According to the State of ASPM 2024 Report, 78% of CISOs believe today’s attack surface is unmanageable. This staggering statistic underscores the critical need for robust application security measures. Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) platforms have emerged as a specialized solution designed to address these challenges comprehensively.
Unlike traditional point solutions that focus on isolated aspects of application security and cause tool sprawl, ASPM platforms provide a holistic approach, integrating CI/CD pipeline security, application security testing, posture management, and compliance monitoring into a unified platform.
Introduced as a distinct category to fill the gaps left by point solutions, ASPM platforms offer comprehensive visibility, risk prioritization, remediation capabilities and overall control over the security posture of applications throughout their lifecycle.
Organizations are now faced with a crucial decision: should they build their own ASPM platform or buy a commercial solution?
This article explores the essential features of ASPM platforms, the general considerations in the build vs. buy debate, and why purchasing a complete ASPM platform results in a higher long-term ROI.
Must-Have Capabilities for a Complete ASPM Platform
Before we can get into the argument of build vs. buy, we have to explore the must-have capabilities for a complete ASPM platform:
CI/CD Pipeline Security
Because CI/CD pipelines are an attractive target for malicious actors, a complete ASPM platform must be equipped with CI/CD pipeline security capabilities that align with DevOps practices and facilitate a shift-left approach. This includes scanning and detecting secrets, source code leakage detection and continuous monitoring of pipeline security to identify and mitigate threats swiftly.
Integrating these security measures within CI/CD pipelines ensures early detection and resolution of vulnerabilities, maintaining the speed and scalability of development while enforcing security policies and compliance requirements.
Next-Gen Application Security Testing (AST) Capabilities
A complete ASPM platform must also include advanced Application Security Testing (AST) capabilities, at the very least developer-friendly Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Software Composition Analysis (SCA) that help teams identify, prioritize, and remediate risks.
Importantly, both SAST and SCA capabilities should be based on proprietary scanners and not on open source to ensure deeper understanding of security findings and comprehensive risk prioritization.
Posture Management
Seamless integration with existing security infrastructure, including third-party security tools, ensures a unified approach to posture management. By ingesting findings, prioritizing vulnerabilities for fixing, and offering built-in remediation, a complete ASPM platform identifies root causes, traces the entire risk path, and helps teams visualize threats through a single pane of glass.
The result? Enhanced cyber and business resilience.
Compliance and Policy Management
With increasing regulatory scrutiny, compliance management is a critical feature of a complete ASPM platform. These platforms should offer automated compliance reporting, policy enforcement, and audit trails to help organizations adhere to standards like SSDF, Self Attestation and more. Proactive compliance management not only avoids hefty fines but also builds trust with customers and stakeholders.
Bonus: The consolidation of compliance data from multiple sources into a single platform streamlines auditing processes and ensures comprehensive oversight.
Build vs. Buy: General Considerations
When deciding whether to build or buy, you need to consider cost and long-term return on investment (ROI), time to deployment and efficiency gains, and your available resources.
Cost Analysis and Long-Term ROI
When considering the cost of building vs. buying a complete ASPM platform, you must look beyond initial expenses. Building an in-house solution involves significant upfront costs, including development, infrastructure, and hiring specialized personnel. Additionally, ongoing maintenance, updates, and unforeseen expenses can quickly escalate.
In contrast, purchasing a complete ASPM platform like Cycode typically involves 1-click implementation, predictable subscription fee, regular updates, vendor support, and faster time-to-value.
Fun fact: A study by Forrester Research found that commercial security solutions often deliver a 20-30% higher ROI over three years compared with custom-built systems due to lower operational costs and improved efficiency.
Time to Deployment and Efficiency Gains
Developing an in-house ASPM platform can be a lengthy process, often taking several months and even years. This delay can leave your applications vulnerable and your organization exposed to risks.
On the other hand, a complete ASPM platform offers 1-click implementation, allowing organizations to quickly secure their applications and start realizing benefits (and seeing the ROI) almost immediately.
Resource Allocation and Expertise
Building and maintaining an ASPM platform requires a team of developers, security experts, and IT staff. This diverts valuable resources from core business activities. ASPM vendors, however, specialize in security and provide dedicated support teams, ensuring the platform is always up-to-date and functioning optimally.
TLDR: By purchasing a complete ASPM platform, organizations can allocate their internal resources to strategic initiatives that drive business growth, rather than focusing on building and maintaining security infrastructure.
Reasons to Buy a Complete ASPM Platform Instead of Building One
Investing in a complete ASPM platform offers several strategic advantages over building an in-house solution. This section explores why purchasing a complete ASPM platform can provide a higher long-term ROI by leveraging vendor expertise, advanced technology, and seamless scalability.
Access to Cutting-Edge Technology and Innovation
A complete ASPM platform is often at the forefront of technology, incorporating the latest advancements in next-gen scanners, AI-driven capabilities, robust integrations capabilities, dashboards & reporting, and auto-remediation.
Vendors continuously update their platforms to stay ahead of emerging threats, ensuring your organization benefits from the latest security innovations without the need for significant in-house investment.
Scalability, Flexibility, and Long-Term Adaptability
A complete ASPM platform is designed to scale with your organization’s needs, accommodating growth and increasing complexity. These solutions offer flexibility in terms of customization options and integration with other security tools, ensuring they can adapt to evolving business requirements.
See how customers like PayPal, Rapyd, and Broadcom continue to scale with Cycode.
Vendor Support, Reliability, and Cost-Effectiveness
Another significant advantage of a complete ASPM platform like Cycode is the dedicated vendor support, which contrasts sharply with the challenges of maintaining built tools. A complete ASPM platform provides troubleshooting, regular updates, and continuous performance optimization, eliminating the burden of in-house maintenance and support.
Tools built in-house often lack this level of dedicated support, leading to increased downtime and higher operational costs.
That means if you want high reliability with SLAs guaranteeing uptime and performance (without constant attention from internal teams to maintain functionality and security standards), you should choose a complete ASPM solution like Cycode.
Learn More About Cycode
The bottom line is: For most organizations, the strategic advantages and long-term benefits of buying a complete ASPM platform far outweigh the challenges of building one, making it the preferred choice in today’s fast-paced and increasingly complex security landscape.
Purchasing a complete ASPM platform like Cycode provides immediate access to cutting-edge technology, scalability, dedicated support, and a predictable cost structure, resulting in a higher long-term ROI.
By leveraging Cycode’s advanced capabilities, organizations can enhance their security posture, mitigate risks, and have a peace of mind in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Cycode is the leading complete ASPM platform, providing peace of mind to its customers. Its Complete ASPM platform scales and standardizes developer security without slowing down the business to deliver safe code, faster.
The platform can replace existing application security testing tools or integrate with them while providing cyber resiliency through unmatched visibility, risk driven prioritization and just in-time remediation of code vulnerabilities as scale. Cycode’s Risk Intelligence Graph (RIG), the ‘brain’ behind the platform, provides traceability across the entire SDLC through natural language.
Ready to learn more about the platform? Book a demo.
