Jul 16, 2024•30 min read
Latest Research
Sensor Intel SeriesArticle
Attackers Target AI Development Platform Langflow
Sensor Intel Series: October 2026 CVE Trends
Oct 6, 2026•14 min read
What is Application Protection?
Application Protection is the range of security options that defenders use to protect apps and their related data from a range of threats. This includes process-based practices such as securing applications during development (DevSecOps), access controls, code obfuscation, and patch management. It also includes active protection in the form of encryption, anomaly detection, and firewalls. The goal is to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, tampering, or exploitation of vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity and functionality of the applications.
This stems from a recognition that apps are increasingly the target of choice for malicious actors, for much the same reason that criminals rob banks: that's "where the money is". Given that, it increasingly makes sense for defenders to be app-centric in their protection models and mitigation strategies. Providing robust application security ensures the safety of sensitive information, builds customer trust, ensures regulatory compliance, and minimizes financial and reputational damages.
How Do Threat Actors Target Applications?
Threat actors target applications by exploiting vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. Common attack methods include injecting malicious code through techniques like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF), as well as abusing APIs to access sensitive data. They also exploit insecure authentication by using stolen credentials (via credential stuffing) or brute force attacks, and conduct malware injections, supply chain attacks, and reverse engineering to compromise the application or its users. Threat actors may also take advantage of misconfigured environments, such as exposed admin dashboards, unencrypted data, or default credentials. Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks can overwhelm applications and degrade their availability, while zero-day exploits leverage undiscovered vulnerabilities before they are patched.
In addition to technical attacks, threat actors use social engineering tactics, such as phishing, to manipulate users into revealing credentials or performing unauthorized actions. They may also target client-side vulnerabilities, such as intercepting unencrypted traffic or injecting malicious scripts into websites via formjacking. These attacks are often automated using tools to scan for application weaknesses or abuse APIs, but can also involve highly targeted, manual exploitation.
How Can You Protect Your Apps?
Because there are so many ways attackers target applications, defenders need to use a variety of approaches to protect those applications. Begin by prioritizing security: implement secure development practices and use robust security tools. Secure coding is essential to minimize vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other common threats. Use strong authentication and authorization solutions, and rely on the principles of least privilege and zero trust to reinforce those access controls. Keeping software, frameworks, libraries, and APIs up to date with the latest patches is also critical to prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities. CVSS scores can be helpful in prioritizing your patches, but you should pair this with maintaining a robust inventory of what you're defending, and adding in threat intelligence to stay informed about what attackers are actively exploiting.
Ready to Learn More?
Application Protection is a particular area of focus for us, and we're always looking to stay on top of the latest attacker trends to better understand where defenders should take action next. Sometimes that means we're conducting broad analyses across billions of data points, sometimes it means we're taking apart a newly discovered malware and building an open-source tool to counter it, and sometimes it means we're explaining different control strategies that you can apply to protect yourself today. Asking questions of the data leads to insights and, inevitably, more questions, so there's always more research to do. Below, you can find a collection of all our research into application protection.
All Application Protection Research
Stay up to date with F5 Labs
Get the latest threat intelligence and research delivered to your inbox.