilities and sensible defaults that propel the journey to a mature and successful security program.
Enable the Secure Adoption of New Technologies
Digital transformation, cloud modernization, and AI adoption are the latest examples of the constantly evolving technology landscape. As new technologies emerge, ASPM solutions play a critical role in enabling organizations to adopt them securely and build a competitive advantage. ASPM should rapidly incorporate security tools and provide the flexibility to adapt the security ecosystem to meet current and future needs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) is vital for managing risk across complex software portfolios and throughout the application lifecycle. By following these best practices—separating governance from scanning, securing the entire application lifecycle, prioritizing based on risk, optimizing remediation, managing exceptions, conforming data to organizational structures, and ensuring future-fit capabilities—organizations can significantly enhance their application security posture and effectively manage vulnerabilities.
