Application security and software supply chain security are complex, involving a multidimensional matrix of tools, processes, and methodologies spanning multiple SDLC phases, runtime environments, technology stacks, development methodologies, and software architectures. ASPM simplifies this complexity by providing a unified, holistic view of the software architecture from code-to-runtime, enhancing visibility, managing risks, and enforcing security and compliance policies—ensuring that application security does not hinder development velocity, which is essential for business growth.
ASPM Explained
Increased development speed, frequently-updated regulatory requirements, expanding attack surfaces and application complexity all contribute to the problem facing overburdened engineers today – managing application risk is too complicated. Past tools and frameworks – such as SOAR, AST, and ASOC – are unable to present a unified view of everything that comprises applications in modern software environments – including the software development lifecycle needed to bring these applications to market.
Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) is the holistic solution. It is a new security approach designed to manage application security posture and risk-based vulnerability management.
Gartner defines the ASPM as a framework to analyze “security signals across software development, deployment and operation to improve visibility, better manage vulnerabilities and enforce controls.” A good solution must provide a unified view of application risk, enabling prioritization, remediation, and assessment. In short, your ASPM should be able to:
Perform a deep analysis of all your application components, including code, infrastructure, cloud, containers, APIs, third-party software
Triage and prioritize findings based on business context
Automate the creation of remediation playbooks and/or scripts for your engineers
Provide detailed reporting and dashboarding to demonstrate the impact of your risk-based approach to application security
In practice, this means an ASPM tool or platform will give security and application owners clear information about where security issues are coming from–down to the exact line of code–prioritize those issues based on their context within the broader application environment, and assign remediation tasks and guidance to the proper owner. ASPM aligns with the DevSecOps approach to security, meaning your developers and your security engineers are not siloed from one another; security is integrated into every step of the software development lifecycle, namely as far “left” as possible. Apiiro allows you to detect security risks during the design phase, when a development ticket is opened – letting you take steps toward remediation and prevention before a line of code is even written.
Apiiro Co-founder and CTO Yonatan Eldar further breaks down the role of ASPM in software supply chain security for the Software Engineering Daily podcast.
ASPM encourages and fosters collaboration between development, security, and operations teams (referred to as DevSecOps).
Modern software development is fast and dependent. Gone are the days of monolithic monthly releases, where application security testing (AST) would have been enough to ensure code was scanned for potential risks. Nowadays, applications require many different scanning tools to cover open-source dependencies, containers, IaC (Infrastructure-as-Code), APIs, and more. As applications expand to encompass open-source dependencies, APIs, microservices, containers, infrastructure as code, and more.
Release cadences have greatly increased. Software updates happen weekly or even daily, as opposed to monthly. Regulatory requirements have become more strict in the cloud as a result, and this disparate swath of security scanning tools and regulatory dependencies have led to disordered, fragmented pictures of application environments.
ASPM emerged as a holistic solution to this problem of over-compartmentalization. By aggregating findings from various scanning tools, layering in business context and regulatory guidelines, and determining critically via data-driven analysis, ASPM can keep security at pace with the rapid shift towards complexity in the cloud.
Deep Code Analysis (DCA): A Unique Approach to ASPM
Apiiro’s Deep Code Analysis (DCA) provides the strongest foundational understanding of your application architecture, leading to more robust and accurate prioritization and insights, which in turn leads to drastically reduced triage work, remediation times, and, ultimately, a more efficient AppSec program.
DCA is patented technology for semantic analysis of your codebase down to the most granular building blocks (data model, PII in code) – DCA goes beyond 3rd party integrations, standard across other ASPM platforms in the market. It is enabled through one-click integration with your SCM, not cumbersome integration with your CI/CD pipelines.
Only DCA is built to automatically uncover every building block of your software and supply chain architecture – at scale, and in context – from within the code base itself. All that’s required is a simple API integration with the source code manager for DCA to automatically generate a graph-based inventory of every single application component across the history – and their relationships across the development lifecycles and the systems used to deliver software.
