When you think about cyberattacks, you probably think of things like ransomware, malware, and data breaches first. Data is a hot commodity for both legitimate and illegitimate businesses, so many attackers target an organization’s data.
However, business logic, the processes by which your applications run, is also vulnerable to attack. It’s also much more difficult to prevent and detect this type of attack because it takes advantage of legitimate processes. However, with the right combination of best practices and AI tools, you can strengthen the flaws in your organization’s apps and minimize your risk of a business logic attack.
What are Business Logic Vulnerabilities?
Business logic is the process of decision-making within an application. As the determiner of how data is created, processed, displayed, and altered, business logic creates the user experience on the application more than any other component. It is an essential part of functional software, which makes it an appealing target for attack.
Traditional code vulnerabilities allow attackers to exploit security weaknesses. An example of an attack that takes advantage of code vulnerabilities is SQL injection. In this attack, the bad actor finds a vulnerability in your web page or application and inserts SQL code into it. This allows the attacker to do a number of things, including accessing and changing stored data and granting himself administrative privileges.
In contrast, business logic vulnerabilities occur when an application is working as intended. While something like SQL injection can be very damaging, it can be avoided through patching and updates to the code. Preventing business logic attacks is a little hairier because there isn’t a vulnerability to patch or an outdated system to bring up to speed. Avoiding business logic attacks requires a security mindset throughout the creation of the application.
Mitigating Business Logic Flaws with AI
If you have an application, network, or API that your business already uses, follow best practices to limit business logic exploitation.
- Follow POLP. Businesses should follow the principle of least privilege (POLP). This gives each user only the privileges and access needed to complete their work.
- Segment. Divide your systems so that users are not able to access different sections or layers. Also, ensure that you place security controls at each layer to make it as difficult as possible for attackers to navigate if they breach your defenses.
- Frequently audit. Everyone makes mistakes, so once an application is finished, conduct a thorough security review. Throughout the life of the application, continue auditing for vulnerabilities. Monitor changes in security regulations to ensure ongoing compliance.
While these are effective security measures, attacks become more difficult to defend against and detect every year. As the attacks become more sophisticated, your security team has to use better tools. AI tools are a good option for improving the tuning of your detection processes, and they can adapt to new developments much more quickly than traditional security tools and processes.
AI tools can help to analyze application business logic and point out potential flaws or areas that need attention. Rather than manually reviewing activity scans and alerts, you can leverage the power of AI to determine where you are most vulnerable.
To maximize your security, look into DDoS protection, WAF/WAAP, RASP, and other tools that use AI to inform their responses to threats. This speeds up your responses, improves detection accuracy, and manages security challenges more independently.
For example, WAFs and WAAPs insulate your systems from external attack. When AI is integrated with these tools, subtle patterns, and evasive bots can be quickly detected and blocked. Most business logic attacks come from web traffic, so detecting the attackers before they infiltrate your application or API will go a long way toward preventing this type of attack.
Ultimately, leaving more of the finer details of vulnerability identification to AI and machine learning tools will free you to address other priorities.
Building AI into Development Processes
To better address business logic flaws, AI integration with application design and development processes is highly effective. If your organization is about to begin building applications, make sure that your development team considers how to most effectively build in security.
Some ways to do this include:
- Secure code. App developers should keep security in mind as they build the app. Using AI analytics during development can help pinpoint where there might be weaknesses.
- Limit interactions with vulnerabilities. Developers should limit the use of poorly secured APIs and avoid open source code that contains known vulnerabilities. One of the leading causes of business logic attacks is a known vulnerability in the API.
- Input validation. Any fillable form or submission on your website or app should have built-in input validation to ensure that the information submitted meets security standards. Data that could impact the application should be blocked and removed. Using an AI tool to assist with validation can improve accuracy.
AI is an emerging field, and AI tools are likely to become more sophisticated and capable in time. Already incorporated into many security tools, AI is also one of the best ways to detect things like suspicious activity and unusual application behavior.
So, when you’re trying to protect yourself against a notoriously challenging attack to block, you want the most sensitive tools. For the best outcome, build your applications with security in mind and AI-informed security tools that can prevent business logic attacks more effectively than traditional precautions.
