Beyond Firewalls: Why Vulnerability Management is Key to Modern Application Security

Much like corporate offices, applications are critical assets at the core of modern business operations. As they hold valuable information by handling and processing data that support essential workflows, they are prime targets for hackers. As such, just as physical office spaces require security systems to protect valuable information and resources, applications need robust defenses to ensure data integrity, resilience and regulatory compliance. 

A secure environment relies on two complementary strategies: tools that identify vulnerabilities and proactive defenses that prevent cyber intrusions. Together, these approaches create a secure, robust framework that safeguards both the business and its users. Let’s explore how these essential strategies work and how they can deliver a synergetic effect in the context of application security. 

Why Comprehensive Application Resilience Strategies Are Essential 

Web and enterprise applications are at the core of digital businesses, from e-commerce to online banking and patient treatment. As such, they manage a variety of sensitive information, including personal user data and critical transactions, whose integrity is fundamental to ensure effective, resilient and regulatory compliant operations. In effect, a security breach isn’t just a minor setback. Avoiding it means ensuring smooth, uninterrupted service while protecting your operations, users as well as your company’s reputation and revenue.  

To set up highly effective cyber resilience frameworks, it is necessary to leverage a cohesive approach that relies on multiple components. More precisely, a comprehensive strategy should combine vulnerability management, which helps identify and prioritize risks, and application security, which embeds protective measures from the outset. Together, they can help keep applications safe from attacks. 

Learn more about securing you applications – Download “How to Develop Applications with Minimal Security Risks”

Don’t Let Weaknesses Drag You Down: The Importance of Vulnerability Management 

While approximately between a fifth and a third of successful cyberattacks on organizations involve weakness exploitation, vulnerability management is often overlooked. In effect, many businesses tend to focus solely on building defenses around their applications, e.g. through firewalls, antivirus and passwords. While these fortifications are certainly required, a blind implementation that does not consider the specific, real-world entry points of piece of software may not be able to protect from data breaches, information loss and compromised systems.  

Hackers are well aware of this trend, with 32% of attacks in 2024 starting with an unpatched vulnerability. Even more, organizations that suffered such types of breaches typically reported considerably more severe outcomes. A well-known example is the 2017’s Equifax breach, which compromised sensitive information of over 143 million people.  

The attack exploited a vulnerability from the enterprise Java  framework Apache Struts. While the vulnerability (CVE-2017-5638) was disclosed publicly and a patch was issued in March 2017, Equifax failed to implement it. Several months later, in May 2017, hackers leveraged this weakness to gain access to sensitive data, and the company began remediating only at the end of July 2017. To remediate one of the largest cybersecurity breach, Equifax spent billions of U.S. dollars in incident response, new technology and data security changes, fines and penalties as well as lawsuit settlement fees.  

To avoid running into similar issues, what can companies do when it comes to vulnerability management?  

The Stages of Comprehensive Vulnerability Management 

Unwanted entry points can stem from a variety of elements, such as coding errors, misconfigurations and outdated software. This is why vulnerability scanning and assessing/evaluating should be performed on a regular basis as part of continuous monitoring and improvement practices. Here’s what each activity focuses on:  

• Vulnerability Scanning involves looking at networks, systems and applications for known weaknesses to identify potential security flaws and support vulnerability assessments 
• Vulnerability Assessments aim to evaluate the severity and potential impact of identified issues by determining factors like the likelihood of exploitation and the potential impact on business operations.  

Vulnerability scanning and assessment can, in turn, support effective updates and patches by serving organizations in: 

• Effective resource allocation for testing, configuration, treatment, reporting and upgrades  
• Identification and prioritization of the most urgent measures to implement 
• Timely remediation of vulnerabilities, including treatment and reporting. 

The Many Benefits of Vulnerability Management 

In addition to reducing the risk of cyberattacks, the use of vulnerability management in conjunction with security practices offers several other benefits that can enhance the resilience of your applications and your organization security. Here’s a brief summary: 

• Enhanced Regulatory Compliance and Adherence to Standards: Companies in multiple sectors are required to manage and report on security vulnerabilities as part of regulatory standards. Vulnerability management helps meeting these 
• Improved System Reliability and Stability: Regular vulnerability management minimizes disruptions, unexpected downtime caused by attacks or emergency patches while supporting more reliable service delivery 
• Cost Savings on Incident Response: Mitigating vulnerabilities before they are exploited helps organizations avoid the high costs associated with responding to breaches and fines 
• Increased Trust and Brand Reputation: A strong security framework fosters trust among clients and partners, enhancing the reputation of your company and giving it a competitive advantage in the marketplace 
• Support for Proactive Security Culture: Vulnerability management encourages a proactive rather than reactive approach to cybersecurity 
• Insight into Security Gaps and Trends: Vulnerability management provides data on recurring weaknesses and trends, helping teams to make more informed decisions while continuously advancing their cyber resilience skills.  

Vulnerability Management in Application Server Technology 

When relying on third-party technology, such as application server, there are a number of actions you can take to maximize the effectiveness of your vulnerability management strategies.  

• Favor an application runtime that offers robust features and complies with security standards 
• Opt for a solution that is backed by a technology vendor with a comprehensive security strategy, including security testing, intrusion detection systems, data encryption 
• Select an application server provider who is committed to stay up to date with the latest information on common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) through threat monitoring and regular patching 
• Don’t forget to keep up with your application server vendor’s release schedule
• Partner with a specialist who contributes to cyber resilience technical working groups and taskforces  
• Put in place a comprehensive service level agreement (SLA) to minimize downtime and its associated costs. This agreement outlines the responsibilities as well as expectations for both parties, and includes provisions for regular maintenance, incident management and penalties for non-compliance.  

How Payara Supports Vulnerability Management Strategies 

At Payara, we are dedicated to helping organizations deliver world-class, resilient and compliant applications through our fully supported Jakarta EE runtimes within the Payara Platform. Here’s what we offer to our Payara Platform Enterprise users: 

• Standard-based APIs and advanced security tools that are designed to protect application resources accessed by multiple users and data traveling across unprotected networks, such as the internet  
• Monthly releases to deliver bug and security fixes 
• Alignment with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) and adherence to guidelines set by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) 
• Contributions to the Eclipse Foundation’s Open Regulatory Compliance Working Group (ORC WG)  
• Transparency and quick resolution of security issues, with CVE reporting to The Mitre Corporation and other public security databases. As a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA), we help control the information published on the CVE Index, ensuring quick identification, resolution and transparent communication of security vulnerabilities. 

With Payara and our application server technologies, you gain a powerful ally in managing vulnerabilities and securing your applications. To learn more about our commitment to helping you maximize the cyber resilience of your Jakarta EE frameworks, download a free copy of our guide “How to Develop Applications with Minimal Security Risks”.