Application Security Testing the Hard Way

Have you ever seen “Application Security Testing” in a SOC2?

An interesting article about the dynamics of application security has been posted by Julie Bort of Business Insider Magazine.  You may have noticed the recent emergency security update by Microsoft for some of its security tools.  How the vulnerability was discovered makes a great story.  More importantly, it highlights the need for application security testing, a need that goes un-addressed as we all rely on SOC2 reports to provide assurance. Tavis Ormandy, Microsoft’s security nemesis, found a dangerous flaw within Microsoft’s software, which  was originally created to protect against hackers. However on Tuesday Ormandy found that the software can be turned off, and from there, the hacker can do more harm. Ormandy has been known to find problems in Microsoft’s software in the past and has in fact shown hackers how to use these problems to their advantage before Microsoft has time to fix them. Thankfully, this time Ormandy did not show the hackers before Microsoft could fix the problem. The software includes everything from Microsoft’s free Windows antivirus program, Microsoft Security Essentials, to its corporate security product family, which if hacked, could have caused serious damage. Microsoft has been known in the past for their poor job in security, hence why hackers usually target their software. However, with Ormandy threatening to expose their problems to hackers whenever he feels that they are dragging their feet has been beneficial in fixing any security issues. Ormandy has given Microsoft only five days to fix the bug before releasing information to hackers, which in the average security world a pro would give them 30 to 60 days. The goal being that the sooner the bug is fixed, the more secure software is against hackers.

Original article by July Bort. Read the full story here.