Study Reveals Most Companies' Websites Are Insuffiiently Protected

WhiteHat Security, leading SaaS website security services provider, recently helped survey 627 IT and IT security practitioners from more than 400 multinational enterprises and government organizations.

Assessing the data security risk of insecure websites, "The State of Application Security" survey found that most businesses, despite having numerous mission-critical applications accessible via their websites, fail to allocate sufficient financial and technical resources to secure and protect Web applications --  leaving corporate data vulnerable to theft.

According to the study, the majority of respondents believe that insecure Web applications present the greatest threat to corporate data; however, 70% noted that their organizations do not view application security as a strategic initiative, nor did they believe their organizations had sufficient resources specifically budgeted to Web application security to address the risk.

The study found that only 18% of IT security budgets were allocated to address the threat posed by insecure Web applications, while 43% of IT security budgets were allocated to network and host security, the areas respondents felt to be of least concern.

The survey also found that the vast majority of developers are too busy to respond to website security issues.

WhiteHat Security Recommends:

• You can't secure what you don't know you own --  so inventory your Web applications to gain visibility into what data is at risk and where attackers can exploit the money or data transacted.
• Assign a champion --  Designate someone who can own and drive data security and is strongly empowered to direct numerous teams for support.  Without accountability, security and compliance will suffer. 
• Don't wait for developers to take charge of website security --  Deploy shielding technologies to mitigate the risk of vulnerable Web applications.
• Shift budget from infrastructure to Web application security - With the proper resource allocation, corporate risk can be dramatically reduced.
  

To discuss how much at risk your website may be, call Milestone Systems, an authorized integrator/reseller for WhiteHat Security. Toll-free 866-646-9211 or info@milestonesystems.com