Security | Privacy | Compliance
Security | Privacy | Compliance
Application security auditing involves assessing an application’s security to pinpoint vulnerabilities and potential threats that could lead to security breaches. This process entails a comprehensive review of an application’s code, configuration, and architecture to gauge its security level and identify areas for enhancement.
The goal of an application security audit is to analyze an application’s security stance and unveil vulnerabilities and weaknesses that malicious actors might exploit. The audit’s components may vary based on specific criteria and the audit’s scope. However, several common elements typically encompass:
1. Scope and Objectives: Clearly define the audit’s scope, detailing the specific applications or systems under review, along with the audit’s objectives. Offering an overview of the application’s purpose, architecture, and technology stack aids auditors in understanding its context and potential vulnerabilities. This phase also outlines the auditing process for web applications, APIs, or cloud platforms.
2. Threat Modeling: Utilize threat modeling to uncover potential risks and attack paths unique to the application. This involves scrutinizing the application’s design, functionality, and potential vulnerabilities.
3. Authentication and Authorization: Assess authentication and authorization mechanisms within the application, including password restrictions, session management, role-based access controls, and any external authentication systems.
4. Architecture and Design Review: Evaluate the application’s architecture and design from a security perspective. This includes scrutinizing network architecture, data flows, access controls, authentication systems, and encryption protocols.
5. Code Review: Conduct an in-depth review of the application’s source code to identify coding flaws and security issues. This encompasses examining code logic, input validation, output encoding, error handling, and security-related coding practices.
6. Data Security: Assess the application’s management of sensitive data like personally identifiable information (PII) or financial data. This includes examining data storage practices, encryption methods, data access rules, and data sanitization techniques.
7. Input Validation and Output Encoding: Review the application’s input validation and output encoding methods to prevent common security vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and command injection.
8. Error Handling and Logging: Examine how the application handles errors, logs issues, and displays error messages to users, ensuring no sensitive information leakage.
9. Session Management: Assess how the application manages user sessions, checking for flaws like session fixation, hijacking, or inadequate session timeout settings.
10. Secure Communication: Review the application’s data encryption during transmission, verifying the use of secure communication protocols like HTTPS, SSL/TLS, and proper encryption configurations.
11. Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Scanning: Conduct automated vulnerability scans and manual penetration tests to uncover known vulnerabilities and security weaknesses, simulating real-world attack scenarios.
12. Regulatory Compliance: Ensure compliance with relevant security standards and regulatory requirements such as GDPR or PCI DSS.
13. Reporting: Document audit findings, vulnerabilities, and recommendations in a comprehensive report. Prioritize vulnerabilities based on severity and provide mitigation strategies and actionable steps to enhance application security.
We created our own auditing approach by following the OWASP top 10 guidelines. We understand that automatic tools are insufficient, so it is supported by manual protection testing in opposition to the application. The auditing procedure is as follows:
eShield IT provides application security auditing across all major application security platforms used by Dubai and UAE enterprises. Whether your applications run on legacy Java stacks, modern JavaScript frameworks, or containerised microservices, our OSCP-certified testers assess your entire application stack against OWASP ASVS Level 2 standards.
| Platform / Stack | Testing Approach | Tools Used | Cost (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Applications (React, Angular, Vue) | DAST + manual exploitation | Burp Suite Pro, OWASP ZAP | 12,000–25,000 |
| REST & GraphQL APIs | Endpoint fuzzing + auth bypass | Postman, Newman, Burp Suite | 12,000–35,000 |
| Mobile Apps (iOS & Android) | OWASP Mobile Top 10 + reverse engineering | MobSF, Frida, Objection | 15,000–40,000 |
| Java / .NET Enterprise Apps | SAST + DAST + manual review | Checkmarx, SonarQube, Fortify | 18,000–45,000 |
| Thick Client Applications | Binary analysis + network interception | Ghidra, Wireshark, custom tools | 20,000–50,000 |
| Cloud-Native & Containerised Apps | Container escape + K8s RBAC audit | Trivy, kube-bench, Falco | 15,000–40,000 |
Our application security auditing in Dubai follows a four-phase methodology based on the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) Level 2:
Phase 1: Reconnaissance
Application mapping, technology fingerprinting, authentication flow analysis, and attack surface enumeration. We identify all entry points, data flows, and trust boundaries.
Phase 2: Automated Scanning
SAST (Checkmarx, SonarQube) for source code analysis and DAST (Burp Suite Pro, OWASP ZAP) for runtime vulnerability detection. We test all OWASP Top 10 categories.
Phase 3: Manual Exploitation
Expert-driven testing for business logic flaws, authentication bypass, privilege escalation, and injection attacks that automated scanners cannot detect. This is where OSCP certification matters.
Phase 4: Reporting & Retest
CVSSv3-scored findings report within 5 business days. Executive summary + technical details + proof-of-concept for each finding. One free retest within 60 days included.
| Audit Type | Scope | Duration | Price (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web Application Audit | Single app, up to 50 pages | 5–10 days | 12,000–25,000 |
| Mobile App Audit (iOS/Android) | Single app + API backend | 7–12 days | 15,000–40,000 |
| API Security Assessment | Up to 100 endpoints | 5–8 days | 12,000–35,000 |
| Source Code Review (SAST) | Up to 100K LOC | 5–10 days | 15,000–30,000 |
| Enterprise Portfolio Assessment | 5+ applications | 2–4 weeks | 30,000–80,000 |
Application security auditing is required or recommended under multiple UAE regulatory frameworks. NESA IAS mandates security testing for critical infrastructure applications. CBUAE requires annual application security assessments for financial institutions’ customer-facing platforms. PCI DSS v4.0 requires application security testing for any system that handles payment card data. UAE PDPL requires appropriate technical measures to protect personal data processed by applications. eShield’s application security audit reports are formatted to meet all four frameworks simultaneously.
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