What to Look for When Selecting a Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Solution

If you happen to be concerned in securing the purposes your group develops, there is no question that Static Software Security Testing (SAST) solutions are an important portion of a thorough software security technique. SAST secures program, supports small business additional securely, cuts down on costs, decreases risk, and speeds time to improvement, supply, and deployment of mission-critical applications.

SAST scans code early through enhancement, so your AppSec team will not likely be scrambling to deal with sudden vulnerabilities appropriate just before that massive start is planned. You will steer clear of surprises and start delays with no inadvertently releasing risky software to prospects — or into output.

But if you think about SAST as a part of a bigger AppSec platform, crucial for individuals who would like to change security everywhere possible in the program development existence cycle (SDLC), some SAST options outshine others.

Knowing what to aim on

With a myriad of gamers in the sector, occasionally building competing statements, it’s baffling to know what to search for when selecting a SAST answer. It truly is essential to realize what is actually at the rear of each and every assert and see if it matches reality.

Sometimes, the resolution an corporation to begin with begins out with isn’t the appropriate 1 as an group grows or as other groups commence to use the alternative.

Consequently, the real query is, “What SAST remedy is very best for my group?”

What to glimpse for in a SAST solution

Match into your AppSec program

A extensive software security system enables you to simplify security — in applicative code, open-resource dependencies, supply chains, IaC, APIs, containers, and a lot more — all from a one scan. A system supplies fast, correlated, and accurate benefits to speed remediation.

When searching for a SAST answer, if it is component of a unified AppSec system, it will provide the ideal benefit to secure contemporary applications. A full system must offer centralized management for SAST, SCA, SCS, API security, DAST, IaC security, and container security.

A system ought to be equipped to increase with you as your needs modify. When evaluating system-based mostly methods to AppSec, make confident they can correlate scan benefits across distinctive scanning engines so you can attain an over-all risk assessment across projects and programs, instead of striving to manually combination success from various standalone AST alternatives.

Overall flexibility is crucial

No application is alike, and unique stakeholders — this sort of as CISOs, software security groups and builders — have special desires.

From time to time they have to have to get an overview of the threats in an software and “scan vast,” though at other instances they will need to “scan deep” into a distinct element of an application or check out very specialized threats.

Having the adaptability to scan deep and scan wide addresses all use conditions. It presents flexibility so businesses can standardize on a one platform that covers all use conditions.

Presets (also acknowledged as rulesets) are teams of out-of-the-box scan policies that can be applied to a variety of scans. SAST options must come prepackaged with a array of presets to support big use situations, together with obtaining a “massive picture” overview of their code’s pitfalls and vulnerabilities, as well as making sure regulatory compliance.

Sometimes, no matter how extensive, pre-packaged rulesets are not adequate, and an business desires to edit or generate tailor made rulesets. This assists increase precision and limit false positives.

Accuracy issues in SAST

For a SAST answer to be beneficial, it need to be accurate.

When chatting about SAST, “untrue positives” — that is, flagged products that are not correct threats — are generally stated. The way all over those is versatile presets and customized queries or regulations.

But even much more worrisome is “fake negatives” — that is, challenges in your code that are forgotten and not discovered by your SAST scanner. With wrong negatives, you are unknowingly releasing vulnerabilities devoid of even the chance to take a look at and rectify them. You are flying blind.

A person way to minimize the odds of bogus negatives is to use an “application-centric” remedy that understands how your application functions. This remedy can keep track of the circulation of information via code and execute the code with symbolic inputs, making it possible for it to examine all paths by means of the code to discover any that are exploitable. Even though relying on regex-based mostly tools may audio convenient — they are, just after all, lighter and more rapidly — that is not heading to be the circumstance at the time your firm is in the headlines owing to susceptible code that was produced in the wild.

An additional answer is to use the suitable profile for your codebase and to create custom queries when wanted. For instance, if an business has produced its personal custom made sanitizer, telling the SAST about this sanitizer by modifying the queries can remove phony positives. Having a customizable question language is important to lowering untrue positives without the need of enabling bogus negatives.

Discover a SAST option is effective for developers

As talked about earlier mentioned, receiving to problems at their resource, and not simply just repairing syntax errors, is quicker and will save revenue in the prolonged run. Quickly scans that overlook vulnerabilities mainly because they do not have an understanding of how the code relates to the apps are not the target. But neither is forcing previously rushed builders to go via each and every error with a fantastic-tooth comb.

