2009 8 Dec

Searching For Critical Business Application Security Shortcomings

Business consultants may be employed at mid-size or large firms; they may be tasked to work from anywhere in the continent. By any means, they maintain a common objective: to better manage the risks associated with their corporate business concern. Increasingly, enterprise-level Web application security cannot be overlooked any longer if we still have the aim of carrying out that responsibility. The majority of enterprises place a great deal of trust in their Web design and development departments. Perhaps too much.

With each passing year, firms rely on enterprise-level Web applications to differentiate their service offerings from their competitors and to enhance their business. Corporate applications in most cases incorporate the use of Web forms to acquire customer information. For example,, acquire credit card or bank account or classified/confidential organizational information and user satisfaction feedback. A corporate Web page designer and developer in Anchorage, Alaska, for example, is tasked to design and develop many classes of information gathering applications.

Unfortunately, the increased adoption of business Web applications gives hackers an opportunity to probe and test for unforeseen security loopholes. As the number and complexity of organizational Web applications becomes larger, so does the amount of vulnerabilities brought into your organizational Web sphere. Very critical encroachments promote the focus on enterprise level application exposures. Literally, the amount of threats involving enterprise level Web applications has businesses all over the world scrambling for solutions to these worries. Don’t put on the blinders and lose track of the other organizational data stores. The database design team’s activities should also be reviewed very closely.

As security violations grow more sophisticated as time passes,
overlooking the responsibility to properly lock down your business Web applications can leave your firm open to very expensive offenses against your system. These incidents can cause the loss of sensitive personal information or the introduction of malware or viruses.

Specific organizational hazards of these types of mistakes include:
Reduction of revenue and business opportunities;
Ill-timed media coverage;
Company loss of reputation;
Ill-timed scrutiny from consumer advocates; and
Corporate lawsuits.

In addition, if your business is legally obliged to protect the privacy and security of personal information, and hackers put their hands on this sensitive information, your business can run the risk noncompliance with any of several mandated legislative elements, including Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and Sarbanes-Oxley, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS, To take a simple example, was created to secure financial card information by ensuring reliably secure electronic marketing. Newer changes to the PCI standard count for supplementary prerequisites for enterprises to guard Web-facing applications or be confronted with noncompliance. The public today has little tolerance for businesses who don’t practice sound Web security practices.

Every day, technologies change and it becomes increasingly difficult for the database administrators and Web professionals to stay current. However, it is the ultimate responsibility of management, not the IT staff to ensure the legislative requirements are adhered to.