Summary
“ASPM aggregates security insights from a variety of sources and tools into a unified, real-time dashboard, providing visibility into application vulnerabilities and threats. CSPM focuses on identifying and addressing misconfigurations and compliance risks in cloud environments. Together they protect the application from code to cloud to live cloud environments.”
With businesses relying more on complex applications and cloud infrastructure, security has become an intricate combination of protecting code and safeguarding the cloud. Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) are complementary aspects of this need, each tackling different risks. This article breaks down what makes each unique and why both are essential for rigorous cybersecurity protection.
What is ASPM?
Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) is a comprehensive cybersecurity approach focused on continuously monitoring, managing, and enhancing application security across every phase of the development lifecycle – from initial development through testing, deployment and beyond – to code-to-cloud.
ASPM aggregates security insights from a variety of sources and tools into a unified, real-time dashboard, providing visibility into application vulnerabilities and threats. This consolidated view supports informed risk prioritization and proactive remediation, ensuring that enterprise applications meet security standards and align with modern DevOps and development practices.
ASPM encompasses a wide range of security tools and practices, including Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), API security, Software Composition Analysis (SCA), Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), Software Supply Chain Security (SSCS), Container security, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) security, and AI-driven security solutions. This provides a holistic approach to safeguarding applications across their entire lifecycle.
Key elements of ASPM:
- Visibility and Monitoring – ASPM tools offer visibility into an organization’s application development process across the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), tracking code, dependencies, APIs and other software components to identify potential vulnerabilities and threats early.
- Continuous Assessment – ASPM scores applications based on risk, enabling risk-based prioritization to address exploitable vulnerabilities and threats with the most significant business impact first.
- Automation and Remediation – Many ASPM solutions integrate with DevOps pipelines to automate vulnerability scanning and remediation workflows, enabling faster security response times.
What is CSPM?
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is a cybersecurity practice focused on identifying and addressing misconfigurations and compliance risks in cloud environments. CSPM tools continuously monitor and assess cloud infrastructure to ensure it aligns with security best practices, regulatory requirements and organizational policies. As organizations adopt multi-cloud and hybrid environments, CSPM helps address the dynamic and complex nature of cloud infrastructures. By automating the discovery and remediation of cloud security risks, CSPM tools help prevent data breaches, account takeovers, and other cloud-based security incidents.
Key features:
- Configuration Monitoring – Continuously assesses cloud configurations for security best practices and identifies misconfigurations.
- Compliance Enforcement – Ensures compliance with regulations and standards specific to cloud services (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
- Risk Assessment – Evaluates risks associated with cloud environments and helps prioritize remediation efforts.
- Multi-Cloud Support – Provides visibility and control across multiple cloud service providers.
ASPM vs. CSPM: How Do They Compare?
