Since the 1970s, malware has always been a constant cause for concern for private companies and government agencies. Since the Wabbit virus, which was created in 1974 and was the first recorded virus, malware has continued to evolve and cause data breaches in major companies like Facebook, Estee Lauder, and Nintendo.
Malware continues to escalate to data breaches in government agencies. For example, early last 2020, hackers broke into Solarwind’s system called Orion. They were undetected for months, causing a massive data breach to government and non-government agencies: the Pentagon, the Department of National Security, the Treasury, Cisco, and Intel, to name a few companies.
The number of attacks continues to rise at an alarming rate. For example, Sonicwall reported 304.6 million ransomware attacks and 5.6 billion malware attacks last 2020, and Comparitech predicts that hackers will continue to target large companies with malware in hopes of being able to secure a big payment. As the number of malware attacks continues to escalate, it is crucial to do thorough research on the different ways to avoid and how you can prevent these threats from affecting your company.
What are Software Vulnerabilities?
As the term suggests, software vulnerabilities are weaknesses in your software system that hackers can easily exploit or manipulate to cause data breaches or damages to your system. You can find these vulnerabilities anywhere, but it is still important to be informed of these common software vulnerabilities to know what to look out for to protect your software system.
Here is a list of the software vulnerabilities to avoid:
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Software Bugs
Software bugs are errors found in your software that can cause it to behave unusually. While they are common and found in any software, they might eventually lead to grave problems like data breaches and inaccurate data results if they are not discovered and fixed immediately.
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Insufficient Logging and Monitoring Processes
When there are insufficient logging and monitoring processes, your software and your data are more prone to tampering, data extraction, or complete data eradication in extreme cases.
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Buffer Overflow
A buffer overflow happens when the data that is attempted to be stored is bigger than the memory space assigned. It results in an overwritten storage capacity which attackers take the opportunity to gain access to the software system.
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Sensitive Data Exposure
Data containing personal information like accounts and contact details are considered sensitive data and must be properly protected. If this personal information is not properly managed, it may cause the application to expose personal data inadvertently.
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Injection Flaws
Injection flaws allow hackers access to your software by injecting malicious codes into your system through a different application, allowing the attackers to have immediate access to your data. However, this can be avoided if there is adequate input validation in your system.
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Components with Known Vulnerabilities
It occurs when the libraries and frameworks used within the system are executed with full privileges. When attackers manipulate these components, the system is more prone to data extraction or system override.
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Broken Authentication
Two crucial factors that help software systems be protected against malware attacks are when the system has been properly designed and robust implementation of accessibility controls. However, when the system lacks these factors, sensitive data can easily be compromised.
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Insecure Deserialization
According to Acunetix’s research, insecure deserialization vulnerability happens when untrusted data has access and is used to either abuse the logic of a system application or inflict a denial of service.
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Broken Access Control
It would help if you strictly enforced user restrictions. However, if not properly implemented, data or information that should not be readily accessible to the public is made available to everyone, and suspicious agents might take advantage of this to exploit the software system.
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Security Misconfiguration
Security misconfiguration is the erroneous implementation of security controls in a system. There are different causes as to why this happens. Still, the most common causes of these security errors are insecure default configurations, incomplete configurations, open cloud storage, and misconfigured HTTP headers.
Who’s in control of your data?
A hybrid low-code platform provides more control over your data unlike many cloud solutions, they give you the essential tools to create your security protocols. A hybrid low-code development platform simplifies the way your applications are developed because they integrate low-code inside an IDE.
In addition, they don’t limit developers to use low-code during app development because they can import other assets. In line with this, hybrid low-code platforms like LANSA have their programming language, which you can use inside the IDE.
You can use the very same programming language for both server-side and client-side applications and objects.
Investing in a hybrid low-code development platform is beneficial. First, it reduces the cost of developing new applications by maximizing all the necessary functions into one framework.
Additionally, because of its innovative technology, it gives you and your application developer the freedom to input security protocols best suited for your application, making application development both easier and more secure throughout the development process. Furthermore, should you choose to import other assets during your application development, it is easier for the developer to include these security protocols in your application.
Due to the different kinds of software development vendors available in the market, you must take the necessary time and effort to research the best development vendor for your business. Here are a few factors you can consider when looking for the best software development vendor for your business:
- Reputation and Experience. One of the main indicators of a good quality software development vendor is that they have a good reputation and are preferred and referred to by many companies. They should have prior experience in developing software or a system similar to what you want to develop.
- Expertise. The software development vendor you hire must have the necessary equipment and knowledge to develop the system you need for your business.
- Pricing. One important thing to consider is if the services that you will be availing of are cost-effective.
- Intellectual Property. Discussing intellectual property rights is critical before reaching a final agreement between both parties. Legal and non-disclosure agreements should be clear and concise before reaching a final decision.
With a hybrid low-code platform, you speed up the application development without compromising the quality of your application, and you are assured that they will provide the tools that are essential to have the best security protocols for your application.
You can ensure that you can fully control your security during your application development using a hybrid low-code platform. With this, using a hybrid low-code platform is beneficial to both your company and your app developers.
