Enterprise Application Security: What It Is and How To Prevent It?

Enterprise application security is one of the most important aspects of protecting organizations from external attacks. Businesses today heavily rely on on-premises and cloud applications for their day-to-day operations. Every application and platform is a potential vulnerability. Over the years, cybersecurity vulnerability reports have recorded an increase in the number of security holes in enterprise applications. It has become increasingly important to secure enterprise applications as the security of personal and valuable data has deteriorated. Every day, people interact with digital devices, which puts their personal and confidential data at risk.

In addition, when organizations are attacked by cyber criminals, their brand reputation is at risk. Entrepreneurs should follow a comprehensive enterprise mobile application security strategy and must address various vulnerabilities. In this blog, we will understand what enterprise application security is, why it matters and best practices to prevent enterprise mobile security breaches.

What is Enterprise Application Security?

An enterprise application security is about implementing a complete set of measures to protect a company’s software, systems, and networks from potential cyber threats. Threats to enterprise-grade application security can be device-specific, network-specific, or user-specific. To prevent such security threats, various enterprise application security best practices are employed, including the use of stringent authentication methods and access controls in order to prevent unauthorized access. One such practice is to encrypt sensitive data during transmission and storage to prevent unauthorized access. Also, the importance of regular updates and patch management protocols cannot be overstated when it comes to ensuring system resilience and mitigating vulnerabilities.

During enterprise application development, secure coding practices play a pivotal role in minimizing potential vulnerabilities. We will deep dive into the best practices to prevent such security breaches but first let’s understand why it is necessary for enterprises.

Why Enterprise Mobile Security Matters

Online transactions are more common than ever before. Corporate systems and software are becoming more complicated as companies undergo extensive digital transformations, blurring the lines between reality and the digital world.

Security lapses can damage your brand’s reputation, erode consumer confidence, and reduce employee productivity. Enterprise mobile security issues are becoming increasingly prevalent, especially in the hybrid workplace, where employees use their own devices and networks. Cyberattacks, data theft, and ransomware should be fought with stronger security protocols to protect sensitive information, guarantee consumer privacy, and defend intellectual property.

Enterprise Application Security Statistics

According to Cisco’s cybersecurity readiness index published in March 2023, fewer than 10% of companies are considered mature enough to handle today’s cybersecurity challenges.

According to 92% of technologists, speed of innovation across application development is more important than app security to explain this lag in maturity. This contradicts the opinion of 96% of executives, who consider security resilience to be of high importance.

In light of these statistics and the growing need to build trust with digital users, companies that do not work hard enough will suffer.

The Consequences of Security Breaches –

As remote work becomes more common, it is essential to ensure the security of mobile and remote devices, as well as to provide employees with the mobile devices and support they need. Companies with a poor application security system may suffer financial losses and even lose their reputation. Moreover, companies may lose customer data and experience a decline in sales due to inefficient customer service. A badly designed enterprise application security system can lead to the following consequences.

• Leaks of critical financial data have resulted in significant financial losses.
• When sensitive customer data is stolen, it may lead to a lack of customer trust.
• Customers’ negative perception of a brand decreases the brand’s value.
• Due to application security issues, there is distrust on the part of the customer.

Thus, any organization should pay attention to the security concerns of their enterprise applications. Yet, the main question is: how should enterprise applications be secured? Listed below are some of the best security practices that any organization must achieve to function effectively and efficiently.

7 Essential Enterprise Application Security Best Practices

A company that focuses only on post-development testing is almost certain to let some defects slip through. When widespread flaws or significant changes need to be made, this can be especially troubling for software teams under deadlines.

Security can be ensured by deploying software throughout the entire development process. To catch errant flaws, static application security testing (SAST) during coding should be done early and often. Afterward, design risk analysis, enterprise application security architecture risk analysis, security metrics evaluations, and other more mature SDLC testing should be performed.

A robust security application helps you to mitigate the risks due to security failures and helps to enhance the brand value. Although, you can follow some best practices to prevent security breaches for enterprise applications.

1. Providing training to employees

A major cause of cybersecurity breaches is human error. Hence, making sure your employees know the security practices is crucial. You can do regular workshops and training sessions to teach them about potential threats, secure online behavior, and how to identify suspicious activity. You can gauge their readiness and improve their awareness with simulated phishing exercises. If your employees work remotely, enterprise mobility services can help you secure remote and mobile devices.

2. Protecting access to information through authentication and access control

Another best practice to make your enterprise application secure is to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) in your application. Role-based access control (RBAC) makes sure users only have the permissions they need for their roles. It’s a good idea to use strong passwords to prevent unauthorized access.

3. Data encryption from end-to-end

Make sure your sensitive data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. Whenever you’re sending data over networks, use end-to-end encryption like SSL/TLS. Also, encryption keys need to be handled right to control access.

4. Maintaining regular updates and patches

Regular patching and updates are important to keep your application up-to-date and secure. You should monitor your systems for suspicious activity regularly. In order to close known vulnerabilities as quickly as possible, patches and updates should be automated. Make sure you do vulnerability assessments regularly so you can spot weaknesses and prioritize patches.

5. Secure coding practices

As mentioned earlier, always emphasize secure coding when developing enterprise applications. Ask your enterprise web development company to conduct regular code reviews to identify and rectify security vulnerabilities early on. To mitigate common risks, the company will use secure coding libraries and frameworks.

6. Creating an incident response plan

It is wise to plan for security threats in advance. You can set up dedicated response teams and train them to handle security incidents. Develop a step-by-step incident response playbook describing procedures for handling different types of security incidents.

7. Prepare a disaster recovery plan and take regular backups

If a security breach occurs or a system fails, your data may be lost. Therefore, regular backups of critical data and systems should be automated. Make sure disaster recovery plans are tested periodically to ensure that data can be recovered quickly.

When these strategies are implemented holistically, enterprise applications are protected. This helps safeguard sensitive information and ensure the continuity of business operations.

Final Thoughts

We can conclude by saying that security is one of the most crucial aspects of today’s digital world. Many enterprises neglect this aspect, resulting in failure and loss. Enterprise application security demands a holistic approach that combines technology, employee awareness, and an application security strategy. Security systems that are robust help mitigate the losses caused by security failures and enhance your brand value in the global market. Therefore, you should only invest in secure and compliant applications as a marketer and owner of an organization.

Here at OpenXcell, we offer secure, safe, and powerful custom enterprise applications. We ensure that your application runs smoothly and fits best into your organization with the help of our certified quality assurance testers. We’ve got a team of developers and experts that’ll make sure your enterprise apps are secure.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the most important function of an enterprise application?

The primary and most important function of an enterprise application is to streamline or optimize core business processes which result in a higher level of productivity and efficiency across the entire company.

2. What are application security threats?

Application security threats encompass a wide array of risks, including but not limited to malware, data breaches, cross-site scripting, and denial-of-service attacks.

3. What are application security types?

A variety of application security measures are involved, including network security, encryption, access control, authentication, and regular security updates.

4. How do I secure my application?

You should implement a multilayered approach to security, including encryption, robust authentication mechanisms, regular security assessments, and staying up-to-date on security patches. 

5. What is meant by enterprise security?

A holistic approach to enterprise security protects an organization’s entire ecosystem, including data, networks, applications, and systems, from both internal and external threats, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality.