Security Testing - The Challenges Faced by Testers

With the advancement of technology it has provided us with many benefits as well as helped us to lead a life of luxury and ease. It has also helped in diminishing the distance between the people and increased chances of communication. However, like all good things, this advancement too has certain negativities which are majorly looming up on us like the security threats that are becoming stronger and stronger. This makes security testing very important in the current days.

1. Very Frequent Changes: With the ever increasing demands of the customers, the developers have to bring about frequent updates and changes in the application they are developing. This has to be combined with the regular testing of the software to check if the security is top notch even after the changes that have been brought about. Previously testing needed to be done on the alpha and the final product, but this frequent testing poses to be a real challenge. These changes make all year round testing compulsory.
2. Too Many Pages: With the development of better and more detailed applications, contents which require testing also increases. This in turn increases the time required for testing these detailed applications. Automation tools may ease this challenge faced by the testers but it only accounts for certain vulnerabilities of the applications the rest of which has to be detected by manual process in order to be rectified. This challenge can be somewhat avoided by keeping special focus on the various threats which appears again and again on the application which may help in cutting down the cost of the whole security testing process and ease the challenges.
3.  Lots of Privilege Levels: Prevention of privilege escalation via holes in the application is one of the major jobs of the security testing process. With the increase of privileges provided to the customers the number of security tests applicable to the applications automatically increases. Increased number of tests will result in increased time invested as well as increase focus for each of the application which becomes a major issue for the testers. The problem intensifies when the automated tools fails to find the holes which further escalates the already provided privileges and time consuming manual testing procedures are required for it.
4. A Lot of Ajax: Introduction of Ajax poses to be a serious security threat in the current days. Ajax enables the users of the various applications to request for various little changes in the same. Each of these various little requests allows tempering of the available security changes as these changes could bring about various kinds of cracks in the system. This leads to constant security testing of application by the testers. Another major problem is the fact that although these problems may be related to the old school ones, tools for Ajax security testing are still developing.
5. Tools Haven’t Matured: The most prevalent challenge which is faced by the testers during security testing of the application is the lack of tools which will be capable of performing automated security tests on the applications that are being developed. The automated tools which are available are only partially capable of detecting the security breaches or loopholes present on the application. This compels the testers to perform the various security tests by the old school manual testing process which requires more labor as well as greater amount of time for the completion and detection of flaws.

These are some of the major challenges that the testers are facing when it comes to security testing of the various software. 

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.

Factors Behind the Rise in Web App Security Testing

When you are set to creating a web based application, you need to make sure that the application is completely full proof in terms of security. The smallest loopholes will be used by the hackers to enter and access the database of the web application. With advanced technologies, the hackers are becoming more potent which has caused a rise in the web app security testing.

1.    Invalidated Input: In most cases the information fed to the web applications is often not validated. This makes the information vulnerable to the attack of the hackers and this calls for increased security testing parameters for the web based apps that are being used.
2.     Broken Access Control: In most of the web applications that are developed, the amount of work that an authenticated user may do in the so called software is not well defined. This provides the hackers with an opportunity to breach the security system of the applications.
3.     Broken Authentication and Session Management: These are some of the top factors which are used by hackers to breach the security system and are exactly why the web app security testing is very important. Passwords, keys, session cookies are some of the factors which the hackers compromises in order to enter the system.
4.     Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Flaws: Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Flaws refers to the system by which the hackers’ breaks into the particular web based application in order to enter the system of the end user where in they can create spoof content to fool the users or access the database of the user.
5.     Buffer Overflows: Web applications can be crashed into due to the fact that some of the languages in which he code of the application has been written do not get validated prominently leaving the system open to attack by the hackers. CGI, libraries, drivers are some of the components that are included.
6.    Injection Flaws: As far as local operating systems or external systems are concerned, web applications often pass parameters which can be breached by the various hackers by injecting their own commands into these passes which will be executed by the external system on behalf of the web applications.
7.       Improper Error Handling: Mishandling of the web application often leaves it vulnerable to the attack of the hackers. If the hacker can insert a system which is not properly handled by the application, then it may lead to the release of vital information from the database of the software under considerations.
8.       Insecure Storage: In order to store and protect the client information, the web application often uses cryptographic functions. These functions are rather difficult to create and integrate with the other codes of the web application which often reduces the software protection process leaving it open to the attack of the hackers.
9.     Denial of Service: An advanced hacker who is a pro at his job is apt enough to crack into a system to an extent where the real user can no longer gain access into the system. This causes the web application to fail.
10.       Insecure Configuration Management: In order to ensure a strong security system for your web applications, you need to have a strong server on which the web application is based. When your server is weak it often leaves your web application open to various attacks by the hackers which cause security breaches.

These are some of the major factors as to why there is a sudden rise in the web app security testing in the current era.