CHICAGO (March 15, 2010) - Application security experts from Trustwave, a leading provider of information security and compliance solutions, will present at Merchant Risk Council's 2010 Platinum Meeting in Las Vegas., March 16, 2010. The presentation will be delivered by members of SpiderLabs, the advanced security team at Trustwave responsible for incident response and forensics, penetration testing and application security and security research.
Charles Henderson and David Byrne will present Automated vs. Manual Security: You Can't Filter the Stupid, which will look at the deficiencies in only using automated tools to test application security.
Both Henderson and Byrne have spent many years looking at failures in application security that have led to compromises. Using the information from research and forensic investigations, they will provide real-world examples to illustrate the relative strengths and weaknesses of automated solutions and manual techniques.
Automated tools are capable of detecting simple vulnerabilities and performing highly repetitive tasks. However, there are entire classes of complicated vulnerabilities that are theoretically impossible for automated software to detect due to inherent authorization and logic flaws.
Logic flaws are errors in the intended way in which an application should behave. These flaws cannot be detected with automated tools because they don't understand human logic. A manual test conducted by a security expert is able to identify unique errors, logic flaws and authorization flaws that automated tools have a difficult time finding. Without actual human testing of an application, attackers are able to evade the system's security controls and access information meant only for legitimate users. Today, businesses have exhausted automated tools, leaving business logic flaws unaccounted for resulting in an open door for attackers to compromise major applications.
"Security best practices include both automated tools and manual security testing to help mitigate application attacks that could damage an organization's reputation and brand," says Robert J. McCullen, chairman and CEO of Trustwave. "An application security expert can mimic the steps an attacker would take to infiltrate a network environment through gaping holes, which will help reduce the likelihood of a successful attack."
"Testing all layers and tiers in web application security is important, but testing the application layer, where critical data lies, will help uncover any weaknesses that make the application vulnerable to attack," says Nicholas J. Percoco, senior vice president of SpiderLabs. "Manual testing will help find those vulnerabilities and secure the application."
About Trustwave
Trustwave is a leading provider of on-demand and subscription-based information security and payment card industry compliance management solutions to businesses and government entities throughout the world. For organizations faced with today's challenging data security and compliance environment, Trustwave provides a unique approach with comprehensive solutions that include its flagship TrustKeeper® compliance management software and other proprietary security solutions including SIEM , WAF , EV SSL certificates and secure digital certificates . Trustwave has helped hundreds of thousands of organizations-ranging from Fortune 500 businesses and large financial institutions to small and medium-sized retailers-manage compliance and secure their network infrastructures, data communications and critical information assets. Trustwave is headquartered in Chicago with offices throughout North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/.