Security News > 2023 > November > Financial organizations embrace automation for enhanced security

The security performance of financial applications generally outperforms other industries, with automation, targeted security training, and scanning via Application Programming Interface contributing to a year-over-year reduction in the percentage of applications containing flaws, according to Veracode.

While nearly 72% of applications in the financial services sector contain security flaws, this is the lowest of all industries analyzed and an improvement since last year.

"Increasing competition and customer expectations, combined with tighter regulations across the industry, have put greater pressure on developers and security teams to find and fix flaws at scale. Moreover, the explosion of AI and machine learning has pushed the pace of software development to a new level, leading to the hyperproliferation of flaws. The sector has done well to better its performance, but there is more to be done and financial organizations would benefit from increased automation and secure coding techniques to help them prevent, detect, and respond to vulnerabilities faster than ever," Eng continued.

Veracode's research found financial services organizations see stronger effects from the positive elements of scanning via API and security training, compared with the cross-industry average.

When financial services teams completed 10 interactive security training modules, they introduced 26% fewer flaws, putting the sector's performance well above the all-industry average.

"The data indicates that financial services organizations benefit significantly from automation through API usage. Reaching automation is aspirational for many organizations, but we see that launching scans via API correlates with a lower probability that flaws will be introduced, and then a reduction in the amount of flaws that do find their way into software. Unsurprisingly, training also has a direct correlation with reduced flaw introduction," Eng concluded.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/11/03/financial-services-applications-flaws/