Enhancing Project Security with HCL AppScan’s Visual Studio Plugin

With more security breaches happening, it's more important than ever to make sure your code is secure from the start. One of the best ways to do this is by adding security vulnerability scanning directly into your development process.

For Visual Studio users, HCL AppScan provides a powerful plugin that helps you achieve this seamlessly. Available on the Visual Studio Marketplace, this plugin allows you to scan your projects for any security vulnerabilities, ensuring that security is baked right into your development process. In this article, we’ll delve into the technical features of this plugin and how you can use it to safeguard your projects.

Why Use a Security Scanning Plugin?

Security vulnerabilities in your code can arise from various sources: insecure code practices, outdated libraries, dependencies or even simple coding errors. If undetected, these vulnerabilities can expose your application to various attacks such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and remote code execution.

The Visual Studio plugin helps you:

• Identify potential security risks in your code.
• Scan for vulnerabilities in third-party dependencies.
• Provide remediation guidance for fixing identified issues.
• Manage issues within Visual Studio itself.

With this tool, you can ensure your code is secure before deployment, minimizing the risk of vulnerabilities reaching production environments.

Plugin Highlights

This HCL AppScan’s Visual Studio plugin integrates directly into your IDE, enabling seamless scanning of your projects for security vulnerabilities. Here are some of its standout features:

1 - Automatic security scanning: Automatically scan your project when you write code or build the project. As soon as you save your code files, the plugin starts analyzing them for vulnerabilities and shares the findings.

2 - Creating a security scan: Start a security scan directly from Visual Studio, enabling seamless integration with HCL AppScan on Cloud and HCL AppScan 360° for managing vulnerabilities.

3 - Dependency scanning: With this plugin, you can analyze third-party dependencies in your project to see if they have any security issues. You can then fix these security issues by removing or upgrading the vulnerable dependencies.

4 - Real-time feedback: Get real-time feedback as you code, highlighting areas that are vulnerable to security risks. You’ll receive a detailed report with the severity level and recommended fixes.

5 - Remediation suggestions: Alongside identifying vulnerabilities, this plugin suggests actionable remediation steps, helping developers quickly fix security flaws without leaving the IDE.

6 - Customizable rules: Configure the plugin to adhere to your organization’s specific security policies by customizing the scanning rules and adding additional security checks.

Setting Up the Plugin

Installing and configuring the plugin in Visual Studio is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Prerequisites:

To do a comprehensive scanning of your projects, you’ll need an account with HCL AppScan on Cloud or HCL AppScan 360°. This is a paid service, however you can always start for free with HCL AppScan’s Free trial available here.

For this tutorial we will use HCL AppScan on Cloud but the same steps can be used for HCL AppScan 360°as well.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

1 - Open Visual Studio and navigate to Extensions > Manage Extensions.

2 - In the search bar, type “HCL AppScan”

3 - Once located, click Install and restart Visual Studio to complete the installation.

Step 2: Configure Plugin Settings

After installation, the plugin needs to be configured to scan your projects effectively.

1. Navigate to Tools > Options.

2. Find the HCL AppScan section in the left panel.

3. Here navigate to Login and enter your HCL AppScan on Cloud or HCL AppScan 360° credentials.

Next up, you can configure how you want to run your scan.

Step 3: Run a Security Scan

With the plugin installed and configured, you can now run your first security scan.

Open your project in Visual Studio. From the Solution Explorer, right-click your solution or project and select “Initiate Security Scan”.

Now the Visual Studio plugin will analyze the projects. You can monitor the progress bar at the bottom of the plugin for updates. You’ll receive a notification once your scan is complete.

Step 4: Analyze Results

Once the scan is complete, you’ll receive a detailed security report. Visual Studio will highlight:

1 - Vulnerable code segments

2 - Scans segregated based on scan types

3 - The severity level of each vulnerability (low, medium, high)

4 - Recommended actions to fix the vulnerabilities

This report is displayed directly within the IDE, allowing developers to quickly jump to the vulnerable sections of the code and apply fixes.

Now you can simply click on the scan, then navigate to the issue you’d like to fix. This will open the code section where the security vulnerability is located.

Best Practices for Using the Plugin

To get the most out of this Visual Studio plugin, simply follow these best practices:

1 - Scan regularly: Use the plugin to scan your projects regularly (e.g., during each QA cycle) to identify vulnerabilities at an early stage.

2 - Monitor dependencies: Always keep third-party libraries up to date, as outdated dependencies are a common source of vulnerabilities.

3 - Review reports: Regularly review security reports, especially before merging code into the main branch or releasing software.

4 - Customize rules: Modify the scanning rules to match your organization’s security policies, ensuring that the plugin checks for issues relevant to your industry.

5 - Stay updated: Keep the plugin updated with the latest security patches and features to ensure optimal performance and protection.

With new security threats evolving every day, it’s crucial to have robust security measures in place from the start of the development process. HCL AppScan’s Visual Studio plugin is a powerful tool that helps developers identify and fix security vulnerabilities in their code, right from the IDE. By integrating this plugin into your development workflow, you can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches and ensure that your software is safe for users. Whether you’re a solo developer or part of a large team, utilizing this plugin will give you peace of mind that your projects are secure. 

Head over to the Visual Studio Marketplace to learn more about this plugin and start securing your projects today! 

Visit the HCL AppScan website for information on all of our fast, accurate and agile application security testing solutions.