January 2018 - Testbytes Software

What Hackers Know About Vulnerability Disclosures

Posted on January 31, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Let the “good” make noise, otherwise the “bad” definitely will! In line with this adage, it is important to do all that is within your means to secure your data and your systems.

And you have a choice here: whether or not to indulge in a detailed vulnerability disclosure to the public at large.
What is a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy?
A Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP) is a document that reports flaws in security that will adversely affect the working of your computer hardware and software.
Security researchers are ordained to disclose vulnerabilities to the parties concerned, mentioning the areas in the system that are flawed.
At times, in-house developers and vendors who work with vulnerable systems announce such security imperfections once the change in code takes place.
Once this patch is made available, security experts will be in a position to make the vulnerability public.
However, such an announcement will defeat the actual purpose of data security measures.
So, you may ask as to what is the best form of disclosure.
Here comes the response.
If you wish to tread the path of responsible disclosure, you should not make a public announcement of the vulnerabilities since you are in principle making a noise of the adverse effects.
When such claims reach the ears of hackers, they will look out for ways and means to breach the security barriers erected by you.
So the solution is to act without breathing a word about vulnerabilities and silently fix them.
Anything that is against to this basic principle will actually work in favor of hackers to steal and exploit your systems and data.
The Argument in Favor of a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
Given the situation when an outsider identifies a potential issue with your hardware, software or website, you should be the informed of the same.
But when your vulnerability is known to others but remains unknown to you, it poses a huge risk.
If you have a VDP in place, you can ensure that the outsider or finder of the vulnerability will ring the bell to alert you.
It is then that you can ensure the safety and security of your products.
The Ideological Difference
The above introduction is much against the collective opinion of security experts who feel that it is important to inform the public of vulnerabilities.
This information, according to them is the most promising means to fix a security issue.
However, in line with what has been explained above, you will begin to understand that vulnerability disclosures actually put the public in a risky spot.

When you operate through a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy, you will be actually empowering hackers to trespass your security barriers even without your knowledge.
The Elements of a VDP
A VDP consists of five important elements. They are:

Promise: An undertaking or assurance given to customers and stakeholders that they will be notified in clear terms about any security vulnerability
Scope: The span of control, encompassing all the products and properties that come under the purview of a VDP. Additionally, a VDP should also cover all the types of vulnerabilities
“Safe Harbor”: Shield the reporters of a vulnerability from being unduly penalized
Process: There is a process in place which allows process finders to disclose vulnerabilities
Preferences: A continuing document that explicitly sets the expectations for priorities and preferences that will be given to vulnerability reports

With a well-chalked out VDP in place, you can handle all the incoming alerts that are either technical or legal.
You can then initiate a communication with finders and work around a process which will permit internal teams to validate and lessen the risk while also disclosing the security vulnerability.
Lastly, a VDP finds its place to summarize and report all the activities that were initiated to combat security breaches to decision-makers and stakeholders.
How do Hackers Exploit VDPs and Their After-Effects on Your Business
When a VDP falls in the hands of a hacker, you are heading in the direction of a risky proposition in the following ways.

Hackers Monetize With Sales to Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies

Imagine a situation when a cyber-attack occurs on the same day a flaw is detected in your software. This paves the way for a zero-day exploit when your data is exploited even before it the flaw is fixed and disclosed to you.
Leaving no scope for detection, it is during such times that a hacker makes the most of the publicly known vulnerabilities which aren’t patched yet.
Hackers are the bad guys who will then resort to selling this flawed information to good guys like the law enforcement internet security software companies.
They will rake in profits by initiating a legal sale which can involve anti-social activities like cyber warfare or child pornography as part of cybercrime activities.

Inaction Towards Known Vulnerabilities

Most of the intelligence agencies feel that the less number of people who are informed of the vulnerabilities the better it is.
Since fewer people have knowledge about vulnerabilities, it become difficult for them to acknowledge their presence as well.

In such cases only the hackers who are adept at vulnerability research and quality exploit development can make good with a known vulnerability.
If you look at the statistics, a whopping 99% of all breaches stem from the exploitation of known vulnerabilities for which a patch already exists.

What If You Notify the Vendor and Resort to Silent Patching

A responsible VDP calls for a great deal of prudence. You should, with the support of your VDP inform the vendor about the flaw you identified and handhold him to fix it.
That means, you should abstain from publicizing your inferences regarding the vulnerabilities.
The vendor will use that information to create and release a silent patch. This way, you will be safeguarding your system from hackers who can gain strength from your VDP.
On the flipside, there were many instances of initiating legal action against all those who conduct security breach and come out in the open about vulnerabilities by vendors.
This fear of facing legal action has prompted security researchers to make public all the vulnerabilities with a guarantee that they will not be taken to task.
Such an act will only jeopardize the goodwill of your company and hence you can steer clear of all such public disclosures.

