The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has led retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses in the U.S. to shutter brick-and-mortar locations, instead relying on curbside pickup or online delivery models to keep employees and customers safe while helping to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Companies want to stabilize revenue streams by adding new or enhanced digital business capabilities in the form of modified applications, new applications, or new web sites in order to shift as much of their business online as fast as possible.

Regardless of how quickly they tried to pivot, this crisis created new and unforeseen challenges for businesses of every size and in every industry. This is true for massive retailers like Walmart as well as specialty clothing retailers like Patagonia or Glossier. And for local and small businesses with razor-thin profit margins, this global emergency has hit them hardest — in fact, many may not survive long enough to reopen after shelter-in-place orders are eased.

In the meantime, businesses that are built on a digital-first model, or were quickly able to become a digital-first business, have come to accept how critical online platforms and applications are for receiving and processing orders. Now, more than ever, e-Commerce applications and web sites are massively tied to the health of the business. 

To safeguard businesses from the onslaught of customer need and engagement, digital assets must also be fully secured. For a primarily brick-and-mortar business that has not relied heavily on these assets before now, it can be a daunting task to know where to start in order to ensure the digital doors remain open and ready to serve customer needs. 

Employ Continuous Risk Assessment To Maintain Uptime

Digital-first storefronts like Amazon.com are the places we are accustomed to turning to for even our smallest, most mundane needs. However, given the nationwide panic buying that ensued with shelter-in-place orders, the sheer volume of demand creates added chaos that can test the reliability of applications. 

Continuous scanning allows businesses to check for vulnerabilities automatically as demands on web applications evolve. This can save time and costs while ensuring the business does not suffer downtime. If your web applications fail, your business is effectively closed, so you want to be proactive to prevent this from happening. One major benefit to ensuring site uptime is maintaining customer trust and loyalty.

Guard Against Vulnerabilities That Can Lead To Breach 

Web applications are an easy target for hackers, who can exploit them and gain access to backend systems and databases. However, when security is a key consideration in software quality and is woven throughout the applications, the digital assets and capabilities a business offers are protected from hackers.

The key is preventing hackers from taking advantage during this crisis. Let’s be honest, a data breach prior to our present global pandemic would often have a profound and negative impact on a company and its reputation. But with criminals poised to use the widespread fear and uncertainty to their benefit, failing to secure customer and company data during this crisis could prove disastrous. Recognize the role of application security in your business and choose a variety of solutions to secure web and mobile applications, such as penetration testing and proactive remediation of detected vulnerabilities.

Plan Strategically For Safe And Sound Operational Health

In a post-COVID-19 world, the security of applications is a strategic imperative and critical operational capability of digital-first businesses. This is true whether you are a massive global retail chain, a specialty retailer or a mom-and-pop neighborhood shop — the effects of unexpected events are bound to create disruption. Digital businesses are complex and dynamic, and there can be pressure to maintain the security of applications during global disruptions.

Look for an AppSec partner to work with your entire organization to implement and maintain the security and integrity of your applications, and to ensure your digital business remains safe and operational for you and your customers.

Craig Hinkley joined WhiteHat Security as CEO in early 2015, bringing more than 20 years of executive leadership in the technology sector to this role. Hinkley is driving a customer-centric focus throughout the company and has broadened WhiteHat’s global brand and visibility beyond the application security space and security buyer, to the world of the development organization and a DevSecOps approach to application development. Prior to joining WhiteHat Security, Hinkley served as VP and General Manager of the LogLogic business unit for TIBCO Software. In that role, he was responsible for global field sales and operations, client technical services, engineering, research and development, product design, and product management. Before TIBCO, he served as the general manager at Hewlett-Packard for the HP Networking Business in the Americas. Earlier in his career, Hinkley held positions at Cisco Systems Inc. and Bank of America. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.