Quarter of web apps critically vulnerable

Hackers are targeting web apps with increasingly sophisticated attacks

Nearly a quarter of web applications have critical security issues or vulnerabilities, according to a new report by consultancy Corsaire, which based its findings on security assessments from the past six years.

The State of the Web white paper analysed samples of security assessments of applications from leading companies in a number of sectors across the UK, Australia, Europe, the US and Asia.

Corsaire found that, despite a general improvement in security over the past six years, just under 25 per cent of the problems could have a 'critical' or 'high' impact on application security, representing a significant likelihood of data loss or other security breach. The remaining three quarters were split between 'medium' and 'low' impact.

Martin O'Neal, managing director of Corsaire, argued that web application attacks are becoming ever more sophisticated, and that security in this area is still being overlooked by many firms.

"These vulnerabilities can often be eliminated through a more structured approach to security during development," he said.

"In fact, by employing rigorously specified security requirements, backed by developer education and regular security testing checkpoints, businesses can effectively define what security is, and can help to ensure that personnel have the understanding and skills to deliver improvements."