In the finance and banking industry, the balance between maintaining application security and managing costs can often feel like a tightrope. Being the target of many attackers seeking a big payday, these sectors must ensure the ironclad security of their applications while keeping operational costs low and performance high. This can be somewhat paradoxical, as adding tools to bolster security often hinder performance and vice versa. Meanwhile, adding any tools at all generates consistent operational costs that can weigh teams down financially.
However, Waratek’s Java Security platform allows finance companies to strip away other application security tools, keeping costs low and ensuring that certain classes of vulnerability never appear in their applications. This creates a leaner operation whose airtight security does not hinder performance — in many cases, it actually increases performance.
Security vs. Performance vs. Cost
You should always think of security as an investment. Much like the day-to-day operations of a financial institution, rate of return is king. A security tool is only as valuable as the money it saves from going out the door. If you’re spending tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on security tools and you still find yourself constantly having to patch vulnerabilities, you are wasting your money on those tools.
Likewise, if your tooling is having a negative impact on performance, it’s most likely costing more money than it’s worth. For example, let’s imagine your tooling is catching a lot of bugs but you have to induce downtime to patch them. By not taking on more of the load, your tooling is costing you a lot more than just its price tag in user fatigue and operational efficiency.
This is not even to mention the real world scenarios in which many tools (like WAFs) are so intrusive to daily operations that security personnel end up turning them off and leaving them in detect mode just so business can be done. Detect mode allows traffic to flow freely in and out of the application while performing continuous logging. Good for business, but bad for security. The WAF will still help you triage an attack after the fact — but in many cases, it is already too late to prevent an attacker from exfiltrating data.
Balancing Cost-Effective Security With Performance
One of the most persistent myths in application security is the belief that implementing robust security policies must inevitably lead to a decrease in application performance. This myth stems from experiences with solutions that rely heavily on external monitoring and logging, which can introduce significant overhead and slow down application performance.
However, Waratek maintains near-optimal performance levels in Java applications with less than 5% overhead. In many cases, applications run more efficiently on Waratek due to the optimization of code during the recompilation process. By running the correct code, financial organizations can:
- Protect themselves against vulnerabilities
- Comply with stringent regulatory standards
- Preserving a seamless user experience
- Avoiding significant increases in computational costs
How It works
Achieving such a balance starts with our tainting engine, which empowers companies in the financial and banking sectors to identify and neutralize malicious attempts in real-time. The tainting engine works by tagging data from untrusted sources and tracking its flow through the application. When it detects an attempt to exploit a vulnerability, Waratek can immediately recompile the vulnerable code, applying the necessary security patch on-the-fly. This process is seamless, ensuring that application performance remains unaffected by the introduction of security measures.
By integrating security directly into the application runtime, this approach eliminates the need for costly external monitoring tools and reduces the workload on IT security teams, thereby lowering operational costs. Moreover, Waratek allows security engineers to apply security patches in real-time, without the need for application downtime or manual intervention. Maintaining proactive security safeguards against cyberattacks keeps trust strong with customers and clients.
Get Started Today
In an industry where even milliseconds matter, the ability to secure applications without compromising performance is invaluable. Waratek’s technology ensures that security measures are not tacked on after the fact from an external tool. They are an integral part of the application’s operation, safeguarding against threats without delay or disruption. This allows financial organizations to achieve a rare balance between security and performance without breaking the bank.
To get started improving security and operational fidelity while reducing costs, click here.