ASPM and CSPM serve different security purposes in the enterprise. They are also used differently by teams, with ASPM being used extensively by AppSec and developers and CSPM by DevSecOps and DevOps. Here’s how the two compare:
Security Scope
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Secures the application throughout the SDLC, from development to deployment and code to cloud.Aggregates data from all AppSec tools to allow identification and remediation of vulnerabilities and malware in code, third-party APIs and data flows. | Secures cloud environments, including public, private and hybrid environments.Scans and identifies misconfigurations that could be exploited and compliance issues. |
Implementation
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Integrates into the SDLC to allow shifting left of security by providing guidance and visibility in each step. This enhances security and enables easy adoption by developers.Integrates with CI/CD tools, cloud tools, ticketing systems and the developer IDE. | Integrates with cloud providers to allow scanning, identification and remediation. |
Underlying Technological Capabilities
| ASPM | CSPM |
| SAST (Static Application Security Testing) – Scanning source code to find vulnerabilities and malware before code build.DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) – Identifying vulnerabilities and malware in running applications. SCA (Software Composition Analysis) – Identifying and managing vulnerabilities and malware within open source libraries and components, to meet security and compliance requirements.API Security – Discovering shadow APIs and API discrepancy.SBOM – An inventory of all software components in useSSCS -Securing all open-source code and third-party code in use in the application.Container Security – Image scanning, monitoring Docker environments and resolving vulnerabilities and threats.IaC Security – Scanning IaC templates for vulnerability and threat identification.AI-driven Security – Implementing AI in security solutions to enhance security posture and ensure the use of the most advanced solutions against attackers. And more | Network security and traffic analysis – Inspecting cloud network configurations and traffic flow to ensure that resources are correctly segmented and network security rules are enforced.Data security and storage monitoring – Assessing storage configurations (like S3 buckets or Azure Blob Storage) to ensure they are properly secured, preventing issues such as publicly exposed sensitive data or unencrypted storage volumes.Infrastructure drift detection – Detecting and alerting on drift, ensuring the cloud setup remains aligned with intended configurations.Compliance auditing – Cloud environment scanning to review for regulatory compliance. |
Main Use Case
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Visibility and detailed insights into the security posture of applications, enabling informed decision-making and risk-based prioritization. | Managing and mitigating misconfigurations and compliance risk across an organization’s entire cloud attack surface. |
Compliance Management
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Focused on application-level compliance requirements (e.g., OWASP, secure coding practices). Can provide visibility for broader compliance goals. | Designed to help maintain cloud-specific compliance standards (e.g., CIS, NIST, SOC 2), with compliance checklists and automated reporting capabilities for cloud settings. |
Restricted to the Cloud?
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Can cover both cloud-based and on-premise applications, offering flexibility across environments based on modern enterprises needs. | Focuses exclusively on cloud environments. |
Value for For Development Teams
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Shifting left security, which helps development teams build secure code from the outset, so they can resolve issues at the code level.A developer-friendly solution (some vendors) which integrates with the IDE, ticketing systems and other developer tools and supports multiple frameworks. This encourages adoption and fosters healthy communication between development and security. | Ensures that DevOps provisioning cloud resources are aware of and adhere to secure configurations. |
Value for For Security Teams
| ASPM | CSPM |
| Provides AppSec teams with visibility and insights into application-layer risks.Enables security teams to work closely with development by integrating directly into their workflowsMakes application security a continuous and iterative process. | Enforces cloud compliance.Enhances cloud security posture by helping address cloud misconfigurations. |
ASPM and CSPM Together
Although ASPM is designed for use as an application security framework and CSPM is designed for use as a cloud security framework, using both together can give end-to-end security for applications and cloud resources. Here’s how organizations can benefit from using both ASPM and CSPM:
- Enforcing Security Practices from Code to Cloud to Runtime – Integrating ASPM and CSPM provides a way of attaining security from the application development phase up to the cloud deployment. ASPM helps in securing and being compliant with applications from the development phase of applications, whereas CSPM helps in being secure and compliant with cloud resources after they have been deployed.
- Full Environment Visibility – ASPM provides insights into the security status of applications, while CSPM helps to evaluate the security of cloud structures. Combined, these tools equip the security teams with a more structured context of their environment to comprehensively target security threats.
- Automated Remediation – ASPM and CSPM can analyze and eliminate security risks and threats on their own. For instance, ASPM can prevent and rectify coding flaws throughout the development process. On the other hand, CSPM can address cloud misconfigurations as they occur. This also minimizes the workload of security teams and ensures maximum security without much intervention from the security department.
- Improved Compliance – Using both these types of solutions assists organizations in achieving compliance with the required standards of the applications and cloud infrastructure.
ASPM and CSPM each play a unique role in securing today’s digital environments, from the application layer to the cloud. Together, they form a powerful security foundation that helps organizations catch issues early on, expedite fixes and stay compliant.
By pairing ASPM with CSPM, security teams can keep threats in check more efficiently and enjoy a more confident security posture.
Learn more about the industry’s leading ASPM solution here.