DCA findings are enriched with code-to-runtime context and a proprietary risk engine, providing the visibility into all changes needed to actually embed secure-by-design throughout the entire SDLC. Only DCA discovers and maps every single application component (APIs, PII in code, GenAI frameworks, developer knowledge and ownership) to give a complete picture of any given environment’s software architecture from code-to-runtime.
ASPM integrates with DevSecOps workflows to provide continuous monitoring, streamline vulnerability management, and support secure software development. A well-rounded ASPM will connect content across the development lifecycle, and application security posture management use cases include:
Design: Provides insight into new feature requests and tickets, flagging potential risks
Code: Helps integrate with repositories and analyze code to tie production issues back to their root cause
Build: Application and infrastructure components change from code to build. It keeps visibility throughout to track changes.
Runtime: Comprehensive ASPM will grant insight into the runtime environment, to catch if dependencies, APIs, or vulnerabilities are internet-facing.
Core Features of Application Security Posture Management
ASPM should introduce an asset-first approach to enable teams to prioritize assets based on their context within the broader business goals. This keeps teams focused on the most high-priority tasks.
Key application security posture management features include:
Comprehensive visibility across application attack surface and risks
Automated risk assessment and prioritization
Real-time continuous monitoring
Security posture analysis
Remediation guidance
DCA is patented technology for semantic analysis of your codebase down to the most granular building blocks (data model, PII in code) – DCA goes beyond 3rd party integrations, standard across other ASPM platforms in the market. It is enabled through one-click integration with your SCM, not cumbersome integration with your CI/CD pipelines.
Only DCA is built to automatically uncover every building block of your software and supply chain architecture–at scale, and in context–from within the code base itself. All that’s required is a simple API integration with the source code manager for DCA to automatically generate a graph-based inventory of every single application component across the history – and their relationships across the development lifecycles and the systems used to deliver software.
Ultimately, ASPMs reduce noise from siloed application and cloud security tools to help teams focus on critical risks.
How do application security posture management tools dial in the focus on the most critical alerts? By creating a rich, layers-deep model of application environments from code-to-runtime, providing invaluable context to prioritize and enrich findings for faster fixes.
Apiiro does this using Deep Code Analysis (DCA) – combining context and automation for semantic analysis of your codebase, down to the most granular building blocks.
ASPM vs. Traditional AST / Security Tools: A Comparative Analysis
In the past, various other approaches have been used to tackle the challenge of complex, interconnected application environments and the security issues they create. Application security testing (AST) and newfound point solutions and software supply chain security (SCCS) tools have emerged to evolve with the unique risks of cloud-native applications – but these approaches are siloed, and lack context. They fall short of application security posture management tools in helping teams reliably map their application attack surfaces.
Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR)
Such as threat modeling, penetration testing, and secure code review.
Manual and repetitive without visibility and context of changes
Ad hoc and unaligned to dev cycles
Based on inaccurate or incomplete self-attestation
Not oriented around contextualized, high-impact apps and components
Application security testing (AST) and supply chain security tools (SCCS)
Such as SAST, DAST, and SCA.
Require extensive triage and prioritization
Siloed, leading to coverage gaps
Produce an overwhelming number of uncontexualized alerts
Interlude: ASPM vs. the World
ASPM, CSPM, DSPM – different security posture management models are all top of mind for security leaders. What is the difference between application security posture management and the rest?
What is cloud security posture management (CSPM)?
CSPM addresses security across cloud environments by continuously assessing configurations and identifying risks such as misconfigured storage buckets or unused access keys. CSPM solutions aim to maintain compliance with security standards like ISO 27001 or SOC 2 and help organizations monitor multi-cloud environments efficiently.
Scope: Cloud infrastructure configurations, such as servers, storage, and networks. Key Features: Automated configuration audits, policy enforcement, and visibility into cloud resources. Best for: Companies using IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS environments seeking to minimize cloud-native vulnerabilities.
What is data security posture management (DSPM)?
DSPM focuses on protecting sensitive data across all systems—whether on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid environments. Its emphasis is on data discovery, classification, and continuous monitoring for unauthorized access or exposure. DSPM solutions ensure data privacy compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
Scope: Data at rest, in transit, and in use across systems and geographies. Key Features: Identifying sensitive data, monitoring access, detecting leaks, and enforcing encryption or masking policies. Best for: Enterprises handling significant volumes of regulated or confidential information.
