TL;DR
Applications face thousands of attack attempts monthly, yet traditional security tools miss the ones that matter most. New data from Contrast Security reveals that while WAFs, EDR, and SIEM platforms excel at their designed functions, they cannot see inside application runtime where sophisticated attacks actually execute. Runtime visibility fills this critical gap, providing security teams with the context needed to identify and stop attacks that would otherwise remain hidden.
The Hidden Reality of Application Attacks
Your applications are under constant assault. Every three minutes, another attack attempts to find and exploit vulnerabilities in your code. But here's what most security teams don't realize: the real threat isn't the volume of attacks, it's the small percentage that slip past traditional defenses.
Recent analysis of production applications reveals that organizations face approximately 14,250 attack attempts monthly. While that number sounds overwhelming, the more concerning finding is that roughly 81 of these attacks reach actual exploitable vulnerabilities. These aren't random probes or automated scans. These are viable attacks that could lead to data breaches, and your current security tools likely can't see them.
What Are Application Attack Patterns?
Think of application attack patterns as the systematic methods attackers use to exploit weaknesses in your software. Unlike network attacks that target infrastructure or malware that targets endpoints, these attacks manipulate the logic of your applications themselves.
The most prevalent patterns include attacks that manipulate how applications process data (Untrusted Deserialization), bypass security controls by altering request methods (Method Tampering), and inject malicious code into application queries (various injection attacks). What makes these particularly dangerous is that they execute within the application's normal operations, making them invisible to perimeter and endpoint security tools.
Why Traditional Security Misses These Attacks
Imagine having security cameras covering every entrance to a building, motion sensors in every hallway, and a sophisticated command center correlating all signals. You'd feel pretty secure, right? But what if the actual theft was happening inside a room where you have no cameras?
This is exactly what's happening with application security today. Your WAF monitors incoming traffic at the perimeter. Your EDR watches for suspicious behavior on endpoints. Your SIEM correlates signals from across your infrastructure. Each tool excels at its job, but none can see inside the application runtime where modern attacks actually unfold.
The Visibility Gap in Practice
When an attacker sends a malicious SQL injection attempt, your WAF might flag it as suspicious traffic. But can it tell whether that payload actually reached vulnerable code? Can it see if the attack was successful? The answer is no, because the WAF operates outside the application.
Testing of over 10,000 attack scenarios revealed a startling reality: WAFs correctly identified less than 0.25% of actual application exploits. That means for every 400 alerts your team investigates, only one represents a real threat. Meanwhile, EDR solutions showed zero detection capability for application-layer attacks like SQL injection, because these attacks don't trigger the system-level behaviors that EDR monitors.
Industries Face Different Attack Patterns
Not all organizations face the same threats. Financial services companies, with their complex database infrastructures and valuable data, see higher rates of SQL injection attempts. Manufacturing organizations, often running older systems that can't be easily patched, face more attacks exploiting known vulnerabilities in Java applications.
The technology stack you choose also influences your risk profile. Java applications in our dataset showed vulnerability rates approaching 20%, while Python applications demonstrated rates closer to 3%. However, certain attack types, like Method Tampering, affected all languages equally, highlighting the need for universal vigilance.
These variations underscore an important truth: there's no one-size-fits-all approach to application security. Your defense strategy needs to account for your specific technology choices and industry risks.
How Runtime Visibility Changes the Game
Runtime visibility represents a fundamentally different approach to application security. Instead of watching from the outside, it operates from within your applications, seeing exactly what code executes, how data flows, and when behavior deviates from normal patterns.
Think of it as the difference between watching a building from the street versus having cameras in every room. When an attack occurs, runtime visibility doesn't just see suspicious activity; it sees the exact code being exploited, the data at risk, and the attack's progression through your application.
Practical Benefits for Security Teams
The impact of this visibility transforms security operations in several ways:
- Accurate Detection: With visibility into actual code execution, false positives virtually disappear. Security teams can focus on real threats instead of chasing alerts that lead nowhere.
- Immediate Context: When an attack is detected, teams receive complete information about what's happening, where, and how to stop it. No more lengthy investigations trying to piece together what occurred.
- Independent Response: SOC teams can deploy protective measures immediately without waiting for developers to investigate and patch vulnerabilities. This independence dramatically reduces response time from days to minutes.
Making Runtime Visibility Work for You
Implementing runtime visibility doesn't require ripping out your existing security infrastructure. In fact, it's designed to complement and enhance your current tools. The process typically follows a straightforward path:
First, lightweight sensors deploy within your applications, observing behavior without impacting performance. These sensors automatically map your application architecture, understanding how components interact and data flows between them. As it deploys, the system learns your applications' normal behavior patterns, establishing baselines that help identify anomalies.
Once operational, runtime visibility integrates with your existing SIEM and SOAR platforms, enriching their data with application-layer context. Your team continues using familiar tools and workflows, but now with dramatically better intelligence about what's actually happening inside your applications.
Key Considerations
As you evaluate your application security strategy, consider these critical points:
- Attack Evolution: Attackers need just 5 days on average to exploit newly disclosed vulnerabilities, while organizations typically require months to patch them. This gap creates a window of exposure that only runtime detection can address.
- Tool Limitations: Your current security tools aren't failing; they're operating exactly as designed. The gap exists because application runtime was never part of their scope.
- Practical Impact: Organizations implementing runtime visibility report detection times dropping from months to real-time, and false positive rates falling from over 99% to near zero.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes application attacks different from other cyber threats?
Application attacks target the logic and functionality of your software rather than your network or endpoints. They exploit how your applications process data and make decisions, operating in a space where traditional security tools have no visibility. This makes them particularly dangerous because they can succeed even when all your other defenses are working perfectly.
How quickly can runtime visibility be implemented?
Initial deployment typically takes just days, with full implementation completed within a month. The sensors integrate with your existing applications without code changes, and protective capabilities can be activated immediately for critical applications while the system learns your environment.
Does runtime visibility replace existing security tools?
No, runtime visibility complements your existing security stack. Your WAF continues protecting the perimeter, EDR monitors endpoints, and SIEM correlates signals. Runtime visibility adds the missing application layer, providing the context these tools need to be more effective.
Can runtime visibility detect zero-day attacks?
Yes, because it identifies attack behaviors rather than relying on signatures. When an attacker uses a novel technique, runtime visibility recognizes the malicious behavior based on attack patterns even without prior knowledge of the specific exploit.
What's the performance impact on applications?
Modern runtime sensors typically impact performance by less than 2%, which is negligible for most applications. The sensors are designed to observe without interfering, similar to application performance monitoring tools many organizations already use.
How does this help with compliance requirements?
Many compliance frameworks now explicitly require runtime application protection. Beyond checking boxes, runtime visibility provides the detailed audit trails and real-time protection that demonstrate actual security effectiveness rather than just policy compliance.
Moving Forward
Applications face sophisticated attacks that traditional security tools cannot detect. Every month without runtime visibility is another month where viable attacks operate undetected in your applications, potentially accessing sensitive data and establishing persistence for future exploitation.
The good news is that runtime visibility technology has matured to the point where implementation is straightforward and value is immediate. Organizations report seeing previously invisible attacks within days of deployment, finally understanding what's been happening inside their applications all along.
As you consider your application security strategy, ask yourself: Can you afford to remain blind to the attacks happening inside your applications? With the average breach costing millions and taking months to detect, the question isn't whether to implement runtime visibility, but how quickly you can close this critical gap in your defenses.
The attacks are already happening. The only question is whether you can see them.
