Why is Security Testing critical in your application testing strategy?

The role of software applications has become critical in today’s digital ecosystem. They help us communicate, interact, and carry out myriad activities, be it in the personal or professional sphere. Moreover, the complexities and challenges associated with such applications have grown manifold thanks to the advent of cutting edge technologies. These include Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), Predictive Analysis, Blockchain, Big Data, and Cloud Computing among others. Undoubtedly, these applications have given ease, connectivity, and convenience an altogether new meaning. In fact, activities that were in the realm of imagination in the not so distant past have become commonplace now.

Does this mean everything is hunky dory and everyone should go about their business nonchalantly? The answer is NO, for with the advent of technology, there comes a challenge in the form of cyber threats. Since these applications contain personal and business critical information, any loophole or vulnerability can be exploited by cyber criminals. The growing incidences of cybercrime the world over are a testimony to this menace. If we go by statistics, then cybercrime is said to result in a loss of $600 billion (or 1% of the global GDP) annually (Source: McAfee and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.)

In view of the above, the traditional approach towards ensuring the quality of an application has necessitated the inclusion of security testing in the SDLC. The cost of overlooking the security loopholes by businesses and individuals can lead to losing customer trust, brand reputation, or/and face crippling financial damages. Moreover, businesses have to ensure that the software applications developed and run by them adhere to the international security protocols and regulations such as GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001 & 27002, CISQ, NIST, RFC 2196, ANSI/ISA etc. If traditionally, businesses looked at building and delivering applications quickly in order to be in the reckoning for adoption by users, the threat of cyber criminals has forced them to change track. Now, in addition to carrying out a range of quality testing activities viz., performance, usability, integration, regression etc in the Agile-DevOps environment, businesses have perforce brought in security testing.

Elements of software security testing

Software applications can get compromised and subsequently prised open by hackers when there are inherent vulnerabilities. It is only by adopting a comprehensive application testing methodology that such vulnerabilities are identified and plugged. The elements of such an application testing methodology comprise firewalls, SSL encryption and implementation of secure policies. A business, in order to stave off attempts by hackers to gain entry into its systems, should exercise penetration testing. This way, testers can find out the vulnerable portions in the system owing to issues such as improper configuration and weak coding and design elements.

However, this needs to be done in the early stages of software development to identify vulnerabilities in the system architecture. Achieving this would need the reorientation of a business’s testing strategy, that is, by integrating security in the DevOps scheme of things. Thus, if DevOps is about developing a quality culture to ensure Continuous Integration and Delivery, then DevSecOps would help in creating a security culture in the organisation. A security culture would involve everyone to be cognizant of the security threats and drive them towards following the established security protocols.

Why is application security testing critical?

Pre-empts and prevents hackers: By employing a robust security testing strategy, the vulnerabilities present in the software application and its interface with various platforms, frameworks, browsers, and networks are identified. Once these vulnerabilities are plugged, hackers will find it difficult to gain entry into the system.

Restores brand reputation: A compromised software application can lead to the siphoning of critical business and personal information by hackers or cyber criminals. When customers end up on the losing side for no fault of theirs, the brand reputation of the software development company takes a beating. In a highly competitive world where staying in the good books of customers is the holy grail of business, the breaking of customer trust can prove to be disastrous.

Ensuring compatibility of software: Today, customers use devices of varying make and resolution. Thus, a software application needs to be compatible with each and every device platform not to speak of a multitude of browsers, operating systems, frameworks, and networks. To test whether the APIs do not contain glitches and interact seamlessly with various elements of the digital environment, a proper application security testing methodology has become essential.

Conclusion

The rising spectre of cyber-crime across the business landscape needs the strict implementation of security testing. In a world increasingly driven by connected devices interfacing with a multitude of software applications, ensuring their security has become business critical.

Diya works for Cigniti Technologies, Global Leaders in Independent Software Testing Services Company to be appraised at Cmmi-Svc v1.3, Maturity Level 5, and is also Iso 9001:2015 & Iso 27001:2013 certified.