Speed of digital transformation may lead to greater app vulnerabilities

Digital transformation initiatives have become a common way for companies to make their businesses more agile and to adapt quickly to market changes. But faster software development speeds and the greater number of applications may be causing vulnerabilities to be more common, application-security experts said this week.

Industries such as manufacturing, IT, and retail each have a large share of companies whose applications are always vulnerable, according to the AppSec Stats Flash monthly report from WhiteHat Security. Seventy percent of applications at manufacturing companies, 56% of IT applications, and 56% of retail applications have at least one serious vulnerability affecting the software for the entire year, the report stated.

Along with government agencies, healthcare, and real estate, these industries have the largest share of applications that have year-round vulnerabilities, the report states.

“These industries fall into a group of industries that have seen their number of applications per organization increase dramatically over the last several years as their business become increasingly digital,” says Zach Jones, senior director of detection research at WhiteHat Security. “For most organizations, achieving an average time to fix of less than 30 days on high- and critical-risk vulnerabilities is a policy that is rarely achieved.”

As more companies pursue digital transformation initiatives — a process to become more digitally native — the rate of software creation quickens and feature deployment increases.

WhiteHat Security’s data shows a significant gap between companies that typically have a large volume of applications and those industries that are pushing digital transformation initiatives. Industries that typically have fewer applications — such as agriculture, waste management, and construction — are much more likely to have shorter exposure windows.

To read the complete article, visit Dark Reading.