Fortify on Demand Reviews

We are using Fortify on Demand as a static code analyzer. As it scans each application, it checks each line of code. When we are developing mobile applications there might be some kind of security vulnerability. One example is a check to see if information that is being transferred is not encrypted because this would be vulnerable to hackers who are trying to break into the system. We also look at whether were are using the network transport layer security.

Our overall goal at this time is to protect our mobile app because it is one of the ways that hackers can break into the system. 

Fortify on Demand is easy to use and the reporting is good.

As for the static code analysis functionality, it is doing the job that it is supposed to do. 

This solution cannot do dynamic application security testing. It needs to be able to simulate a situation where a hacker is trying to break into the system.

The vulnerability analysis does not always provide guidelines for what the developer should do in order to correct the problem, which means that the code has to be manually inspected and understood. Adding more information to provide a better analysis would be an improvement.

This solution would benefit from having more customization available for the reports. 

We have been evaluating Fortify on Demand for close to a year.

Fortify on Demand has been stable from what I have seen. We have not had any problem with the reports, and we have not seen any instability or glitches.

In our trial, there are seven or eight applications that are relying on this solution. Different departments in our company have their own technology centers in different locations, and I am not aware of what the other departments are doing.

I have not interacted with the Fortify on Demand technical support team directly. Our own infrastructure support is the group that would deal with them. My team only communicates with our internal support.

We did not use another solution prior to starting our evaluation that includes Fortify on Demand. People were relying on some open-source static code analyzers. However, I don't think that it was very reliable.

My understanding is the this is not a difficult solution to manage and maintain.

Our server infrastructure team handles the deployment and maintenance of this solution. They update it regularly as patches or new versions are released. They look into all of the tools that we use and perform the installation, as well as manage them.

We are currently using WebInspect but it does not satisfy all of our requirements. We are continuing to research other tools from other vendors, including open-source technologies. We have not fully decided yet. Before deciding on any product or vendor, we have to look at the whole cost of procuring the product license, as well as the recurring cost.

Fortify on Demand is a product that I recommend but the suitability of this solution depends on exactly what the requirements are. Every product has a unique feature as well as limitations with respect to what it can and can not do. What it comes down to is how the application is built, as well as the technology stack. The licensing costs are also something that needs to be considered.

Overall, it is a very good tool and it works well for what it is designed for. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We use it for externally exposed applications that we want to scan before releasing them to production. As you can imagine, it's important to make sure they're secure and that we will not be exposed. For internal apps, we use other static code scanning, primarily SonarQube. But Fortify on Demand is for externally exposed applications.

Because of the kind of products we deal with, and the kind of customers we have, we have really specific security requirements and practices we need to follow, specifically applying to our SDLC. Our SDLC dictates that we have security scanning, and that improves our code quality. Thankfully, we have never had any kind of serious security flaw or any kind of deviation of the process. We can certainly account for that because of the security tools and analysis that we have prior to moving code to production.

One of the valuable features is the ability to submit your code and have it run in the background. Then, if something comes up that is more specific, you have the security analyst who can jump in and help, if needed. I think that's really useful.

It's still a little bit too complex for regular developers. It takes a little bit more time than usual. I know static code scan is not the main focus of the tool, but the overall time span to scan the code, and even to set up the code scanning, is a bit overwhelming for regular developers. That's one of the reasons we don't use it throughout the company and for all our applications, only for the ones we judge to be most important.

Also, if you have a continuous integration in place, for example, and you want it to run along with your build and you want it to be fast, you're not going to get it. It adds to your development time. 

And it's too expensive to afford to run it for every application all the time. That's certainly something that requires improvement.

I haven't really encountered any issues with stability.

No issues with scalability. It has been able to handle all our workload so far.

Our experience with tech support has been good. We haven't needed support that much but whatever we needed we were able to find on their website. There were a couple of things regarding the licensing and payment that we had to get some help with. But it was quick and easy.

We didn't have a previous solution. We researched a couple of the tools, but we ended up using Fortify because of the comprehensive scans they have, and mainly because they are focused on the kind of apps that we have and the kind of requirements we have. They are able to cover most of the standards and practices that we need to adhere to.