It is critical to take care of difficulties fast. The way to do that is by offering a “greatest deal with site.” This details developers to the exact location to repair a vulnerability, preserving them time and electricity. And generally, by modifying code at the most effective deal with area, that solitary correct can remove multiple vulnerabilities and cut down the variety of code corrections desired.

Most builders are not security authorities — but a good SAST alternative can convert them into security heroes.

Glance for a option that shows builders how to resolve vulnerabilities, describes the that means and effect of the vulnerability, and helps them produce a lot more safe code in the long run. Some solutions deliver or combine with code schooling that teaches builders how to establish and create secure, top quality code.

Chunk-sized, gamified code security instruction will allow for straightforward and speedy finding out that will increase developer adoption, and this approach may possibly even greatly enhance worker retention.

With the correct SAST option, your developers will not likely need to have to go to Stack Overflow or Reddit searching for suggestions on how to deal with an issue.

SAST that supports your existing application growth lifetime cycle

Languages and frameworks adjust. Your SAST resolution really should not. Consequently, it is really vital to have a SAST option that retains up with the latest language updates and supports the latest languages. This enables you to support your builders, wherever they opt for to go.

Wide language aid is also critical to help an group to standardize on a single answer throughout groups and across the organization.

For example, if you are in finance, the group could require to help legacy languages these types of as COBOL, which nonetheless powers many banking transactions, as perfectly as rising cell software progress languages this sort of as Flutter. Even though diverse developers could function on the two elements, organizations can increase efficiencies by standardizing on a solitary application security platform, somewhat than vacation resort to a mishmash of sellers.

Identifying APIs in resource code

Pushed by modern large-profile data breaches, there is increasing awareness of APIs as opportunity entry details into your apps. OWASP even has an “API Security Major 10”, where by they deal with the leading strategies that APIs can be breached, including Injection, Security Misconfiguration, and Broken Item Degree Authorization.

Just one of the troubles of most API security answers now is they’re all change-appropriate. For illustration, WAFs safeguard the runtime environment whilst DAST exams compiled applications. When it can be stated that “fantastic security starts off with very good code”, APIs take a look at that adage to an extent, given that each API is different and will come with its personal special security issues. Existing alternatives also have to have builders to document their APIs so that the WAF and DAST answers know what to guard and examination. On the other hand, developers are generally inconsistent with API documentation, major to shadow APIs.

The very good information is that each individual API in an software is prepared in code. At a least, your SAST alternative should really be ready to learn API endpoints defined in the code and inventory them. But preferably, it need to also be in a position to present you what vulnerabilities are current in each API, so now you can prioritize vulnerabilities to deal with based mostly on the business enterprise benefit of the API.

Owning SAST + DAST together on a single platform

Any one who has spent time developing software program or has been tasked with securing hundreds of thousands of lines of code that make up a modern software, understands that there are quite a few field-recognized procedures to scanning and screening programs. The stage of scanning code with SAST is to detect coding faults that could probably lead to exploitable vulnerabilities – and everyone understands that susceptible code is the foremost induce of every regarded breach now. But the price in making use of both SAST and DAST tools is that they both discover diverse vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, if you have disparate resources, that implies you are taking care of them separately as a result of diverse interfaces, you have to go to separate destinations to see the vulnerabilities detected, you have to assess and triage the vulnerabilities in another way, and you keep track of fixed vulnerabilities separately.

Getting SAST and DAST on the exact system means you can see your vulnerabilities in just one place, deal with and triage them by a solitary workflow / course of action, and send out them to your developers to resolve by way of the exact workflow. You can also integrate them at unique factors of your SDLC employing a widespread set of integrations.

And as a reward, if your SAST can learn and stock APIs in resource code and discover undocumented APIs, then you can also exam people undocumented APIs using DAST. This allows you get a lot more benefit out of your SAST remedy by taking its conclusions and improving security outcomes in other places in a 1+1=3 way.

Find a SAST option that enables you to make shift come about

As you study SAST answers, you will undoubtedly hear numerous promises to shift your AppSec still left. But that is no for a longer time more than enough. As present day software development techniques boost use of APIs, open resource code, and other innovations, new dangers emerge. These days, everything is an application. You now want your software security to change just about everywhere.

Note: This insightful article has been expertly created and thoughtfully contributed by Avi Hein, Product Promoting Supervisor at Checkmarx.

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Some sections of this article are sourced from:
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