A Closer Look: The Ins and Outs of Application Control

by T.E. Wing
3 min read
application control
Written by T.E. Wing

Obviously, you want to be able to restrict applications from endangering data in your enterprise. It’s all about application control. Here’s how it works …

Application control is all about security. It is a practice that tries to restrict applications that are unauthorized from performing, especially an execution that would endanger important data within an enterprise.

Different controls have different functions based on specific applications, but the primary thing that all application controls are concerned with is to secure and enable the privacy of data.

The controls used include authentication, validity checks, authorization, completeness, and identification. There are many others, but these are five of the most important. Let’s take a look at what they are more in depth.

Authentication has to do with the mechanism by which users are identified.

  • A validity check is a control that tries to ensure that only data that is completely valid is allowed to be input or processed.
  • The authorization control helps to ensure that only people who have been approved by an organization can access the system.
  • Completeness ensures that there are no backdoors in any applications that may create an opportunity for a security breach.
  • Identification aims to ensure that there is a unique ID for every user that is completely irrefutable.

    • These and other application controls help to ensure not only the security of data within an organization, but also its accessibility, its confidentiality, and its validity. Every business needs to have relevant application controls in order to reduce the natural risks that come along with the use of applications. In most cases, with the proper controls, applications will not be able to execute at all if there is a higher risk to the network.

    The features of application control coincide with the increasing use of applications in networks of all kinds. Regardless of whether an enterprise is using cloud-based applications, web-based applications, or third-party applications, all of these add-ons need to be monitored properly and controlled so that any threats coming in from the outside can be thwarted. The majority of control solutions include the ability to separate and segment lists of applications in the same way that email clients can block off certain emails.

    Other major features allow organizations to get a read of the biggest risks that may be brought about through software that is malicious or unauthorized and trying to gain access to your network. Here are just a few of those key benefits.

  • Application controls allow you to keep in the applications that you want and throw out those that you don’t want. You can also automate this process so that future iterations of malicious or unauthorized programs cannot sneak in through a back door.
  • You can fast-track trusted software packages that you always want to give authorization.
  • If you have unwanted applications that show up because of add-ons from trusted applications, you can easily get rid of those. This will help to reduce the complexity of your overall application tree as well as get rid of security backdoors.
  • You will improve the security of your overall network, and it will become more stable as well.
  • You can expressly identify all of the applications that are running within your end-user environment
  • You can get rid of malicious exploitations of your current operating system and any vulnerabilities that come from third-party applications.

    • With all of the advantages that you get from application controls, it would be detrimental to overlook the technology. Make sure to implement it as needed in your enterprise.

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