Feature/Focus
ASPM
CSPM
DSPM
Scope
Software architecture (apps, data and APIs in code)
Cloud infrastructure and architecture
Data management
Target Audience
Developers, AppSec / Security architects
DevOps and Cloud Teams
Data Privacy Officers, CIOs
Key Benefits
Secure applications in design, development before run-time
Prevent cloud misconfigurations
Protect sensitive data
Compliance Focus
OWASP, NIST, SLSA, SOC2, GDPR
SOC2, ISO 27001
GDPR, CCPA
In summary: Each posture management tool targets a specific layer of the technology stack. ASPM suits developers looking to secure application code, CSPM aids DevOps teams in maintaining secure cloud configurations, and DSPM is ideal for safeguarding sensitive data against breaches. Together, they offer comprehensive protection across modern IT environments. It’s important to remember a strong application security posture management platform or tool will integrate across all layers of the technology stack, and work well with DSPM and CSPM point solutions.
Key Benefits of Implementing ASPM Solutions
According to Gartner, “By 2026, over 40% of organizations developing proprietary applications will adopt ASPM to more rapidly identify and resolve application security issues. Get the Gartner Innovation Insight for Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) report here.
Continuous, code-to-cloud application and risk visibility
Discover and map every component within software supply chains
Contextualize risk based on application architecture, business, and risk tolerance
Effectively monitor and respond to risky changes in application attack surface
Multidimensional prioritization
Reduce alert backlog by minimizing false positive and removing duplicated risks detected by security tools
Deprioritize risks that don’t pose a real threat to your organization (but may break your production environment if they are accidentally resolved)
Risk-based policy and assessment
Expedite remediation
Accelerate development velocity without sacrificing security or compliance
Shift security further left and prevent risk earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC)
New-Gen ASPM vs. ASOC – The difference DCA makes
Where to start when considering how to onboard an ASPM solution? Start with these 10 must-ask questions.
Remember: the right application security posture management tool or platform for your organization will enable your team to proactively and efficiently identify, prioritize, remediate and prevent risks in modern applications and software supply chains.
Not all ASPM platforms are created equal. Apiiro’s unique Deep Code Analysis (DCA) discovers and maps every component in your codebase in minutes – empowering your team to achieve that three-step cycle of AppSec success (identify, prioritize, and remediate).
Does the solution provide policies and workflows based on associated business risk?
Does the solution integrate via API connectors, avoiding agents or sidecars?
Does the solution connect to ticketing systems?
Does the solution ingest findings from 3rd-party tools and manual sources?
Does the solution contextualize first and third-party findings to facilitate prioritization processes? This includes attributing findings to owners based on code logic changes, focusing on sensitive data (PII, PHC, PCI), determining if code is in active development.
Does the solution automatically and continuously scan code repositories to get a graph-based inventory of applications?
Does the solution automatically and continuously enforce governance software development lifecycle (SDLC) policies? This includes security controls, technologies, framework usage, and more.
Does the solution automatically discover and continuously build a CI/CD pipeline inventory that includes the connected repositories, applications, plugins, and related components?
Does the solution automatically and continuously build a container inventory, enriching it with insights such as code ownership based on code logic changes, deployment status, internet exposure, presence of vulnerabilities, and high business impact (HBI)?
Best Practices for Effective ASPM Implementation
Once you settle on the right solution for your organization, getting your team up to speed with the tooling can be daunting. It’s important to contextualize the tool adoption within the broader business goals and context – remember, the right ASPM tool will serve your engineers, not the other way around. The goal should be increased development velocity, reduction in time spent triaging alerts, and a smoother software development life cycle (SDLC).
Follow this 4-step outline when kicking off your implementation process:
Embedding. Make security part of every facet of the SDLC. Make sure basic foundational skills such as security requirements identification, secure coding practices, and secure-by-design principles are front-of-mind for engineers.
Collaborating. Establish clear lines of communication between devs and security teams. Open up your ticketing system to your security engineers. Encourage shared responsibility and make sure your risk-based approach takes into account business context from across all departments.
