What is RASP

Conventional security solutions tend to be either passive tools that scan your app for vulnerabilities or emulated attacks that guess at attack vectors. RASP is an active security program that can stop attacks in real time while also providing reports about those actual hacks.

This data is critical to building true-to-life security for your app. RASP takes out all the guesswork and provides automatic and active security while still giving dev teams the data they need to iron out vulnerabilities in their apps.

Our technology is moving further away from the slow-moving web app security of yesteryear and towards application self-protection. This guide will walk you through why RASP has become a vital tool for today’s web application developers.

What is RASP?

RASP stands for Runtime Application Self-Protection. This technology is a software-based solution to web app security threats. This software runs on the server that hosts your web app and actively monitors the traffic, context, and activity of your apps for security threats. When a threat is detected, RASP kicks into gear and blocks security threats in real time.

RASP is not a diagnostic tool. It is an active defense against common web app threats. This solution is capable of “learning” your web application and honing it on specific risks while eliminating false positives.

How Does RASP Work?

RASP actively monitors a runtime environment and scans all data moving into, or out of, your application. It looks for any suspicious data that could signal an attempted attack. It can alert your security team about a potential threat or respond on its own to keep your app secure.

RASP can act as a watchdog for your applications. It is capable of sending emergency notifications to your security personnel to review a potential threat. This lets your security team make the right calls in complex environments or for new applications.

This security solution can also shut things down on its own. It can end user sessions, terminate a potential injection attack, or otherwise mitigate an active attack on its own. RASP is also capable of being tuned to your app’s specifics which eliminates false positives with sufficient customization.

RASP has two major functions for your dev team.

Providing Protection

This security technology works to provide protection for your web app. It will not fix any security threats, but it will block them while your team works on a fix. You can think of RASP as a bouncer stopping potential threats from compromising a running app.

Gathering Intel

RASP also gives your team unique insight into these attacks. It tracks and logs comprehensive data about your security breach.

This software gives you a picture of who attacked your app and how they did it. This is invaluable information that can make the difference between knowing how to fix a vulnerability and only guessing.

How to Use RASP

RASP doesn’t work like traditional security software. It’s not a passive scan run during your dev cycle, and it’s also not an unresponsive tool like a firewall. It operates on your server, but with a view into your web application.

Catching Security Risks As They Happen

If you’re familiar with web application security basics like DAST and SAST, RASP will feel somewhat familiar while still offering plenty of new utility.

RASP remains active even after you’ve launched an application. In fact, it is meant to be launched alongside your web application, or after it’s already been active. RASP is an active security solution that gives you a proactive approach to attempted hacks, vulnerabilities, and data breaches.

Monitor, Report, Block

RASP gives you insight into attacks in ways that other security tools just can’t. Because this software is responding to real-world threats from actual hackers, it’s giving your dev team very actionable data. RASP reports on actual attempted Black Hat hacks rather than simulations or White Hat tests.

The security reports generated by RASP as a solution provides an accurate picture of the threats that are coming for your web application. Your teams can use this data to create security solutions, upgrades, and patches that block out the threats you’re actually facing rather than ones that modeling suggests you might face.

Server-Side and Cloud-Ready

RASP is ready for your agile development project because it is native to server and cloud environments.

RASP is also an ideal choice for web apps that are running on the cloud. It has become a key aspect of DevOps because of this design flexibility. This technology operates at the core of your web application even in dynamic environments.

Taking a Step Towards Self-Protecting Apps

The biggest difference made by RASP is that it moves web applications to being self-secure. It isn’t another firewall or antivirus software package, it’s integrated directly into your app.

RASP can “see” what’s happening inside your app and outside. This gives it a nuanced view of your runtime environment, traffic, and security risks. It also gives your web applications a customized layer of security that works with the app, rather than around it.