The initial setup was straightforward. We had onsite training from HPE to help set up the local environment and first scans, and that was helpful.

The subscription model, on a per-scan basis, is a bit expensive. That's another reason we are not using it for all the apps. That subscription model is probably something that needs improvement.

We looked at CheckMarkx and SonarQube Enterprise. As I said, we are currently using SonarQube for other apps, but we use the open-source version. We tried to use the Enterprise version but it didn't cover all the aspects that we needed it to cover.

Understand what you want to get out of it and be sure to fully understand what you will be paying per scan if you go for the subscription model. As I said, having to scan hundreds or thousands of apps using that subscription model and doing that several times a week, or several times a day, may increase your costs. That might be something that you need to look at.

I rate it at nine out of 10. It's not a 10 because of the cost model, it's a bit pricey, and the slowness, it could be a little bit faster. I understand the reasons why but you just need to be aware before you start using it that the local scan won't be as fast as the static code scan.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is used for detecting vulnerabilities in code, looking at libraries, and finding where there are vulnerabilities within unpatched code.

The most valuable feature of Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is the information it can provide. There is quite a lot of information. It can pinpoint right down to where the problem is, allowing you to know where to fix it. Overall the features are easy to use, you don't have to be a coder. You can be a manager, or in IT operations, et cetera, anyone can use it. It is quite a well-rounded functional solution.

The allocations to different members of a team are good. If you find a problem, you can delegate the task to patch the particular code.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand could improve the user interface by making it more user-friendly.

I have been using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand for approximately two years.

I have found Micro Focus Fortify on Demand stable.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is a scalable solution.

We have several customers using this solution. There are approximately 1,000 developers using the solution.

The support from Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is great. They have been very good to answer our questions. They have their own Fortify on Demand team and they will help you resolve your problems.

The initial setup is straightforward. 

The installation can take a couple of hours depending on what the deployment is, such as, on cloud or on-premise. Additionally, the size of the code that will be put on the system can impact the time, but it does not take long. 

We did the implementation ourselves. I was able to use YouTube to help me with the process, there's quite a lot of information on there with Micro Focus going through tutorials on how to use the solution. 

The pricing model it's based on how many applications you wish to scan.

I have evaluated other solutions, such as Contrast Security.

I would recommend Micro Focus Fortify on Demand to others.

I rate Micro Focus Fortify on Demand a seven out of ten.

The reason why I've rated the solution a seven is because there are other solutions, such as Contrast Security which are further developing in IS, and some better technology with current scalability or in the security software area.

We create technology solutions for clients and on one project we were requested to use Fortify on Demand after the client had read a good report about it. They sent us the report and recommended its use.

In this case, we were using Java to program the client's solution and so we used Fortify on Demand alongside our Java development operations, for the purpose of improving the application's security.

The work we were doing for the client involved creating a billing system that they would use to manage payments and taxes for other companies in Chile. We've only used Fortify on Demand for this one client so far. 

Because Fortify on Demand was so new to us, we decided to go with the trial version first and figure out the costing at a later stage.

Fortify on Demand has helped us more easily ensure the security of our client's application, which works with sensitive information such as payments and taxation. Without it, we would have to spend much more time finding hidden weaknesses in our code.

One of the top features is the source code review for vulnerabilities. When we look at source code, it's hard to see where areas may be weak in terms of security, and Fortify on Demand's source code review helps with that.

Another reason I like Fortify on Demand is because our code often includes open source libraries, and it's important to know when the library is outdated or if it has any known vulnerabilities in it. This information is important to us when we're developing our solutions and Fortify on Demand informs us when it detects any vulnerable open source libraries.

During development, when our developer makes changes to their code, they typically use GitHub or GitLab to track those changes. However, proper integration between Fortify on Demand and GitHub and GitLab is not there yet. Improved integration would be very valuable to us.

Similarly, I would love to see some kind of tracing solution for use in stress testing. So when we stress the application on a certain page or on a certain platform, we would be able to see a complete stress test report which could quickly tell us about weak points or failures in the application. 

