Is RASP Really the Answer to All Your AppSec Problems?

Imagine a world where your applications could protect themselves from cyberattacks. No more patches, updates, or security software. 

Web applications continue to be the most popular vector for hacking in breaches, accounting for more than 90% of all breaches. In such a hostile landscape, an app that can take care of itself sounds like a dream. But it's not. 

Turns out the solution already exists and is called RASP. It was coined by Gartner in 2012 and has created quite the buzz ever since. And why not? A self-defending app that doesn't need constant mending? Yes, please!

But could RASP really be the holy grail of app security? 

That's exactly what we're uncovering in this blog post. But first, we're breaking down what RASP is, how it can benefit your appsec efforts, and what its limitations are. Keep reading to find out! 

What is RASP?

RASP stands for Runtime Application Self Protection and is a security technology that helps protect applications from malicious activities and attacks. It integrates directly with your application and monitors the system for malicious activity during runtime. By monitoring application behavior in real-time and detecting anomalies, RASP can detect threats before they can do any harm. 

When it detects a threat, RASP is able to respond in a variety of ways, such as blocking malicious requests, alerting security teams, or even taking automated action to protect the application. RASP can also provide application-level defense against malicious exploits and DDOS attacks. By monitoring the application during runtime and enabling the app to respond to threats, RASP can reduce the risk of vulnerabilities being exploited by attackers. 

RASP can run on web and non-web applications and usually runs on the application's server. So, it doesn't require you to modify your app's source code or change its architecture, or design. 

What sets RASP apart from other security tools and technology is that it is a unique technology that doesn't rely on traditional methods to secure applications. When compared with a firewall, VPN, or SAST, and DAST, RASP is much less labor intensive to manage. It's also not a perimeter-based solution and provides protection from within the application itself. 

Moreover, 90% of apps are not checked for vulnerabilities during the development and quality assurance stages, and even more are left vulnerable throughout production. Since RASP works in the production phase of your app, it offers you the benefit of securing your app even after it has been released to the market. This makes RASP much more security-driven than traditional security tools and technology.  It can also be used on both cloud-based and on-premises applications. 

RASP simply understands the application's normal execution behavior, and reacts when that behavior is changed by an attacker. This makes RASP much more agile and responsive than other security solutions.

How Does RASP Work?

RASP works by monitoring your application's runtime environment and executing specific actions on suspicious activity. It does this by analyzing the code that is running in the application and detecting any anomalies or suspicious behavior. This could be in the form of malicious requests, unusual user behavior, or other suspicious activities. 

RASP works by analyzing the application's runtime behavior and detecting any malicious activities or threats. RASP software doesn't know how an application should behave, rather it uses a set of rules to identify exactly how the app shouldn't behave. It detects threats by looking for anomalies in the application's behavior and comparing it to known malicious activities. 

RASP can be used in both active and passive mode. In passive mode, RASP will monitor the application and detect suspicious behavior but it won't take any action. It simply records the activity and alerts the security team when something is out of the ordinary so that they can investigate further. Active mode, on the other hand, enables RASP to intervene and take action to protect the application.

When the application starts up, RASP will start running in the background and monitor it.

Benefits of Using RASP

One of the primary benefits of using RASP in appsec is the ability to detect threats in real-time and respond to them quickly and effectively. This eliminates the need for manual intervention and ensures that malicious activities are halted before any damage is done.

David Lindner, CISO at Contrast Security emphasized the importance of RASP in significantly reducing human intervention in the remediation process. He said, "We have a cybersecurity shortage. It is real, it is no joke. RASP notifies the developers of suspicious activity and they can see exactly where the issue is. To show the developer exactly where the issue is without them getting involved, is priceless."

RASP also provides application-level protection, which is much more secure than traditional security tools and technology. Many threats like DDoS attacks, and SQL injection, are known to attack at the application layer. RASP can protect the application from these types of attacks.

Additionally, RASP reduces false positives as it monitors the application in real-time and is able to detect genuine threats without alerting on benign activities.

Common Challenges with RASP

So if RASP is such a great tool, why isn't it more widely used? 

Given that it was first introduced in 2012, gained traction in 2014, and has now been around for more than a decade, its adoption rate has been slow.

The major reason for this slow adoption is that while RASP offers all these benefits, it still needs a lot of fine tuning. 

One of the common challenges with RASP implementation is the increase in latency as the application’s performance takes a slight hit due to the additional security layer. Additionally, RASP needs to be configured properly and regularly tuned to ensure optimal security and performance. This can be a challenge for security teams who are already stretched thin. 

Moreover, a RASP is not designed to detect all types of attacks. One such attack type is the zero-day attack, which also happens to be one of the most dangerous ones. RASP can also misinterpret the work of developers that are trying to use unusual or new ways to develop or improve the application. 

Finally, the use of RASP can also lead to complacency as security teams become reliant on the technology to detect and block threats, which can be detrimental in the long run. 

However, RASP still has tremendous potential and could be the answer to many of the security issues that are currently plaguing application development teams. The technology is maturing and is rapidly improving to address the various challenges that are currently hampering its adoption. For instance, newer versions of RASP are better at detecting zero-day attacks. 

Another reason for slower RASP adoption is because many organizations still believe that a web application firewall is sufficient for securing their applications. However, a web application firewall only protects the application at the perimeter and is of no help once the attacker has breached the perimeter. Moreover, firewalls are known to become less effective over time as attackers find new ways to evade them. They provide little insights into anything other than incoming traffic and provide few actionable insights. And they also don't provide the high accuracy of detection that RASP does.

"The great thing about RASP is I'm inside the app, so I can flag it as attack, I can block it, or I can real-time patch it, depending on what type of attack it is or how you want to treat that", said Lindner when asked about the difference between RASP and WAF.

And since RASP shows the developers where the issue is, they have context and much more control. 

"Unlike a WAF, that blocks attacks without even knowing if they'll succeed or providing any information about where they'll succeed or how to fix it - it doesn't give you any of that context.", he added.

Final Thoughts: Can RASP Actually Save Your Apps?

While RASP does offer many benefits to the application security process, it is not a cure-all, just like no other security solution is on its own. What matters is that it has something to offer that other technologies cannot and that is its unique ability to protect the application from the inside, at runtime. 

It is important to remember that RASP is not a substitute for careful application design, regular patching and updating, and other traditional security measures. While RASP can provide an extra layer of protection, it is not a replacement for other security measures. To truly secure an application, it is important to use a combination of technologies and processes.

How Can We Help?

We know how important it is to ingrain security into the application development lifecycle from the start. We also know how hard it can be. That's why we offer application security testing services that can help you build, better, safer software. Your developers can use EvolveAST to run repeatable and automated tests to uncover application-layer flaws faster, manage critical risks throughout the year, verify remediation actions, immediately. Schedule a demo with one of our application security experts today.