Security Testing | Everything You Need to Know from Myth to Facts

What is security testing, what’s the objective of doing it and how it’s gonna help us? What are the common vulnerabilities and how to work through with these typical flaws? From myth to facts, Here you will know about everything in process…

We will also cover security testing services.

All these aspects are very important, since every day on the Internet you can get more and more goods and services. Certain financial services no longer require a bank officer or office visit.

This is convenient, but in the event of a meeting with online scammers, it is difficult for the user to prove his case or return the money. To prevent this from happening, specialized IT companies conduct testing for security using sound methodologies.

Even familiar things like internet banking, online games, website accounts and e-mail can be subject to technical or human attacks.

Hackers can conduct automated attacks remotely in a delayed or programmed mode. A website or network can be hacked through a phishing attack (a malicious link in a letter supposedly from a chief or HR department) or a DDoS attack (imitation of an influx of visitors to a website, which cannot withstand its bandwidth).

The stolen data is not only a financial loss, but also a blow to the company’s reputation.

Definition of Security Testing

Security testing helps to identify vulnerabilities in the system, as well as the most likely external threats and risks.

Test objectives:

• Find all loopholes in the external and internal security system that a hacker can find;

• Prevent leakage of commercial information;

• Prevent loss of customer data.

Such measures will allow the company to maintain a good reputation in the future and not lose money.

Importance of Security Testing

In addition to identifying clear gaps in a company’s security system, testing allows you to assess the overall level of threat. It is advisable to perform complete testing of systems and networks, since excellent external protection does not guarantee the same high quality of internal protection and vice versa.

It is better to eliminate the found gaps in the code and security policy by joint efforts of testers and programmers from the security department.

Sometimes, in order to resolve all identified problems, it is necessary not only to make corrections to the code, but also to draw up new rules for employees.

Most common Vulnerabilities

To identify various flaws, experts use several types of security testing. The following customer security gaps are most commonly identified:

• Disadvantages of implementation (SQL, OS and LDAP);

• User authentication does not work correctly or an unverified user may connect in the middle of a session;

• Cross-site scripting (XSS);

• The network does not recognize unsafe links;

• Disclosure of customer data or trade secrets;

• Lack of access control in real time (if a hacker is found, his actions still cannot be resisted);

• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF);

• Using network components that contain vulnerable parts without trying to correct the deficiencies.

See More: Do you see ISP bandwidth throttling while using your internet connection or want to increase your speed, here are possible methods to bypass ISP bandwidth throttling.

Scheme of working with typical flaws

The specialist selects the stages of checking the security system based on the wishes of the customer.

However, there is a general structure that is recommended to be followed:

1. First you need to assess the security risks, taking into account the information provided by the client. The customer may already be aware of some problems. A tester, based on experience, can also make assumptions in advance.

In addition to identifying potential risks, you need to determine what will happen if each of the negative scenarios works. All this helps to choose the best testing methods.

2. Checking the network for the possibility of security failures. Scanning is carried out in automatic mode.

3. Analyze the results obtained at the previous stage. The specialist identifies the reasons that led to the emergence of vulnerabilities.

4. The tester is looking for patterns that repeatedly cause failures or failures in the security system in certain areas (a specific module or code may require improvement).

5. After bugs are fixed, regression testing is performed to make sure that the corrected code does not provoke other application or program bugs.

6. It is necessary to study the achieved results once again based on the testing conditions: network load, number of requests to the database, number of password resets.

This technique allows you to determine the boundaries of each metric and identify sensitive areas (DDoS, SQL, password cracking using the method of automated selection of characters and combinations).

Security testing should be carried out not only at the start of a business or when expanding and opening new branches. Leaders should make it a rule to periodically review the security policy and test the system. This must be done because technology is constantly evolving, and hackers are finding new ways to get valuable data.

Security testing myths and facts:

• Small business owners believe that their data is not of interest to fraudsters. In practice, it turns out that a hacker who could not break through the protection of a large corporation breaks into at least someone. This company can be yours.

The only exception would be a firm that only uses its site as static advertising. If customer data, cash flows, ordering or messaging do not pass through the site, then security testing can be skipped.

• Some business leaders believe that security testing is just an expense. In fact, testing often finds more than just security gaps.

A tester can help improve the efficiency of business processes, minimize downtime, and improve corporate network bandwidth. All these measures in the future will help to significantly save the company’s budget.

• Some business owners are used to think that any connection to the Internet poses a threat to sensitive data. These clients often assume that a huge investment in the latest hardware and software is 100% tamper-proof.

In both cases, it is best to first test your existing security system and configure it. After carefully crafting your security policy, it makes sense to invest in hardware (but after consulting a third-party security specialist and multi-step testing).

Final Words:

If you have gone through the whole article, you might understand the need of security testing before launching of any website, app, software etc. Not only in initial time, Security testing is on going process and must be done from time to time so that your app, your website, your software remain compatible with the latest updates, latest version or on multiple device.

Today, not only security tester or penetration tester needs to perform their testing but if you are keen interested into reading about security, go through the article entitled “The World Needs Its Cybersecurity Specialists | Take The Call”.