7 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIRE AN APPLICATION SECURITY ENGINEER

Unlike today’s modern digital world, application security (or AppSec) was barely known among decade-old professionals. Evidently, in recent years, AppSec has given birth to a number of job vacancies and like any other cybersecurity domain, AppSec engineering is one of them.

Grand View Research, Inc., estimated in one of its 2017 reports that global AppSec market will worth US$10.7 billion by 2025 [1]. The increase of attacks on AppSec is considered as one of the major reasons driving this market growth. To overcome these challenges, you certainly need a quality workforce. A skilled AppSec team can detect potential threats as well as secure applications against them. Well, AppSec engineering, being an intermediate-level position, demands an expert with the required skills and relevant experience. The employed professional should possess multiple yet, particular skills to overcome sophisticated AppSec attacks.

What Skills to Look for While Employing an AppSec Engineer?

Your employees can make or break your business. In such a scenario, employing a skilled professional will help your business to survive for years to come.

Here are important traits that you should be looking for when hiring an AppSec Engineer, defined as follows:

1. Awareness of Various Security Threats and Attacks

AppSec engineer should have detailed knowledge of various AppSec-related threats and cyberattacks. This awareness definitely helps to define countermeasures against potential threats. Their experience should include an in-depth understanding of known and potential unknown threats with techniques to secure the vulnerable application.

The basic understanding of several cyber threats is the primary requirement for every security professional. When AppSec engineers are considered, then an extensive fundamental knowledge becomes mandatory.

Note: Along with that, an AppSec staff should have well-versed knowledge of vulnerability management. This knowledge should definitely include the impact of a zero-day on an application. This awareness is as impactful and important as having an in-depth knowledge of various cyber threats and attacks.

2. Full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

As you know, AppSec is about ensuring the predefined behavior of a web or mobile application with any possible set of inputs. The expected behavior of an application requires the implementation of several security controls and, this is where secure SDLC comes in. The secure SDLC helps to integrate security controls and application design during the process of creation, rather than fixing it after the application is deployed.

It is an obligatory requirement for an AppSec engineer to clearly outline, define, and enforce checkpoints during the development phase of an application. Without the formal implementation of SDLC, it is a real challenge to address all the security-related vulnerabilities of an application.

3. Strong Cryptography Skills—Application Encryption

Application encryption is a data security solution that encrypts sensitive data to limit its access only to authorized users. It is implemented at the application level, encrypting data across several layers, including disk, file, and database. This solution eventually minimizes the number of possible attack vectors.

There is always a probability that cryptography, especially encryption, is not one of the primary objectives of application developers. These cases make data prone to attacks from the outside world. Encrypting data before storing it on a database, big data, or on a cloud, is a better solution to complicate the challenges of a cybercriminal.

4. Static AppSec Testing (SAST)

SAST can be defined as a set of technologies engineered to analyze the vulnerabilities in the source code, before compiling it. This is also referred to as white-box testing. These methodologies help to eliminate even the highly complex vulnerabilities, which are not visible until you get hold of the source code.

This is another important required skill as it detects and addresses vulnerabilities in its development phase, so that, it is possible to avoid these weaknesses from becoming a damaging security risk for the application.

5. Dynamic AppSec Testing (DAST)

Another similar trait that organizations should look for is the applicant’s ability to perform DAST, which is also well known as black-box security testing. DAST uses methodologies to test vulnerabilities during the running state of the application. The set of technologies under this kind of testing opt for the approaches adopted by the perpetrators.

Hiring an employee with no practical knowledge of DAST can hamper the strengthening of your organization’s AppSec.

6. Modeling Skills

Threat modeling is the process of identifying cyber threats and strategizing to either limit or contain them. This is a proven security measure, which is enacted during the designing phase of a web or mobile application. It is, for sure, an impactful preventive measure to deal with numerous security issues.

This skill of your employed expert will reduce your organization’s efforts, specifically for members belonging to the application development team. Modeling skills can mitigate the time and effort to eliminate various vulnerabilities that might occur during the development phase of the application.

7. Important Soft Skills

There is no mandatory personal skill set required by an AppSec engineer but, having a few of the below-mentioned soft skills can help your security team to perform better:

• Oral and written communication skills—for writing comprehensive reports
• Ability to work in a team—proper interaction is the key to mitigate security risks
• Decision-making capability—for adopting new countermeasures for unknown attacks
• Analytical skills—to foresee which application vulnerability can become a major threat
• Willingness to evolve

Positive technologies revealed in its 2019 statistics that the number of critical vulnerabilities per web application has increased three-times in contrast to its previous year report [2]. The data somehow clarifies whether your application will be targeted or not is certainly not the question of the hour; it is more about “when.”

Also, as cybercriminals are shifting to automation and continuing to infiltrate applications with significantly unnoticeable activities, it is now your responsibility to hire someone with the above-listed technical skills and practical experience. To those, who are looking for developing these important skills, take a look at EC-Council’s Certified Application Security Engineer (C|ASE). The program covers all the above topics and ensures that you gain other important skills too. Under this program, you will be exposed to real-time virtual labs where you can practice everything that you learn in your theoretical sessions.

