Security Testing is not Optional, it’s Mandatory. Here’s Why.

While cybercrime has been prevalent worldwide for years now, it has seen a significant spike since 2020. This is because, when the pandemic hit, many businesses were still in their early stages of digital transformation and their assets, networks and channels were still not completely secure. This gave ample room for security breaches. Take these statistics for instance. A report says that cybercrime, including embezzlement and data hacking increased 600% since the pandemic began. And, in 2022, data breaches cost businesses around USD 4.35 million, up from USD 4.24 million in 2021. 

While we are well past the pandemic era, it’s safe to say that the business landscape has evolved to such an extent that the constant digital disruption is still leaving ample room for cybercrime to take place. For example, one of the digital trends that businesses are having to capitalise on now is using low-code technology to rapidly develop and deploy applications that meet customer needs.  

Traditionally, app development and deployment would take anywhere from 3-6 months, and the process would involve developing an app first, and then testing it in different environments and securing it. But today, following traditional methods could mean loss of revenue and competitive advantage for businesses. So, they’re having to rely on newer technologies like low-code.  

While low-code does offer a number of advantages like ready-to-use blocks, and faster development and deployment, it does pose a significant security risk because of low-code abstraction. So, it is all the more important for businesses to employ methods to secure the app and its data at every stage of development.  

While low-code is just one example, using technologies like AI, ML and IoT, which typically collect, store and analyse terabytes of data, is also making it all the more important for businesses to secure their assets at every step along the way.  

So, even after reading all this, if you’re running a business (big or small) and you feel that security is not a primary concern, you ought to think again. If you’re pro-security testing, let’s look further into what it is, why it’s important and how you can implement it. 

The 6 Pillars of Security Testing 

Security testing is the process of testing and securing every layer of an application like infrastructure, database, network and channels, to identify weaknesses in the applications and to ensure its proper functioning.  

Security testing typically takes place during the production stage, before the app is deployed. It is important to do test security because it ensures that the app is resilient to any potential attacks or threats once it is deployed. 

There are various elements to security testing, like; 

Confidentiality 

Let’s say your business operates in the banking or healthcare sector. While securing any data is a primary responsibility of the business (which is collecting it), it is all the more important for businesses operating in these sectors to ensure that customer or business data is not exposed under any circumstances. So, one of the first principles of security testing is to ensure data confidentiality. 

Integrity 

This refers to the aspect of testing which ensures that the data is not modified by any unauthorised personnel, or modified without consent or valid reasoning. 

Authentication 

As the word suggests, authenticity is the process of ensuring that a piece of information or data is true and verifiable.  

Availability 

Ensuring that data is available when you need to access it. Usually, during a security breach, data can be compromised and it can result in app malfunctioning or downtime. For these reasons, it is always recommended that a business develops a data availability plan. 

Authorisation 

This, in other words, means managing identity and access management. Businesses need to clearly define who will have access to which data for what periods of time. This will ensure that the data is secure, not exposed to risk, and not modified unintentionally by unauthorised personnel. 

Non-Repudiation 

This is a process to verify any piece of information or action taken by a user. For example, if a customer has made a payment for produce, non-repudiation here is a process that ensures that the transaction is valid and is not, in fact, a fraudulent transaction. 

Types of Security Testing 

Businesses can either perform security testing manually or using automated testing tools like Invicti, Wapiti and Snyk. Having said that, there are seven types of testing involved. 

Vulnerability Scanning 

This is an automated test that identifies any weaknesses in security, network and applications. It also estimates how effective the counter measures to threats will be in the event of an attack. There are three types of vulnerability scans; internal, external and environmental.  

Security Auditing 

As the word suggests, security auditing is the process of auditing how secure a company’s information and data assets are. The audit usually takes place with the system evaluating security based on industry-laid criteria and security standards. 

Penetration Testing 

In a penetration test, a cyber-attack is simulated to expose weaknesses on the technical and infrastructure front. On the technical front, penetration testing identifies technical vulnerabilities, and on the infrastructure front, the test exposes weaknesses in firewalls, hardware, servers and the like. 

Risk Assessment 

This involves identifying and categorising parts of the application that are most critical to least critical and developing test plans to assess the impact and level of security existing for each part of the app. There are various aspects covered in risk assessment, like performance, reliability, functionality and so on. 

Ethical Hacking 

In this process, ethical hackers identify potential weaknesses in an application, hack it and report it to the team, so that it can be addressed and fixed.  

Posture Assessment 

This gives a broad view into how secure an organisation’s information security system is, which areas are more vulnerable to risk, and how they can be made more secure. 

A Test Automation Expert at Merit says, “Without the right test automation framework, it would be impossible to run exhaustive tests. Also, it is important to understand that from a cybersecurity perspective, there are new kinds of threats that are unleased often. Therefore, security testing teams must be proactive and dynamic, and planning defences must be an ongoing process. There’s no time to relax and say we’re done!”  

Merit’s Expertise in Software Test Automation  

Merit is a trusted QA and Test Automation services providers that enables quicker deployment of new software or upgrades.  

Reliable QA solutions and agile test automation is imperative for software development teams to enable quicker releases. We ensure compatibility and contention testing that covers all target devices, infrastructures and networks.  

Merit’s innovative testing solutions help clients confidently deploy their solutions, guaranteeing the prevention of defects at early stages. 

To know more, visit: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/service/code/software-test-automation/