Dynatrace Application Security Module Will Block Attacks Such as Log4Shell

The Dynatrace Application Security Module will soon automatically detect and block attacks such as Log4Shell. Dynatrace’s upgrade, which it revealed Thursday, is among four announcements the company made at its Dynatrace Perform partner and customer event.

During the online conference, Dynatrace also launched a DevSecOps Automation Alliance Partner Program. In addition, the company announced multicloud monitoring of serverless architectures with support for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud functions. Furthermore, Dynatrace said it plans to provide its AIOps capabilities to software developers as code.

Dynatrace, a provider of cloud-based AIOps services, competes with Cisco’s App Dynamics, Datadog and New Relic, among others. Since its IPO in 2019, Dynatrace has expanded its application performance and observability platform.

The company expanded its focus on DevSecOps in late 2020 when it launched the Application Security Module. It is designed to discover vulnerabilities in cloud-native and container-based software that could enable injection attacks. The planned update will automatically block those attacks in real time.

Log4Shell

When Log4Shell surfaced late last year, Dynatrace officials emphasized that its Application Security Module was able to quickly detect attempts to exploit the Log4Shell vulnerability. Rick McConnell, making his first appearance as Dynatrace’s new CEO, said during the opening keynote session at the Perform that the Dynatrace Application Security Module detected the Log4Shell vulnerabilities within minutes.

Dynatrace’s Rick McConnell

“Not only did we detect all instances of the vulnerability across highly distributed, multicloud environments, but through our AI engine, as well as our associated understanding of the topology and transaction patterns in our customers environments,” McConnell said. “We help our customers prioritize application updates and mitigation strategies. Customers using alternative tools had to go through the painful and largely manual process of upgrading their agents and restarting their applications to mitigate Log4Shell.”

Dynatrace partner Rick Sullivan, general manager of DXC Technology, said he welcomes the company’s expanded focus on application security.

“Speeds and feeds and new technology introduction increases the potential on the risks, vulnerabilities and threat vectors,” Sullivan said.

DXC’s Rick Sullivan

“It cannot just be that we do gates of security checks, but inherently and organically software must be developed securely, and then released and managed securely, where we’ve got controls and observability tied in like we would handle any other defect or risk of vulnerability,” Sullivan added.

DevSecOps Automation Alliance Partner Program

Building on its application security focus, Dynatrace launched its DevSecOps Automation Alliance Partner Program. The program aims to make it easier for alliance partners to integrate the DevSecOps capabilities of their offerings with the Dynatrace platform.

More than a dozen solutions are now integrated with its platform, according to Dynatrace. Those include …