Application Security Weekly (Audio)

A lot of AI security boils down to the boring, but important, software security topics that appsec teams have been dealing with for decades. Niv Braun explains the distinctions between AI-related and AI-specific security as we avoid the FUD and hype of genAI to figure out where appsec teams can invest their time. He notes that data scientists have been working with ML and sensitive data sets for a...

What's in store for appsec in 2025? Sure, there'll be some XSS and SQL injection, but what about trends that might influence how appsec teams plan? Cody Scott shares five cybersecurity and privacy predictions and we take a deep dive into three of them. We talk about finding value to appsec from AI, why IoT and OT need both programmatic and technical changes, and what the implications of the next X...

There's a pernicious myth that developers don't care about security. In practice, they care about code quality. What developers don't care for is ambiguous requirements. Ixchel Ruiz shares her experience is discussing software designs, the challenges in prioritizing dev efforts, and how to help open source project maintainers with their issue backlog. Segment resources: https://github.com/ossf/sco...

All appsec teams need quality tools and all developers benefit from appsec guidance that's focused on meaningful results. Greg Anderson shares his experience in bringing the OWASP DefectDojo project to life and maintaining its value for over a decade. He reminds us that there are tons of appsec teams with low budgets and few members that need tools to help them bring useful insights to developers....

Practices around identity and managing credentials have improved greatly since the days of infosec mandating 90-day password rotations. But those improvements didn't arise from a narrow security view. Hannah Sutor talks about the importance of balancing security with usability, the importance of engaging with users when determining defaults, and setting an example for transparency in security disc...

We do our usual end of year look back on the topics, news, and trends that caught our attention. We covered some OWASP projects, the ongoing attention and promises of generative AI, and big events from the XZ Utils backdoor to Microsoft's Recall to Crowdstrike's outage. Segment resources https://prods.ec https://owasp.org/www-project-spvs/ https://genai.owasp.org/resource/owasp-top-10-for-llm-appl...

Observability is a lot more than just sprinkling printf statements throughout a code base. Adriana Villela explains principles behind logging, traceability, and metrics and how the OpenTelemetry project helps developers gather this useful information. She also provides suggestions on starting logging from scratch, how to avoid information overload, and how engaging users about their experience wit...

This week's interview dives deep into the state of biometrics with two Forrester Research analysts! This discussion compares and contrasts regional approaches to biometrics; examine the security challenges and benefits of their implementation; and reveal how biometrics holds the keys to a range of engagement models of the future. Andras Cser dives into the technical end of things and explains how...

In this week's interview, Melinda Marks' joins us to discuss her latest research. Her recent report Modernizing Application Security to Scale for Cloud-Native Development delves into many aspects and trends affecting AppSec as it matures, particularly in cloud-first organizations. We also discuss the fuzzy line between "cloud-native" AppSec and everything else that refuses to disappear, particular...

After spending a decade working for appsec vendors, Grant McKracken wanted to give something back. He saw a gap in the market for free or low-cost services for smaller organizations that have real appsec needs, but not a lot of means to pay for it. He founded DarkHorse, who offers VDPs and bug bounties to organizations of all sizes for free, or for as low of cost as possible. While not a non-profi...

Better TLS implementations with Rust, fuzzing, and managing certs, appsec lessons from the everlasting transition to IPv6, LLMs for finding vulns (and whether fuzzing is better), and more! Also check out this presentation from BSides Knoxville that we talked about briefly, https://youtu.be/DLn7Noex_fc?feature=shared Generative AI has been the talk of the technology industry for the past 18+ months...

Building cloud native apps doesn't mean you're immune to dealing with legacy systems. Cloud services have changed significantly over the last decade, both in the security controls available to them and the sheer volume of services that CSPs provide. Scott Piper shares some history of cloud security, the benefits of account separation, and how ratcheting security helps orgs stay on a paved path. Se...

Zed Attack Proxy has been a crucial web app testing tool for decades. It's also had a struggle throughout 2024 to obtain funding that would enable the tool to add more features while remaining true to its open source history. Simon Bennetts, founder of ZAP, and Ori Bendet from Checkmarx update us on that journey, share some exploration of LLM fuzzing that ZAP has been working on, and what the futu...

More remote car control via web interfaces, an RCE in CUPS, Microsoft reduces attack surface, migrating to memory safety, dealing with dependency confusion, getting rid of password strength calculators, and more! Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-301

APIs are essential to modern application architectures, driving rapid development, seamless integration, and improved user experiences. However, their widespread use has made them prime targets for attackers, especially those deploying sophisticated bots. When these bots exploit business logic, they can cause considerable financial and reputational damage. In this discussion, David Holmes offers i...

When a conference positioned as a day of security for developers has to be canceled due to lack of interest from developers, it's important to understand why there was so little interest and why appsec should reconsider its approach to awareness. Dustin Lehr discusses how appsec can better engage and better deliver security concepts in a way that makes developers not only feel like their time is w...

Considerations in paying down tech debt, make Rust work on bare metal, ECDSA side-channel in Yubikeys, trade-offs in deploying SSO quickly, and more! Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-298

Check out this interview from the ASW Vault, hand picked by main host Mike Shema! This segment was originally published on May 9, 2023. What does software resilience mean? Why is status quo application security unfit for the modern era of software? How can we move from security theater to security chaos engineering? This segment answers these questions and more. Segment Resources: Book -- https://...

IoT devices are notorious for weak designs, insecure implementations, and a lifecycle that mostly ignores patching. We look at external factors that might lead to change, like the FCC's cybersecurity labeling for IoT. We explore the constraints that often influence poor security on these devices, whether those constraints are as consequential given modern appsec practices, and what the opportuniti...

This week, Jeff Pollard and Allie Mellen join us to discuss the fallout and lessons learned from the CrowdStrike fiasco. They explore the reasons behind running in the kernel, the challenges of software quality, and the distinction between a security incident and an IT incident. They also touch on the need to reduce the attack surface and the importance of clear definitions in the cybersecurity in...

Startups and small orgs don't have the luxury of massive budgets and large teams. How do you choose an appsec approach that complements a startup's needs while keeping it secure. Kalyani Pawar shares her experience at different ends of an appsec maturity spectrum. In complex software ecosystems, individual application risks are compounded. When it comes to mitigating supply chain risk, identifying...

Even though Security Champions programs look very different across organizations and maturity levels, they share core principles for becoming successful. Marisa shares her experience in building these programs to foster a positive security culture within companies. She explains the incentives and rewards that lead to more engagement from champions and the benefits that come from so many people bei...

Modern appsec isn't modern because security tools got shifted in one direction or another, or because teams are finding and fixing more vulns. It's modern because appsec is meeting developer needs and supporting the business. Paul Davis talks about how AI is (and isn't) changing appsec, the KPIs that reflect outcomes rather than being busy, and the importance of communication for security teams. V...

Generative AI has produced impressive chatbots and content generation, but however fun or impressive those might be, they don't always translate to value for appsec. Allie brings some realistic expectations to how genAI is used by attackers and can be useful to defenders. Segment resources: https://www.forrester.com/blogs/generative-ai-will-not-fulfill-your-autonomous-soc-hopes-or-even-your-demo-d...

How can LLMs be valuable to developers as an assistant in finding and fixing insecure code? There are a lot of implications in trusting AI or LLMs to not only find vulns, but in producing code that fixes an underlying problem without changing an app's intended behavior. Stuart McClure explains how combining LLMs with agents and RAGs helps make AI-influenced tools more effective and useful in the c...