Vulnerabilities and attacks occur often in connection to applications and data. The outcomes of this can be anything from a minor data breach of usernames to a full scale breach and release of social security numbers and other personal information. As a company, this is definitely something that you don’t want to have happen. An extreme example would be the Target data breach where customers’ private banking information were also taken. Target also needed to monitor the information that was stolen after the breach ensure their customers’ safety and minimize the damage. So making sure you protect the applications and data that you are working with is vital and a major responsibility to the company and your clients as well.
This is where open source analysis comes in. It can look at code to make sure that there are no open source vulnerabilities that will threaten the performance or the security of the system.
What exactly is Open Source Analysis?
Open source analysis gives corporations the ability to prevent, manage, and control risks to their security; and prevent legal action as a result of a breach in their applications. Having the tech team look at the entire picture of the company, analyzing libraries, checking licenses, and looking at any source code can lead to them preventing vulnerabilities that would lead to a breach.
A proper review should include looking at any and all programming languages that are out there because different organizations may use different languages depending on their preferences. Since open source analysis looks at all programs, even ones that were not created in-house, it’s important to be able to understand the potential breaches can happen in any language, not just your preferred coding language. One might think, “oh our company only writes in python;” however, if the company uses applications and information from open sources, then they are essentially inviting attacks to their company if they are not checking those as well.
When Should You Use Open Source Analysis?
Honestly, right from the beginning, right when you are starting your company or your applications. If you start when you first start working on your code, it makes it easier to change things and know what problems to look for. At that time, you can analyze your data before going live and manage the components right then and there and change things before they become a problem.
The whole concept behind open source analysis is that many companies now use borrowed code. Close to half of all components that teams use are ones that were already created by others and they are improvising with them to improve their own product. It’s something that happens on a daily basis and is widely accepted, because if the basis for a program is already out there, why should the team should take valuable time writing a new version when they can just copy and modify the current one that’s available. Checking the software before it’s released can prevent potential security risks right from the start and safeguard your organization’s the time and money, and potentially the customers that it could lose because of a security breach.