The Power of Platform-Native Consolidation in Application Security

The application security landscape is shifting as organizations move away from a fragmented ecosystem of point solutions towards a unified platform such as the Mend AppSec Platform. Leveraging these platform-specific strengths brings numerous advantages: streamlined workflows, a cross-product workflow engine, a consolidated data model that enhances security posture, and developers that can focus fully on innovation.

The Mend AppSec Platform’s platform-native design goes beyond the mere unification of multiple products to revolutionize various aspects of AppSec. Here’s how:

One platform experience

The Mend AppSec Platform offers a cohesive user experience that simplifies adoption and reduces training needs with the following attributes:

• Platform common data model. Build platform-level data classification and segmentation to manage assets
• Platform Application Program Interfaces (API). Third-party applications and integration can leverage any necessary data via API
• Open and extensible architecture. Mend AppSec Platform has two primary zones. The first provides shared platform modules, functionalities, and data visualization and the second contains back-end services for specific scan engines and the dashboard.
• Faster onboarding. New users can quickly adapt to the platform due to its intuitive interface and all-in-one approach for application security vulnerability management.
• Land-and-expand capabilities. Start with one or two products’ functionalities and easily add new functionality as your needs evolve, using consistent and extendable UI/UX concepts.

Simplified user management, authentication, and authorization

A consolidated platform offers effortless user access management across all application security tools. It eliminates the need for multiple logins and interfaces. A centralized control and access database means that one login grants access to everything you need from vulnerability scanning, analysis, and tracking. It’s like having a master key to the entire AppSec kingdom.

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A single platform that supports both developer and security teams

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Unified AppSec CLI and code repositories application with common platform capabilities

Empower your security champions and DevOps team with a powerful Unified AppSec CLI.

• Cross-product scans in one CLI  and ode repositories application. Perform quick SAST, SCA, and Container Security, AI Model scans with one CLI distribution and deployment
• Version management and maintenance. Centralized CLI version management with auto-update functionality for ease of pipeline maintenance
• Common platform capabilities. Streamline workflows and integrate seamlessly with platform workflow and policy-enforcement features with one policy and workflow automation gallery for AppSec as a whole.

Centralized analytics and statistics data based on new technology

Traditionally, security teams have been bombarded with data from disparate tools, making it difficult to identify trends and prioritize vulnerabilities. The Mend AppSec Platform offers a unified data hub for all security data, facilitating comprehensive analysis with insightful analytics that help prioritize vulnerabilities and optimize security posture.

A single data hub and automation streamlines workflows and policies

Consolidation fosters a unified data lake and data structures, eliminating data silos and inconsistencies to achieve contextual risk-based prioritization and assessment.

• Streamlined workflows. Automate repetitive tasks across various AppSec tools, boosting team efficiency with out-of-the-box risk-based policies
• Enforced policies. Centrally define and enforce security policies across the entire application development lifecycle
• Improved collaboration. Foster seamless collaboration between security and development teams
• Asset segmentation and classification. Leverage platform-level labeling for deeper segment and context-based insights, optimized workflow, and strict policy enforcement
• Data discovery as contextual risk data point across AppSec. Get deeper and wider insights based on your application inventory (i.e., code, packages, AI models, container images, and runtime information) for better risk assessment and prioritization
• Out-of-the-box risk-based policies covering compliance and security best practices. Pre-defined, industry-standard security policies and best practices, augmented with contextual risk data points, help organizations implement a robust threat detection, prioritization, and response framework. This secret sauce enables efficient identification and mitigation of potential vulnerabilities, enhancing overall security posture while optimizing risk assessment and resource allocation.

Open platform—API first and event-based processing

Moving towards an open event-driven architecture and API first unlocks a new level of integration and communication:

• Ease of integration and cross-product flows. Extendable design concept to add more scanners and vulnerabilities results for home-grown and third-party vendors
• Real-time updates. Security tools react to events in near real-time, ensuring data consistency across the platform
• Seamless integration Easier integration with internal products, third-party tools, and open infrastructure

Beyond the technology: Mend.io’s internal culture shift

The Mend AppSec Platform isn’t just about technology; it’s about fostering internal cross-team and department collaboration. Mend.io R&D inner-source practices are used to build and share platform components, and cross-team guilds are like Mend.io secret weapons. We share knowledge, best practices, and code, which has led to a higher velocity and effective alignment approach. Last but not least, to get closer to our customer-level experience, we are using the Mend AppSec Platform in our internal secure SDLC process.

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