Application Detection and Response analysis: Why ADR? How ADR works and ADR benefits

Two highly respected technology analysts from different cybersecurity disciplines are coming together to recommend that companies consider Application Detection and Response. Organizations face a constant barrage of cyber threats, including zero-day vulnerabilities that can exploit unknown weaknesses in software. Traditional security solutions often fall short in detecting and responding to these attacks, leaving organizations vulnerable.

Application Detection and Response (ADR) is a cutting-edge technology that addresses this critical gap in cybersecurity. ADR provides real-time visibility into application behavior, enabling organizations to identify and block zero-day exploits as they occur.

In a new IDC Market Insights paper, IDC analysts Chris Kissel and Katie Norton provide an analysis of this nascent space. They looked into the current state of SOC visibility coupled with application security today, highlighting how applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) are increasingly targeted by attackers and why existing solutions fail to adequately protect applications. The paper also provides a deep dive into how ADR works and how to differentiate between different ADR solutions currently in the market.

Head here to get your complimentary copy of the latest IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Contrast Security, Market Insights: Application Detection and Response.

Why ADR?

Web applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) are now among the top three attack vectors, and IDC has found that they are a common entry point for ransomware attacks. And as the number of cloud-native applications rises dramatically, the problem looks likely to get worse over time.

Part of the reason attackers are increasingly targeting applications is because existing options are not providing adequate protection. Shift left has failed to prevent critical vulnerabilities prior to go-live, and the existing detection and response ecosystem does not cover applications in any real depth. 

The most commonly deployed defense for production applications is the web application firewall (WAF), but WAFs have numerous drawbacks. 

• WAFs work exclusively at the perimeter, inspecting incoming and outgoing traffic. As a result, they lack contextual understanding of application behavior. 
• WAFs depend on an extensive rule set that is often difficult to manage and maintain. They can only define forbidden scenarios, thereby missing unknown vulnerabilities (i.e., zero days).
• WAFs are notorious for their accuracy issues, and their numerous false positives overwhelm security operations teams. As a result, many security operations teams associate WAF alerts with noise and just tune out everything coming from the WAF, even in the instances when it does detect a real issue.

ADR steps into this void, Kissel and Norton note, providing the in-depth security for the application layer that has historically been sorely lacking.

How ADR works

ADR solutions continuously monitor application behavior, establishing a baseline of normal activity. Any deviation from this baseline is flagged as a potential attack, allowing security teams to respond immediately.

Unlike traditional solutions that rely on static signatures, ADR observes application behavior in real time, enabling the quick identification and remediation of application-layer attacks. This observability makes ADR highly effective against zero-day threats, which are designed to evade detection by conventional security measures.

However, the IDC analysts note that ADR is a relatively new category, and that solutions in the market define and approach ADR differently. The IDC Market Insights paper provides an overview of the pros and cons of the major approaches.

Benefits of ADR

ADR offers several key benefits to organizations.

• Zero-day protection: ADR can identify and block zero-day exploits before they cause widespread damage.
• Deep application insights: ADR provides granular insights into application activity, enabling security teams to understand how attacks work and how to counter them.
• Real-time response: ADR solutions can automatically respond to threats, minimizing damage from fast-moving attacks.
• Reduced noise and backlogs: ADR delivers contextual, high-fidelity alerts, helping security teams focus on critical threats and reducing noise and backlogs.
• Effective prioritization: ADR helps organizations prioritize vulnerabilities by correlating them with actual attacks observed in production. This allows security teams to focus on addressing the most critical vulnerabilities that are actively being exploited.

For more key insights and analysis, download your complimentary copy of the latest IDC InfoBrief, Market Insights: Application Detection and Response, today.

Read more:

• Contrast blog: If only I’d known ADR was possible when I was a SOC analyst!
• Contrast blog: Analyst: Application Detection and Response is an ‘emerging category’
• Contrast monthly ADR Report: Application attacks jump 30%; method tampering up 800%
• Contrast blog: 4 ways ADR will slash workload and speed incident response for IR teams