The increasing number of cyberattacks meant a major financial setback for targeted businesses in 2020 and a strong sense of uncertainty for others. Even though many companies patched up new vulnerabilities and set up tools for online protection, others underestimated the need for such systems.
Regardless of a company’s size, installing a firewall (WAF) is not enough to protect you from cybercriminals that target your sensitive data and finances. RASP, short for Runtime Application Self Protection, is the technology that accounts for even the most malicious attacks and has proven to be a better alternative to firewalls.
What is RASP?
Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP) is, in a nutshell, a cybersecurity tool that analyses, prevents, and protects your device from malicious attacks. What’s more, it mitigates attacks on your applications in real-time.
RASP technology has been in development since 2012 and is based on its predecessors known as SAST (Static Application Security Testing) and IAST (Interactive Application Security Testing).
Both SAST and IAST account for the flaws in your security system, and they can be used in combination with each other. However, only RASP can monitor and analyze traffic within applications as they occur.
RASP vs. Firewall
RASP caught the interest of developers in the early days of its use. Namely, they were looking for an improved alternative to the already existing firewall that featured various issues RASP could solve.
This is how a firewall compares to RASP:
Firstly, a firewall is a basic tool, broadly used, but it’s also limited in that it cannot accurately detect attacks within your applications. RASP approaches security within the application, and it is also known for its accuracy.
Secondly, a firewall cannot help with any new threats to your systems. On the other hand, RASP is more complex, and it can detect and deter a wider variety of internal malicious attacks.
Besides the lack of accuracy and ability to mitigate complex attacks, firewalls can significantly slow down your device. They take up a lot of RAM and, therefore, can damage the productivity of employers in your company. RASP, as a complex tool itself, also can affect productivity.
There is also less upkeeping involved when it comes to RASP technology compared to a regular firewall. Unlike its counterpart, RASP does not require a lot of manual maintenance.
Finally, the price of firewall protection is also significantly higher than that of the RASP tool.
Advantages of RASP
Besides previously mentioned advantages of RASP technology like accuracy, lower cost, and protection of a large number of threats within apps in real-time, there is more to say about its advantages.
Considering that RASP technology is still relatively new, it does not have well-known vulnerabilities for hackers to take advantage of compared to an easily detectable firewall.
Furthermore, it can protect more applications due to its accuracy.
Traditional tools manage threats on a network level, while RASP does so within the applications themselves and tends to cover more of them with greater accuracy.
RASP also continually monitors your apps or cloud and collects data regarding the nature of cyberattacks and information concerning the cybercriminals that attack you. Also, it blocks threats, essentially stopping cyberattacks in their tracks.
Advantages:
- Innovative technology hackers aren’t familiar with
- A larger number of protected applications
- Collects data about the types of attacks
- Monitors and blocks threats
Disadvantages of RASP
Besides the possible effect on productivity due to the RASP’s complex technology, there are a couple of additional shortcomings to keep in mind if you consider implementing Runtime Application Self Protection.
Also, some might utilize the tool as a replacement for thorough app-testing before its release. That might occur in cases where companies rely solely on the RASP technology.
Combined with other tools, RASP can protect your systems from any type of DDoS attack. However, it cannot manage attacks on a similar scale by itself.
Disadvantages:
- Its complex build affects productivity
- It cannot protect you from DDoS attacks independently
- May lead to a lack of sufficient pre-release testing
Conclusion
Using accurate and powerful cybersecurity tools for your systems is more relevant now than ever before. This issue tends to be overlooked if companies and individuals believe in the myth that cybercriminals only target the largest of enterprises.
Some might install a firewall as a solution, which is limited and cannot account for new cyber threats. Innovative tools such as Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP) can protect you from various attacks and protect your data and finances in the long run.