Web Application Security: A Guide to Updates, Fixing Vulnerabilities, Exploitations, Threats, and Compliance

Keeping your web app secure is a continuous process that demands regular updates, especially as hackers and bad actors are constantly trying to break into different systems.

Online business applications are a favored target—according to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), web applications accounted for over 60% of reported breach incidents and they were the third most common vector for ransomware attacks (roughly 25% of ransomware attacks).

What Common Security Threats Your Web App May Face

Without regular updates, hackers and other bad actors can utilize common security threats to prey on outdated web applications, taking advantage of zero-day exploits, using automated tools, and exploiting any publicly known vulnerabilities.

Zero-Day Exploits

Zero-day exploits are a kind of cyberattack where a malicious actor takes advantage of a web application’s security flaws before your organization has time to fix those flaws. This can happen because an organization simply hasn’t discovered the flaws themselves, but it can also be because an organization failed to address a flaw promptly—it is always a race between your developer team and the hackers out there.

Either way, this opens the doors for malicious actors to plant malware, steal sensitive data, and cause other damage to your online application, your organization, and your users.

Exploiting Publicly Known Vulnerabilities

These kinds of vulnerabilities are ones that have been discovered, made public, and even have available patches. But unless a web app is updated, it cannot take advantage of those patches, leaving them open for hackers to still exploit those very same vulnerabilities.

Bad actors can use automated bots to scan for internet apps that are running on outdated versions, making it even easier for them to strike.

SQL Injection

Malicious SQL code gets injected into your online app to interfere with the queries being sent to its database, ultimately allowing the hacker to then view, modify, or delete data that should be inaccessible. This kind of attack can also be used to attack the server or other parts of the backend infrastructure.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

This vulnerability allows bad actors to inject malicious scripts into the user’s browser, compromising their interactions with what should be a trusted web app. One way a hacker may use this kind of attack is to steal session tokens to pose as an authenticated user so that they can pilfer for sensitive information.

Outdated APIs

Like having an outdated online app, outdated or deprecated APIs must be updated to address any security vulnerabilities that have been found. But the longer an organization takes to update their API, the more time a hacker has to take advantage.

Remote Code Execution (RCE)

Remote code execution is a kind of vulnerability where an attacker sends malicious code over a network and executes it on a target system, granting the hacker the ability to run commands without your permission and without your knowledge.

Ransomware

Ransomware is when a hacker injects a kind of malware that encrypts and blocks access to key data in your cloud-based app until a ransom has been paid. This can greatly disrupt your operations, prevent users from accessing the app, damage brand reputation, and lead to ongoing financial loss.

Broken Authentication

Poor design and implementation of authentication controls can lead to passwords, session tokens, and keys getting compromised, allowing hackers to then disguise themselves as authorized users.

Knowing what threats exist is just the first step—the next will be proactively updating and staying alert for exploits and vulnerabilities that can threaten your cloud-based application.

How Updates Fix Vulnerabilities and Better Secure Your Web App

Improving the security of web applications requires regularly updating to fix of any known vulnerabilities, improvement of encryption and authentication methods, and blocking off any zero-day exploits.

Addressing Known Vulnerabilities

With regular updates by your developer team, discovered security flaws can be promptly addressed and entry points for attacks like SQL injection, XSS, and remote code execution can be eliminated before malicious actors can take advantage of available weaknesses.

Enhancement of Encryption and Authentication Methods

Improving the encryption of your online app and using better password hashing algorithms aid in preventing brute force attacks.

Preventing Zero-Day Exploits

By issuing urgent security updates as soon as zero-day vulnerabilities are discovered, your organization can prevent hackers from leaping at the opportunity and carrying out zero-day exploits.

Exploits and vulnerabilities will always be a threat to online applications, but by following the best practices in updating applications, you can ensure you’re always ready with the next update while keeping your app and your organization as safe as possible.

What Best Practices to Use for Securely Updating Your Web App

The best practices for securely updating your web app include knowing when to update your web app, efficiently managing those updates, protecting your application and organization during the update, and ensuring that the update itself is safe.

• Enable automatic updates for your web application whenever possible to ensure that updates are installed as soon as they become available.
• Document any changes to your online app.
• Utilize a web app firewall.
• Do not use any unsupported end-of-life software in your cloud-based app.
• When looking for updates for any part of your application, make sure to go directly to a vendor site to get those updates—avoid clicking on any advertisements or email links.
• Don’t download any updates for your online app while on any unfamiliar or untrusted networks.

Remembering these best practices plays a large role in how your internet app stays secure, but to further protect your organization, you’ll need to also consider what standards and regulations your company must comply with.

What Standards and Regulations Does Your Web App Security Need to Consider?

Security updates go beyond addressing exploitable vulnerabilities, they also ensure that your web app remains in compliance with any relevant regulations and standards, such as those for the medical, manufacturing, and finance industries. The following are just some of the data protection regulations that exist…

HIPAA

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, is a set of federal standards made to protect people’s private health information from unauthorized disclosure, ensuring that each person’s data is handled carefully and with strict confidentiality. Online apps that handle medical information are the most likely to need to follow this regulation.

GDPR

GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, is a regulation from the European Union (EU) and revolves around protecting a person’s right to data privacy and protection, whether that data is being transferred within or transferred outside of the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA). For internet applications with a global presence or the goal of establishing a global presence, this is a regulation that will need to be followed if it is to be accessed by citizens of EU or EEA nations.

CCPA

CCPA, or California Consumer Privacy Act, was designed to provide consumers with more control over how their personal information is being collected, whether it is being sold, and how they can access their personal data. The CCPA also grants consumers the ability to request a business to delete personal information, and it also provides protection against discrimination for the exercising of privacy rights. For any cloud-based app to have a presence in California, it will need to comply with the CCPA.

COPPA

COPPA, or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, was designed to protect the privacy and safety of children online, including putting in place restrictions on marketing to users under the age of 13 years old. This regulation applies to any US-based business that intends to market to children or has knowledge that children under 13 are providing information to their web application.

By regularly updating your app’s security to protect users and maintain compliance, you’ll open the doors to markets in different regions while protecting yourself from legal consequences and costly penalties.

How to Build a Security-First Culture to Ensure Regular Updates

Without a security-first culture, an organization’s developer team may forget to follow security best practices and fail to apply updates regularly and promptly to protect your web application—this not only allows vulnerabilities to remain in your online application, but it makes it more likely for your developer team to fall prey to tactics like social engineering.