As Holiday Shopping approaches, Web security woes continue

With the release of our Q3 Trends report on Web application security on Nov 12th, we continue to see a rise in Application vulnerabilities which formed 68% of all published vulnerabilities in the quarter. But, the main issue here is not the rise in application vulnerabilities. Rather, the problem is with inaction or lack of sufficient action by companies and government agencies in doing something about securing their Web applications. Jupiter Research is predicting 126 million shoppers will spend over $39 billion this holiday season. That's a lot of shoppers putting their personal information in millions of Web sites that sit on top of applications - most of them vulnerable to hackers.

In looking at the data from our services unit as well as many published sources, we estimate that about 90% of all Web applications out there contain some vulnerabilities. While 70% of the applications tested by Cenzic's managed service unit were found to be vulnerable, most of these companies  are in North America and are sophisticated users who understand the importance of securing their Web applications. If we look at the entire population of Web applications across the world, there is little awareness on secure coding and application vulnerabilities.

To give credit where it's due, there are a number of leading edge companies in North America like Google, Oracle, Microsoft, and many large financial services companies and a few government agencies who are making major investments in testing their applications and fixing vulnerabilities. But, these form a small percentage of all the companies that are doing e-commerce transactions or collecting customer information online.

As hackers keep getting smarter, Web sites keep getting hacked without companies realizing the intrusion, and consumers  keep getting frustrated with their identities and other personal information being stolen. So, what can we do? Customer need to be more alert and look for the right companies to do business with and ask the right questions around Web security. Companies and government agencies need to do a lot more to secure their Web applications and start the process immediately. We have a long way to go so the quicker we can start the better. And let's hope this Christmas season doesn't turn into Halloween when it comes to holiday shopping!

- Mandeep Khera, Cenzic Inc.

Comments

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