Enterprise software is only as good as its security. Today, a data breach costs $3.92 million on average. Organizations are expected to spend $124 billion on security in 2019 and will probably invest even more given the alarming rate at which cyberattacks are growing.
Despite these investments, newer and more sophisticated threats are emerging every day, making the security of an enterprise’s software environment challenging – even for the most well-prepared.
Fortunately, new innovations have given businesses more tools in their arsenal to combat vulnerabilities and facilitate rapid modernization, code dependency mapping (CDM) being one such solution.
What is code dependency mapping (CDM)?
When developers modify programs, they should consider the relationships among all the storage, network assets, and server infrastructure that interact together to support enterprise operations. Of course, application dependency mapping (ADM) can help, but it’s only limited to showcasing the dependencies between resources. CDM offers a detailed overview of database and software dependencies, so that they can better understand all the critical relationships and interdependencies within an IT infrastructure.
CDM takes APM a level further by analyzing at the code level. The benefit is that it helps track, visualize, and document all dependencies between services and components to show exactly how they impact each other.
Financial burdens of not understanding dependencies
Performing a thorough assessment of how a change – even a tiny modification – can impact an IT infrastructure can be extremely taxing – especially when handled manually by developers. However, ignoring this can translate to significant security concerns given how the modification can create new vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure.
For example, an application engineer may unknowingly leave security holes in the network that fly under the radar while managing access rights in an organization’s database. The organization may only realize there are vulnerabilities after an attack happens, when it is too late.
An effective CDM tool can prevent unexpected downtime. Even a simple change, like removing a line of code, may break the system if businesses don’t have a complete understanding of their application dependencies.
Downtime, of course, is another costly pain point for enterprises. Research firm Gartner Group estimates the cost of downtime to be a staggering $5,600 per minute while a related study by Veeam, a cloud data management company, suggests enterprises lose $2 million annually to unexpected outages.
CDM’s role is securing the enterprise IT infrastructure
Good security practices can only stem from a total understanding of every asset in the enterprise ecosystem. Since CDM provides a complete overview of every resource in the environment down to the column and method, enterprises have the opportunity to use it as a foundational tool to plan security controls.
The information gained from mapping dependencies can be invaluable in identifying vulnerabilities and the best actions to overcome them, particularly in practices such as micro-segmentation. With CDM, enterprises get the insights and confidence they need to build a strong security base in current and future applications.
CDM dives deep into application code, allowing developers to identify risky implementations that ADM or other basic mapping tools cannot detect, resulting in a comprehensive risk analysis of the software architecture.
Another key benefit of CDM lies in its ability to surface potential issues in code implementations before they become problems. A CDM tool can also speed up risk detection as IT teams don’t have to waste time performing deep code analysis to spot vulnerabilities. Instead, the CDM software automatically discovers security issues, helping end-users to quickly understand the problems and proactively take the necessary corrective steps.
CDM’s role in predicting potential issues
Many data breaches occur due to an “it won’t happen to us” mindset despite warnings from industry experts and other companies falling victim to security attacks.
With CDM, businesses can analyze codes that have contributed to security vulnerabilities, hence preventing the same mistakes from happening again.
Since CDM works at the code level, developers can confidently make all kinds of changes with assurance that they won’t break something important or open a security hole. CDM software also helps to reduce bugs by preventing potentially faulty software changes from being deployed. This results in improved software quality, more accurate time and budget estimates, as well as reduced operating costs from having to deal with fewer software fixes.
Conclusion
Enterprises can only ensure a strong security posture by prioritizing an intuitive, comprehensive view of application architecture as well as the ability to observe every dependency between applications and database assets in detail. CDM equips them with this capability by identifying interdependencies in real-time and offering enterprises an accurate picture of their infrastructure’s current state, thus enabling rapid and fearless innovation.
Security
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Help Net Security, Khareem Sudlow
