Application vulnerability monitoring

Contrast Application Vulnerability Monitoring (AVM) provides best-in-class monitoring that, when combined with our ADR attack detection and response capabilities, empowers security operations teams to take full control over the risk from both vulnerabilities and attacks present in live applications.

What is application vulnerability monitoring?

AVM helps organizations shrink their attack surface by identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk. AVM adds context to attack vectors with vulnerability data, enabling faster and more effective triage and response.

This empowers teams to focus remediation efforts where they will make the most impact. With real-time insight into production applications, security teams can proactively reduce exposure by implementing compensating controls while developers work on permanent fixes.

What are the goals of application vulnerability monitoring?

The goal of AVM is to enable security operations center (SOC) teams and SecOps professionals to gain continuous visibility into the actual threat exposure of their applications in production, enabling proactive risk mitigation.

Minimizing the number of potential entry points for attackers is essential for reducing risk and strengthening security posture. Organizations need continuous visibility into the actual vulnerabilities that exist in their production applications and APIs, combined with the ability to detect and respond to real-time attacks.

How does application vulnerability monitoring work?

With Contrast ADR together with AVM, organizations can effectively reduce risk by providing continuous visibility into attacks and vulnerabilities in production environments. AVM delivers continuous visibility into the actual exposure created by vulnerabilities in running applications. AVM goes beyond static code analysis and theoretical assessments to pinpoint the weaknesses that pose the greatest risk in production environments. This allows security teams to prioritize remediation efforts based on real-world exploitability and threat data.

What are the best practices for application vulnerability monitoring?

By combining real-time threat detection with proactive vulnerability management, organizations can effectively reduce their attack surface, accelerate incident response and defend against the most sophisticated threats.

Traditional security tools fall short. Too much of application and API testing happens in pre-production, focusing on theoretical risks rather than actual threats in live environments. Point-in-time vulnerability scans, be it production or pre-production, provide a limited snapshot of potential defects, leaving organizations with a false sense of security. 

Furthermore, many security tools focus on perimeter security, neglecting insight into the inner workings of the critical application layer where attacks increasingly originate. To effectively secure applications, organizations need a solution that can detect and respond to attacks in real-time, provide deep visibility into vulnerabilities and reduce the overall attack surface.

Applications are mission-critical, driving innovation, customer engagement and revenue growth. However, the reliance on applications also makes them a prime target for threat actors. Organizations must adopt a comprehensive and proactive approach to application security to protect their critical assets and maintain the trust of their customers.

What are application vulnerability tools?

Contrast Security ADR + AVM is the only platform on the market that combines the power of Application Detection and Response with Application Vulnerability Monitoring to address critical application security challenges. 

The Contrast agent secures your applications from within by gathering security telemetry as code is run using a variety of security instrumentation techniques. Contrast continuously monitors applications for vulnerable code and detects attacks that exploit vulnerabilities, including both known and zero-day exploits. This continuous monitoring identifies vulnerabilities in production applications, providing SecOps teams with the actionable intelligence needed to prioritize remediation efforts. Contrast empowers teams to understand the true risk posed by each vulnerability and implement compensating controls where immediate fixes aren't feasible, minimizing the window of exposure and reducing the likelihood of a successful attack.

Interested in seeing Contrast AVM in action for yourself? Schedule time today to see it in action.

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