Operationalizing. Automate where possible, and enable skilled expertise whenever automation is not an option. Deploy runtime security monitoring solutions (like Apiiro’s code-to-runtime capability) to detect anomalies in real time. Make security a key component of software delivery and ensure compliance with DevSecOps pipelines with built-in security gates.
Measuring. Define clear goals when it comes to evaluating the success of your ASPM program. This can include mean-time-to-detection (MTTD), aka “dwell time,” and mean-time-to-remediation (MTTR). Consider penetration tests and post-incident analyses to further deepen your feedback pool. You can review our Business Outcome Report for more ideas.
The Bottom Line – ASPM FAQs
For our ASPM must-haves, download our comprehensive checklist– 17 core components to look for in an ASPM solution to improve AppSec efficiency and reduce application risk.
Why is ASPM important?
Application security posture management is revolutionizing how teams secure modern applications and software supply chains. Evolving from traditional application security testing tools (DAST, SAST, SCA), application security orchestration and correlation (ASOC), and the shift-left security (DevSecOps) movement, ASPM promises to maintain speed and efficiency by taking a contextual, risk-based approach to AppSec.
Ultimately, the goal with ASPM platforms is (as the name suggests) to help strengthen your application security posture. They provide visibility across your attack surface risk and a single pane of glass for risks and enable accurate prioritization and insights for more seamless remediations.
How do ASPM platforms differ from one another?
Broadly speaking, ASPM platforms either focus on ingesting findings from third-party security tools or consolidating and replacing security testing tools. Apiiro does both and, more importantly, enriches security findings with deep context for unparalleled prioritization, insights, and understanding of your application attack surface.
Some ASPMs focus more on runtime, while others are code-based. Apiiro is deeply rooted in code, with runtime connectors to bring in exposure context. This enables us to provide accurate prioritization and embed security feedback directly into developer tools and workflows to proactively strengthen your application security posture.
How does ASPM differ from other application security testing (AST) tools?
AST tools add incredible value by detecting known risks such as vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, security weaknesses, and exposed secrets. ASPM platforms take a more holistic, interconnected approach to surfacing, defining, and understanding risk. Some platforms—including Apiiro—have some built-in AST capabilities, but regardless, these platforms provide much more value than just detecting risks. By ingesting, correlating, and enriching security signals from AST tools, ASPMs provide essential risk context that empowers AppSec teams to properly deduplicate, prioritize, and rapidly remediate risk.
What’s the relationship between ASPM and DevSecOps or “shift-left” security?
DevSecOps aims to embed security earlier in the software development lifecycle via developer guardrails. Unfortunately, early attempts at shifting security left resulted in noisy alerts that added friction to developers’ day-to-day workflows. ASPM flips the simplistic approach to risk prevention by putting risk at the center. When done correctly, ASPM platforms empower AppSec teams to clearly define what is and isn’t a risk and then enforce risk-based policies as early in the development lifecycle as possible.
How is ASPM different from CSPM?
ASPM and CSPM complement each other. Cloud security posture management (CSPM) focuses on helping teams secure the infrastructure layer, emphasizing runtime and detecting misconfigurations. ASPM is rooted in code and application components, providing a management layer to unify security signals from across the software development lifecycle. While CSPM solutions are geared more towards cloud security and DevOps teams, ASPM solutions are geared towards AppSec and software development teams, giving them a more holistic view of their entire application risk, including connecting insights from CSPM tools, application security testing (AST), software supply chain security (SSCS), and more.
What makes Apiiro’s application security posture management platform different?
Apiiro is both a 100% open platform (meaning we integrate with any and all security tools) and has built-in application and software supply chain security solutions, enabling us to provide value to any organization from day one. We are both deeply rooted in code and leverage runtime context, allowing us to be both holistic and proactive. The core differentiator that sets Apiiro apart is the depth of our application knowledge, giving AppSec teams instant visibility into the unknown parts of their applications. Because we have the strongest foundational understanding of your application architecture, we can provide more robust and accurate prioritization and insights, which leads to drastically reduced triage work, remediation times, and, ultimately, a more efficient AppSec program.
Back
