What is application control?
Application control is a security feature that allows organizations to manage and restrict the software applications that can be executed on their systems. By enforcing strict control over which programs are permitted to run, application control helps prevent unauthorized or malicious software from gaining a foothold on the network.
How application control works
At its core, application control works by maintaining a whitelist or blacklist of approved or prohibited applications. When a user or process attempts to launch a program, the application control solution inspects the executable and compares it against the defined policy. If the application is on the approved list, it is allowed to run. If it is on the blocked list or does not match any known approved applications, the execution is denied.
Application control policies can be configured with varying levels of granularity, from allowing or blocking entire software packages, to controlling specific files, scripts, or executables. Advanced solutions may also analyze the behavior and characteristics of an application to determine if it should be permitted, even if it is not on the pre-approved list.
Key components of application control
- Application inventory: Maintaining a comprehensive database of all software installed across the organization, including metadata like version, publisher, file hashes, and more.
- Policy engine: The core decision-making logic that evaluates application execution requests against the defined security policies.
- Enforcement mechanisms: The controls put in place to actually block or allow applications to run, such as file system hooks, process monitoring, or network traffic inspection.
- Reporting and auditing: Logging all application control events and providing visibility into what is happening across the environment.
Benefits of application control
The primary benefit of application control is enhanced security and reduced risk of malware infections or unauthorized software usage. By only allowing known-good applications to execute, organizations can greatly limit the attack surface and prevent malicious code from compromising systems. This is especially important for protecting against advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware, and other targeted attacks that rely on executing custom or fileless malware.
Application control also supports compliance requirements by ensuring systems are configured to organization-approved software standards. It can help enforce software licensing agreements and prevent shadow IT, where employees install unsanctioned applications. Additionally, application control can improve system stability and performance by blocking resource-intensive or poorly-behaved programs.
Implementing application control
Effective application control requires a comprehensive inventory of all software across the environment, robust policy management, and reliable enforcement mechanisms. Many organizations leverage specialized application control solutions that provide these capabilities, often integrated with endpoint protection platforms or security information and event management (SIEM) tools.
When deploying application control, it's important to carefully define policies that balance security requirements with end-user productivity. Overly restrictive policies can hamper normal business operations, so a risk-based approach is recommended. Organizations should also plan for ongoing maintenance, such as updating whitelists as new approved applications are introduced.
Real-world application control examples
A typical application control use case is restricting the execution of executable files in the %TEMP% or %APPDATA% directories, which is a common tactic used by malware. Application control can also block the launch of common hacking tools, preventing abuse by internal or external threat actors.
Another example is enforcing strict control over software installations on Point-of-Sale (POS) systems in the retail industry. Application control ensures only authorized payment processing applications can run, reducing the risk of card skimmers or other malware targeting these critical systems.