Did you know, at the beginning of 2023, more than 6 million data records were exposed worldwide through data breaches? The researchers suggest approximately 90.1% of the applications are not usually get tested for checking vulnerabilities. With numerous vulnerable applications, there is a humungous challenge to protect from attacks.
Runtime application self-protection (RASP) is a tool to protect applications from these attacks. In this article, we will delve deep into the RASP technology.
What is RASP technology?
The RASP is a kind of technology which generally runs on the server and gets started automatically whenever an application runs. When an application starts to run, the tool holds the capability to protect it from malevolent input by scrutinizing the application’s behavior. With the use of the RASP, the application is continuously used to monitor its own behavior.
The attacks can be eradicated and mitigated instantly without the intervention of the human.
The RASP utilizes security through a running application whenever it remains on a server. It helps in intercepting various calls from the application and makes it secure. Non-web and web applications get impeccable protection with the usage of the RASP. The technology doesn’t hamper the design of the particular application because of its protection and detection features.
Working procedure of RASP
The application covers itself around and gives protection to a particular application. It enables a targeted deployment which enables RASP to give vigilance to the inputs and outputs of the applications.
When the user deploys RASP, numerous developers are able to identify the severe vulnerabilities within the apps. The solutions given by the tool can block the attempts which are made to exploit the vulnerabilities which are already there.
The tool RASP differs from other solutions as it automatically takes control of the applications and addresses the problem. Whenever the tool is in diagnostic mode, RASP snoozes an alarm to tell users something is at miss. Other than this, whenever the RASP is in protection mode, it tries to stop it.
For instance, it is able to prohibit the execution of the instruction in order to appear to be a SQL attack. Various developers are able to implement RASP too in a myriad of ways. Some of the ways are written as follows:
- Developers can take a full-fledged developed application and encapsulate the application to remain secure with the use of single button push.
- Developers are able to fabricate specific decisions regarding what they wanted to be protected, for example, database queries, login details, etc.
Various benefits of the RASP
The various benefits rendered by the RASP are as follows:
- Visibility of the application layer attacks: RASP holds deep visibility into the application layer. This application layer is integrated with a specific application. The insights into the application layer give a lot of knowledge about a wider range of potential vulnerabilities and attacks.
- Contextual awareness: During the time RASP solution finds out a potential threat, it gets context-based data regarding the current state of the application. This data is further utilized for triaging, investigating, and protecting the app against potential vulnerabilities.
- 0-day protection: While RASP is able to utilize the signatures to find out the attacks, it is just not limited to the detection. The RASP can block and detect even the 0-day attacks.
- Lower CapEx and OpEx: The tool is designed in a way that it is quite an easy task to deploy, in order to find any vulnerability of the application.
- Hustle-free maintenance: RASP functions based on the insight obtained from an application. With the incorporation RASP, the application become self-protected and remain protected wherever they go.
- Flexible deployment: The RASP functioning is based upon the HTML standards and it becomes quite easy to adapt the API. This is helpful in protecting the application using standards like RPC and XML.
- Cloud support: It is fabricated to integrate and attached as a part of the applications which it is protecting. The flexibility is useful for deploying RASP anywhere.
A few of the use cases of the RASP are as follows:
RASP’s flexibility is highly useful and can be integrated with numerous different applications. Some of the common applications are:
- Web application protection: The APIs and various web applications are imperative components of the infrastructure of any organization. These applications are vulnerable to the internet but deploying RASP cybersecurity attacks can be eradicated.
- Cloud application protection: Giving security to the cloud can be an arduous task but integration of RASP into the applications render support with high security.
RASP Market Analysis
The runtime application self-protection market is anticipated to garner a revenue of USD 6 billion by the end of the year 2035. The reason for the growth of the market are as follows:
- Rising demand for the integrated security suites
- Implementation of BYOD bring your own device policy in various sectors
- Prevailing number of cyber attacks
- Rising usage of applications for business