Understanding Application Security

Web-based applications are changing the dynamics of security. Previously, specific applications were associated with specific protocols and ports, making policy enforcement at the host level relatively straightforward. Web applications that can be accessed from anywhere create challenge for network administrators to effectively manage traffic flows and access to data while delivering the security and network services.

An individual can connect to the network using multiple devices simultaneously, making it impractical to identify a user, an application, or a device by a group of statically allocated IP addresses and port numbers.

Applications such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing, Webmail, social networking, and IP voice/video collaboration evade security mechanisms by changing communications ports and protocols, or by tunneling within other commonly used services (for example, HTTP or HTTPS). Organizations need control over the applications and traffic on their networks to protect their assets against attacks and manage bandwidth.

Juniper Networks’ AppSecure is a suite of application-aware security services for the Juniper Networks’ SRX Series Firewalls and NFX Series devices to deliver security services to provide visibility and control over the types of applications traversing in the networks. AppSecure uses a sophisticated classification engine to accurately identify applications regardless of port or protocol, including nested applications that reside within trusted network services.

• Application identification (AppID)—Recognizes traffic at different network layers using characteristics other than port number. Once the application is determined, AppSecure service modules can be configured to monitor and control traffic for tracking, prioritization, access control, detection, and prevention based on the application ID of the traffic.

• Application Tracking (AppTrack)—Tracks and reports applications passing through the device.

• Application Firewall with Unified policies—Implements an application firewall functionality to block traffic based on specific dynamic applications using unified security policies.

• Application Quality of Service (AppQoS)—Provides quality-of-service prioritization based on application awareness.

• Advanced policy-based routing (APBR)— Classifies session based on applications and applies the configured rules to reroute the traffic.

• SSL Proxy—Provides visibility of encrypted traffic to allow deep packet inspection (DPI).

AppSecure works with additional content security through integrated Content Security , intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and Juniper Networks Juniper Advanced Threat Prevention Cloud (ATP Cloud) on the security devices for deeper protection against malware, spam, phishing, and application exploits.