Further potential for improvement is that, when we deploy our Java WAR files for review in the QA area, we want to be able to create a report in Fortify on Demand right from within this deployment stage. So it might inspect or check the solution's Java WAR package directly and come up with a report in this crucial phase of QA. 

I have been using Fortify on Demand for about a month or so. 

Overall, we have not had any issues with stability, although we have not used it for very long.

We have had no problems with scalability in our current use case, which is only one client at the moment. As a cloud service, it has satisfied our requirements well and we haven't had any situations where scalability is an issue.

When we sent a question about the product to their support team, we had to wait a while but they did send us a response eventually. I think that they could work on reacting faster to support questions.

We have also tried SonarQube, but Fortify on Demand appealed to us more due to their source code review with emphasis on open source vulnerabilities. Fortify seems stronger in that aspect and we like to use many open source libraries in our work. 

The setup is easy and it only takes about 30 minutes to perform a basic code review in Java when dealing with WAR files.

It can get more complicated when you want to fine-tune the reporting interface to give only the details that you want to see. This is because the initial configuration depends on other variables like the scope of the review, the client's preferences, the technician's preferences, and other factors.

When it comes to launching Fortify on Demand and connecting it to our codebase, it's quite easy. Getting quick reviews done on WAR files is a relatively simple procedure.

Our company implements Fortify on Demand ourselves on behalf of our client. When the client requests any changes, we then implement it for them.

We are still using the trial version at this point but I can already see from the trial version alone that it is a good product. For others, I would say that Fortify on Demand might look expensive at the beginning, but it is very powerful and so you shouldn't be put off by the price.

In our case, we are constrained by the client's budget, but others might find that the price is not too bad. It all depends on the budget.

For us, Fortify on Demand is a good quality product that I can recommend for a few reasons, including:

• Very useful source code review and vulnerability detection.
  

• Clear and easy-to-read test results and reports.
  

• Good integration with other platforms during development.
  

I would rate Fortify on Demand a nine out of ten.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.

We are mainly using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand for security.

While using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand we have been very happy with the results and findings.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand could improve the reports. They could benefit from being more user-friendly and intuitive.

I have been using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand for approximately five years.

The stability of Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is good. I did not face any problems. If we had 100 products then we would have many teams using it.

We have some expansion plans and once that falls in place may increase the number of users using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand is scalable. Our product team was using the solution but not all of them

We did not need to contact support because we did not have any problems.

We have used many different solutions five years ago.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand was implemented and managed by our IT team.

Micro Focus Fortify on Demand licenses are managed by our IT team and the license model is user-based.

I would recommend the solution to others.

I rate Micro Focus Fortify on Demand a nine out of ten.

Security defects are captured early in the lifecycle and fixed quicker. Usage of Fortify has made developers more aware about security vulnerabilities and their consequences, as well as various secure programming practices.

• Scan wizard: for configuring large scans
• Audit workbench: for on-the-fly defect auditing
• CLI: to integrate the tool into CI/CD

.NET code scanning is still dependent on building the code base before running any scan. Also, it's dependent on an IDE such as Visual Studio.

More conventional reporting formats need to be provided.

Also, a provision should be available to generate customized reports.

For code bases heavy on JavaScript, the static scan takes a long time (as long as two days). Even then, the scan crashes at times. Increasing system memory doesn't seem to improve the situation (tried with 16/32 GB system memory).

It requires a high-end system with 8/16/32 GB RAM for stable performance.

I haven't reached out to HP Support so far.

I did not previously use any product for static application security.

Initial setup is quite easy.

Buying a license would be feasible for regular use. For intermittent use, the cloud-based option can be used (Fortify on Demand).

Before choosing this product, we evaluated Veracode and Checkmarx (among licensed), and FindBugs and Yasca (among free).

If you are already using HPE tools and services such as ALM, then Fortify is a good option, as it provides out-of-the-box support for these. Scanning capability-wise, the tool is decent enough, and is also easy to use. However, it generates a large number of false positives after a scan, which can be tedious to verify manually.

We have an application sending service that we are providing to our customers and we are using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand to ensure our applications are secure. 

