For some time now, applications have been targeted by hackers who are looking to penetrate an enterprise. The main reason is that even if they cannot find and exploit a vulnerability in an application, they always have a chance to pull off a data breach. One way to prevent a breach is to have the applications protect themselves by identifying and blocking attacks in real time with the help of Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP).

The likelihood of finding a vulnerability in an application is quite high. Most applications are not very highly tested for security during the development and quality assurance stages, and go unprotected even during their production.

What is RASP?

RASP is a technology that runs on a server and comes into action when an application starts running. It is specifically designed to detect attacks on an application in real-time. It incorporates security into a running application wherever it resides on a server. It also intercepts calls from the application to the system and validates data requests directly inside the application.

RASP in DevOps

RASP technology is emerging to offer enterprises the necessary capabilities for DevOps security. As per the present scenario, most of the attempts made to ensure the security of DevOps processes have not have had too much success. The reason for this failure was mostly due to the fact that modern application security detection and protection technologies operate slowly and cannot keep up with the agility requirements of DevOps. Some of the important criteria points for a DevOps security technology have been described below.

DevOps security criteria

RASP technology is able to fulfill all of these criteria and is expected to become a major enabler of DevOps security. It always resides in the server, eliminating the need for separate installation of testing and protection tools. It performs in several contexts, some of them are given below.

• Testing technology

RASP is generally utilized for application security testing in interactive application security testing (IAST) use cases. In such uses, RASP runs on a test server and reports on detected security vulnerabilities. The arrangement consists of an agent instrumented into test server and an attack inducer that is able to simulate attacks.

• Protection Technology

When it is used for application security protection, RASP is usually run on a production server and blocks the detected vulnerabilities. In this context, RASP consists of an agent that is instrumented into production server. It does not need an inducer, as any hacking activity can activate RASP.

• Diagnostic Technology

RASP also performs a runtime security diagnostic when installed on a production server. Although its protection feature is deactivated, the reporting feature remains engaged.

RASP is all set to play a prominent role in the maturity, evolution and adoption of DevOps security. However, it might not be the only technology to support DevOps security. Many web application firewalls and other safeguards are also expected to find a place in DevOps security.

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