Benefits of Hiring a Certified Security Tester for Your Security Testing Needs

Nowadays testers have to perform both functional and non-functional testing to assess all aspects of a software application effectively.  As a type of non-functional testing, security testing is performed to check if the application is vulnerable to security attacks and effective in protecting information and maintain functionality in case of malware attacks. But the testers need adequate skills, experience and domain expertise to effectively check if the application is 100% secure. Many enterprises prefer hiring certified security testing professionals to identify and eliminate critical security threats. A business can always reap a number of benefits by hiring a certified security tester.

5 Reasons Why Businesses Must Hire Certified Security Testers

1) Skill and Experience Level

Normally, security testing certifications can be divided into three broad categories, i.e., entry level, intermediate level, and expert level. Each tester must meet certain requirements to obtain the specific certification. For instance, the tester must know security principles, best practices, test automation tools, and latest technology to obtain entry-level security testing certification. Likewise, he must have adequate security testing knowledge and experience to obtain more advanced certifications. So you can easily determine the tester’s experience, expertise and domain knowledge based on the certification.

2) Comprehensive Training

Each tester further needs to go through a comprehensive credentialing process. As part of the process, he has to undergo a detailed training program that covers all aspects of software security features and testing. Also, the professional has to pass the final examination to obtain the cyber security certification. So the certification indicates that the tester has learned all aspect of security testing, and obtained the certification by clearing the final test. The training and knowledge make the certified security testers score over other software testing professionals.   

3) Up-to-Date Knowledge

 The tester is further required to renew the cyber security certification at regular intervals. Normally, the cyber security certification must be renewed every 3 to 4 years. The tester has to pass a current test to renew his credentials. So it becomes essential for testers to keep their knowledge up-to-date and earn education credits continuously to renew the security testing certification successfully. You can always expect the certified security testers to know the latest trends, tools and best practices in software security testing. 

4) Ability to think like a Hacker

Nowadays, programmers have to address security issues and threats without any delay. So the security testers have to collaborate with the developers consistently to get the security problems fixed as they occur. The certification helps testers to analyze the evolving security threats with the mindset of a hacker. They can further assess the security features of the application during development to eliminate security threats in future. The testers can further perform security tests during various phases of development to identify and eliminate the weaknesses that increases the application’s vulnerability to evolving security threats.

5) In-depth Understanding of Tools used by Cyber Criminals

Nowadays cyber criminals use a variety of advanced tools to attack software applications. The testers must be familiar with the tools used by hackers to effectively eliminate the security threats. The certification program will help testers to understand the tools and techniques used by programmers for criminal purposes. So they can easily identify the source of the security threat, and suggest the best way to eliminate the security threat or prevent the security attack.  They further need to keep track of the latest trends in security testing as part of the certification renewal process.

While outsourcing software testing, each business needs to check a testing service provider deploys certified security testers. It needs to ensure that the security testing is performed by a certified and experienced tester to enhance the software’s reliability and integrity by eliminating all security threats.

5 Top Sins to Avoid in Mobile Testing

Nowadays, the user experience delivered by a mobile app determines its popularity and profitability. While testing a mobile app, the testers need to identify and eliminate all bugs that affect the application’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). But testers have to identify and eliminate all defects in a mobile app within a shorter amount of time. That is why; it becomes essential for QA professionals to avoid a number of common but critical mobile app testing mistakes.

5 Mobile App Testing Mistakes Each Tester Must Avoid

1) Not Focusing on Mobile Experience

Many reports have highlighted that most users download mobile apps based on their looks rather than functionality. So the testers must focus on testing the app’s user interface (UI) thoroughly and repeatedly. It is also important for testers to allocate more testing time to UI than other functionality. They must evaluate the UI thoroughly to ensure that the mobile app looks plain and simple, while allowing users to find information or perform an action in a quicker and more convenient way. They can even check if the UI design can save users’ time by providing special features like one-click facility, automatic spelling checks, and infinite scrolling.

2) Ignoring Factors Affecting Cross Browser Compatibility

Each mobile app must deliver quality experience across many devices and browsers to keep the users engaged. But testers often fail to identify the factors that affect the cross browser compatibility of the application. While testing a mobile website, the professionals must try to find out the reason behind such UX bugs. Often the cross browser compatibility of a mobile app is affected due to use of specific scripting language, or add-ons or plug-ins. Likewise, the document object model (DOM) of the application may prevent it from performing seamlessly across many browsers. The testers can always use specialized tool to assess the app’s cross-browser compatibility more efficiently. 

3) Not Assessing Quality of Links

The quality of links will have a huge impact on the user experience of mobile web apps. But testers often forget to assess the quality of links while testing a mobile website. They must remember that there are a number of factors that can make a hyperlink outdated or broken. For instance, changes made to the website’s structure or external resources, any document or old web pages removed from the site, or any changes made to a URL can cause broken links. So the testers must identify the broken or outdated links, and report them along with the root cause. They can even consider using a variety of tools to identify the broken or outdated links more efficiently.

4) Inadequate Usability Testing

Nowadays, each app must deliver richer user experience to become profitable in the longer run. But often testers fail to perform adequate usability testing due to constraints related to time and resources. The inadequate usability testing can have a huge impact on the application’s user experience, hence its popularity and profitability. That is why; the mobile app testing strategy must focus extensively on usability testing. The testers can further use a variety of tools to identify and eliminate the bugs affecting the application’s user experience. Likewise, they must help developers to fix the UX bugs effectively by providing detailed and specific information about the defects.

5) Not Mixing Real Devices and Emulators Properly

The emulators make it easier for testers to assess the mobile app’s functionality and performance across a variety of devices without investing in many real devices. But the emulators cannot provide adequate information about how the app performs on a specific device or a particular carrier network. So the testers still need real devices to gather more relevant information about the application’s quality, performance and user experience. However, it is always important for the testers to maintain a proper balance between real devices and emulators in the testing environment. They can always consider combining the emulators with a load testing tool to assess how the application performs under various loads.

The testers must remember that various mobile apps cannot be tested by implementing a single testing strategy. It is always important for them to make and implement custom test plans according to the type, usage and functionality of the mobile app. The custom mobile app testing strategy will help them to avoid a number of fatal mistakes.