HOW TO BECOME A WHITE HAT HACKER

Qualities of a White Hat Hacker

White hat hacking is not only about problem solving or strong technical grip. It also involves powerful communication skills, intelligence, ability to adapt, envisioning, decision making, and a lot of patience, even under pressure.

In the contemporary world, organizations are free to hire a white hat hacker as per their requirements. But having a bachelor’s or master’s degree in information security, computer science or even mathematics can give you a strong foundation for your final goal.

Anyone who has served in the military or intelligence field are sought after by HR recruiters . There are organizations in the labor market that actively seek candidates with security clearances.

Suggested Path for a White Hat Hacker

In this era of the digital world, becoming a white hat hacker demands continuously upgrading technical knowledge. To establish yourself as a professional ethical or white hat hacker, you need to have strong motivation, basic self-education, and thorough training in ethical hacking with a dedicated learning approach.

4-Step White Hat Hacker Training Program

This 4-step program is applicable to those with basic computer networking knowledge.

Step 1 – Certified Network Defender (C|ND)

To become a white hat hacker, it’s important that you learn about various network components, traffic, performance and utilization, network topology, security policy, and many other fundamental networking concepts. Along with that, you are also required to  know network defense fundamentals at the tip of your fingers.

The Certified Network Defender program will train you on –

• VPNs,
• Various network protocols,
• Firewall configuration,
• Intricacies of network traffic signature,
• Analysis and vulnerability scanning, and much more.

All the included modules of this program are designed after an in-depth job-task analysis (JTA) which not only helps with a detailed learning but is appropriate as per the job market demand.

This CND program will train you to protect, detect, and respond to cyber threats, efficiently. It is a lab-intensive program for the perfect hands-on experience on major network security tools and techniques.

Step 2 – Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH)

Once you have learned your roles and responsibilities as a Network Defender, it’s time to broaden your existing knowledge with another domain in cybersecurity. A professional white hat hacker understands all the major advanced hacking tools and techniques in detail. But before you start working as a white hat hacker, you need to know footprinting, network scanning, vulnerability assessment, system hacking, numerous cyber threats, cryptography, SQL Injection, IoT hacking, and many other concepts. EC-Council’s C|EH program is systematically engineered to help you build your skills and knowledge as an ethical hacker.

Apart from being an ANSI accredited credential, C|EH is also recognized by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It also offers simulated real-time lab environment to understand the real-world threats more closely and respond to them with all you have.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practical

This is the advanced step of the C|EH program. This is a meticulous hands-on exam to demonstrate your hacking abilities in a short span of six hours. Under this program, you will display your ethical hacking techniques involving –

• Network scanning,
• OS detection,
• Vector identification,
• System hacking and covering tracks,
• Packet sniffing,
• Performing SQL injection attacks,
• Performing various cryptography attacks,
• Mobile app hacking, etc.,

in order to solve a provided security audit challenge.

C|EH (Practical) program will determine your readiness to step into the ethical hacking industry.

Step 3 – EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)

Now, with all your weaponry of ethical hacking, it’s time for you to establish yourself as a professional by learning appropriate methodologies to apply for penetration testing. You will learn penetration testing methodologies, including –

• Network penetration testing,
• Web application penetration testing,
• Social engineering penetration testing,
• Wireless penetration testing,
• Cloud penetration testing, and
• Database penetration testing.

With this, you will also learn a few professional operations that will be useful when you join an organization. These activities will cover initiating and setting the scope, Rule of Engagement (RoE), and drafting of pen testing report for future reference.

The ECSA program expands your knowledge of hacking tools and techniques to the next level. Its primary objective is to offer you hands-on learning. Like other programs, ECSA is also in compliance with NICE framework which covers area dedicated to Analyze (AN) and Collect and Operate (CO) specialty.

EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA) Practical

Similat to the  CEH practical program, the ECSA (Practical) program also presents you with a few challenges which need to be solved in a 12-hour exam. You should have a thorough knowledge of ethical hacking and network security to perform the security audit. You will also be required to deal with various other challenges like performing advanced network scans beyond perimeter defenses, customization of payloads, performing automated and manual vulnerability analysis, etc.

The ECSA (Practical) credential represents that you possess professional skills to get through such a detailed and precise real-world challenge.

Step 4 – Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) Master

This is the final step to your white hat hacker credibility. LPT (Master) is an expert level program which is designed to test your advanced penetration testing concepts and techniques. You will be tested on various challenges which will be related to –

• Multi-level pivoting,
• Privilege escalation,
• OS vulnerabilities exploitation,
• Host-based application exploitations,
• RFI/LFI,
• SQL injection,
• SSH tunneling, etc.

This is the most challenging step of your complete journey. The exam will test you in every possible way to bring out the best.

This 4-step training program falls under our Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) track. The VAPT track is meant for various job roles directly or indirectly relevant to system/network security of an organization. Well, if you want to become a white hat hacker then follow the VAPT track by EC-Council!