The most valuable features are the server, scanning, and it has helped identify issues with the security analysis.

We typically do our bulk uploads of our scans with some automation at the end of the development cycle but the scanning can take a lot of time. If you were doing all of it at regular intervals it would still consume a lot of time. This could procedure could improve.

We are receiving false positives. We then have to repeat the scan even though it is a false positive and tell it to ignore some of those issues. Some of the false positives could be a design issue which we will know, but they keep coming up on the report.

I have found the processes a bit cumbersome for the developers.

I have been using this solution for approximately eight years.

I did not have any problems with the stability of this solution.

The scalability is good.

We did have some issues but we did not contact the technical support of Micro Focus.

The initial setup was a medium effort, not too complex. However, the bulk scan uploads took time. Overall it took an average amount of time and it was easy to integrate and work with.

The solution is a little expensive.

I rate Micro Focus Fortify on Demand a six out of ten.

I have been using this solution to gain some perspective from different architectures for the security team. I do not use it every day. I do have an overview and it is integrated with our development platform.

I do work for our governance team, so whenever a project is coming I will review products. I need to connect with the project managers for testing them, and these tests include the vulnerability assessment along with other security efforts. One of the things that I suggest is using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand.

The primary use case is core scanning for different vulnerabilities, based on standards. It beings with an architect who designs a model on a security-risk advisor platform. Then you have an idea of what the obstacles are. Once the code is scanned according to standards, you figure out where the gaps are. The team then suggests what needs to be done to the code to fix the vulnerabilities. The process repeats after the code is fixed until all of the vulnerabilities have been eliminated.

When you take all of these things together, it is Security by design.

The most valuable feature is that it connects with your development platforms, such as Microsoft Information Server and Jira. When a vulnerability is found then it is classified as a bug and sent to IT.

This solution would be improved if the code-quality perspective were added to it, on top of the security aspect. It would rate performance and other things. This is one of the reasons that people are interested in SonarQube. This would make it a more complete and unique platform that would be a great player in the industry.

We have been using Micro Focus Fortify on Demand over the past four years.

This is a very stable solution. Once it is deployed there are not a lot of challenges.

This platform is very much scalable in terms of integrating with other solutions.

We have about 600 developers, but I think that we have between 300 and 400 who using Fortify on Demand.

I have not been in touch with technical support from the vendor.

Our technical support team is comprised of three people. Two of them help to demonstrate the product and instruct people on how it works. The other one is connected to the development team and can help with troubleshooting issues.

We also use WebInspect, SonarQube, and other security tools in addition to this solution. The use of particular tools depends on the project and the project manager that I speak with.

Prior to working with Fortify on Demand, we worked using the code analysis capability in Microsoft Visual Studio. That is where you have things like the recommended best practices for .NET. It flags what lools like bugs.

The initial setup was quite simple.

I performed the deployment a couple of times on different platforms and it did not take much effort to set up. I also did the integration with other platforms like Microsoft Information Server and it was quite easy. You just need to know the platform that you are integrating into.

When it came time to deploy, I just had to run through the documentation on the vendor's web site. I spent one day reading it and one the second day, I did my integration. It took about eight hours that day, and I had challenges but they came from the platform that I was integrating into, like Microsoft Information Server. There were things to be done, such as converting XML files. The next day I was able to fix the problems, so in total it took me between nine and twelve hours to integrate it.

The second time that I deployed this solution it took me not more than two or three hours to repeat all of these same steps.

I had one person from Fortify to assist me with the deployment and integration with Microsoft Information Server. We also had some peers working with us. For example, I had the global head of security assurance working with me. Between us, we got everything working.

We did not evaluate other vendors beyond the solutions that we are using.

My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is to first get buy-in from the entire organization about adopting a culture of Security by design. Fortify on Demand can scan your code, but you need to have plans in place for what needs to be done when problems are identified. It may mean that things will have to change with regards to how code is being written. It may also require integration with other platforms. You can't just start scanning without first understanding what the security architecture is. You need to understand the vulnerabilities and all of the standards, as well. Essentially, I would recommend a security design overhaul.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.