Publish Vulnerabilities Upon the Release of a Patch

Certain researchers may adopt a process to publicly release the information that they have identified, only after a patch is available. However, you all are aware of the slow speed of patching which will make this sort of an arrangement undependable.
It is highly impossible for every system to be patched in an instance, soon after the patch is released.
Once patching is in progress, you may experience downtime along with the shutdown of certain critical systems and non-functioning of software applications.
When dealing with critical infrastructure, you just cannot afford to have any sort of interruption.
This is the primary cause for major companies to take long periods before patching vulnerabilities that have been published ages ago.

Short-Term Gains of Hackers

A hacker with malice in his mind will go the entire nine yards to exploit a zero-day vulnerability.
Driven by an exclusive motive to rake in profits, hackers focus on high-volume security compromises that are conducted on a large scale.
They work with a high level of confidence that once they exploit a vulnerability they are sure that a patch will soon be released.
Hence, they focus on gaining through short-term moves with a confidence that their trespassing will not be detected.

The Public Becomes the Target Audience

Announcing your VDP is the riskiest proposition in contrast to the most common belief that the public will prompt vendors to act fast and come up with a damage control mechanism.
According to the notion, the general public upon getting notified of the vulnerabilities will act faster than the hacker who is waiting to exploit their systems.
The public will thus be able to secure their systems. Notwithstanding the fact that you are disclosing your vulnerabilities in good faith, you are actually working against the well-being of your organization.
You may ask, how? When you disclose your VDP to the public, you are getting exposed to an increased risk of hackers trespassing your security barriers.
Conclusion
Hackers are so well accustomed to the way in which organizations function. They know with certainty that businesses do not fix a vulnerability the moment it is detected.
They need not wait for a zero-day exploit to rake in profits. All that they need is the vulnerability disclosure that is made public.
They will work around this document and exploit your systems. Hence the solution to this ongoing issue of data and system security is to have a strong patching procedure in place.

Top 13 Movies that Make You Think About Software Testing

Posted on January 25, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Creativity is the world that functions well only when a person invests all his/her energy, time and mind to deliver the best product. But there can be times when he/she may feel demotivated due to the unexpected failures and issues that might arise.

However, it is important that one looks out for the ways that make him/her feel better and enjoy the task he/she is indulged in. One such way is watching movies that depict their profession in the best possible way or reminds one of the same.

If you are employed in the world of software development and testing, here is a list of 13 movies that will definitely make you think about testing.

1. The Social Network (2010)

David Fincher’s The Social Network makes the list of awesome tech movies complete. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book ‘The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, Money, Genius, and Betrayal’, the movie anecdotally depicts the establishing of Facebook and the wreckage of claims that took after. The film is flawlessly shot, immaculately composed and amazingly altered. It addresses various intense issues, for example, want for acknowledgment, protected innovation rights, misogyny in tech and the dim side of college social culture.

2. WarGames (1983)

WarGames is a work of art that was directed in 1983 and stars a youthful Matthew Broderick as a 80’s child programmer who unwittingly gets to WOPR (War Operation Plan Response), a United States military supercomputer. Believing it to be a PC diversion, he gets WOPR to run an atomic war reenactment, causing an atomic rocket unnerve that about begins World War III.

What’s impressive about the movie is that it has everything from a sharp programmer kid who beats the adults to the awesome 80’s music.

3. Her (2013)

Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ doesn’t specifically address working with PCs but the movie definitely serves as a captivating thought on the part that innovation plays in our lives. The movie imagines the innovation of tomorrow not as an overwhelming centerpiece of our physical world yet as an agile supplement to it.

4. Primer (2004)

Composed by engineers for engineers, the splendid movie Primer was not made to target the normal group of audience. ers, for engineers. The movie utilizes an exploratory plot structure to narrate the coincidental disclosure of time travel by two little time equipment engineers working out of a carport. A little while later, their utilization of the creation has spun wild, and they should battle with the genuine, intense results of their reality shattering revelation. The movie is powerful and a must watch to instill life in a lifeless engineer.

5. Revolution OS (2001)

The movie Revolution OS is essentially the legitimate narrative about the free software movement. While it’s somewhat dated, the film ought to be viewed by every individual who thinks about open source. The movie features interviews with OSS heavyweights like Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and Eric S. Raymond, and completes a profound jump on both the development’s history and logic.

6. Ex Machina (2015)

Ex Machina is an invigorating interpretation of the worn out AI-turned out badly science fiction. Though most films about AI gets stuck on defining the line between “fake” and “genuine”, Ex Machina goes deeper. Along with a captivating story, the movie is also a wonderfully made motion picture. The cinematography is also amazing. It gives audience a powerful message: be careful about what you say to your computer.

7. The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix is basically the quintessential science fiction film that portrays a tragic future in which reality as saw by most people is really PC reenactment called “the Matrix”. An interesting motion picture, it has everything from hacking, future tragic tech to wonderful battle scenes and pivotal film procedures.

8. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

By and by, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an incredible spine chiller which is based on the journey of the columnist Mikael Blomkvist to discover the destiny of a lady who belongs to an affluent family and vanished forty years ago. The columnist seeks help from a cryptic female PC programmer named Lisbeth Salander, and together they gradually disentangle the fierce history of an apparently sluggish Nordic town.

9. Noah (2013)

Noah is a pivotal short film that investigates the way current youth connects through social media platforms. The film’s most prominent angle is its medium, which is entirely screencast. Made by Canadian film students Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg, the film starts with the secondary school senior hero opening his PC, and the account being narrated completely on his PC and telephone screens. Through the course of the film, Noah’s association with his sweetheart go into disrepair through online networking.

10. TPB AFK (2013)

TPB AFK’s (The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard) cinematography matches with that of a big-budget Hollywood movie. What truly influences this narrative remain to out, in any case, is its nuanced depiction of the continuous civil argument about licensed innovation. TPB AFK makes some convincing contentions for copyright change; yet, the film most unquestionably isn’t master robbery publicity.

11. The Pentagon Wars (1998)

This motion picture is about a test administrator endeavoring to test the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It demonstrates a portion of the intricate judgment that individuals try to make for abstaining from testing or testing procedure. Additionally, it comically depicts the process of feature creep.

12. Who Am I: No System is Safe

This is a German hacker based movie which revolves around a group of hackers who aims at global fame. The movie travels through an interview with a hacker who tells about his life’s journey. Being one of the best hacker themed movie, it revolves around issues like Darknet, IRC Windows etc. If you love twist and turns then this would be a must watch.

13. Webmaster

The movie Webmaster focuses on a person who is a machine like hacker who has eventually turned to a webmaster who is turned upside down wearing virtual reality goggles and always tries to keep his mind busy in the cyber space.

Conclusion

Apart from these, movies like Physics By Inquiry: A Video Resource, Towering Inferno, Apollo 13 and Tim’s Vermeer also fall in the list. Therefore, one must understand that testing is not minute and limited to certain parts of the SDLC. It is broad, vibrant and essential to enable the delivery of the best product.

What is the Importance of Cyber Security Tips in 2021

Posted on January 18, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

A major share of companies will need extensive cyber security in 2021. You need tips and practices that can work very well. Reason? The rise of alarming attacks and their devastating effect will force companies to focus more on securing their digital domain. Let’s have a look in detail.

What is Cyber Security?
It’s a much-needed practice of safeguarding electronic systems, mobile devices, computers, servers, networks, and data. The cyberattack has become frequent and complicated. So in order to defend a system from a devastating attack many practices, skilled personnel heavy systems need to be deployed.
Mainly cyber security can be divided into 6

Network security
Information security
Disaster recovery and business continuity
Information security
Application security
End-user education

Why cybercrime is on rising?
It is very evident that cybercrimes are on rising. But what is causing this rise? Let us have a look at a few of the reasons for this rise:

Technological advancement: Technology has definitely benefited us a lot. But as every coin has two sides, this too has two sides. Though technology advancement has been a boon for us, it has also increased the hacking possibilities. Technology has enabled and made it easy for hackers to access retina images, codes, advanced voice recorders, etc. Thus making it easy for hackers to fool biometric systems and bypass firewalls.
Smaller storage space – Another major reason is the machines still have comparatively lesser storage space, making it easy for hackers to steal data.
Complex – The complexity of operating systems, makes human brains so mistakes. And the advantage of these mistakes is taken by the cybercriminals. Negligence – Another major reason is the negligence by us. It gives hackers a great possibility to access and take control of systems. This negligence could be anything from making weak passwords, unintentionally forwarding sensitive information, etc.
Loss of evidence – cybercrime-related evidence can be easily destroyed, hence hackers find it convenient to exploit cyberspace.

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Types of Cyberattacks
There are various types of cyberattacks, through which cybercriminals can exploit cyberspace users. Some of them are:

Denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks: In such attacks, the users are restricted or denied the services.
TCP SYN flood: Attackers flood the victim’s in-process queue with multiple requests, which fails to get a response from the target system, finally collapsing the system.
Phishing attacks: These attacks aim to steal confidential information by pretending to be a genuine individual and asking the victim to open a malicious link.
Spear Phishing attacks: In these attacks, the mail is aimed at a company, pretending it to be from a known individual and aims at stealing the companies confidential data.
Malware Attack: Malwares are the code that forcefully steals the victim’s information without their consent.
Ransomware: Ransomware stops the victim from accessing his own data until the ransom is paid.
Drive-by attack: the malicious links are planted into the webpage, and when a person visits such a webpage, malware is installed into the victim’s system.
Trojan Horse: Trojan Horses are another type of malicious program that pretends themselves to be useful and when a person installs them, their system is captured by Malware. They are the most dangerous malware.
Password Attack: Most simple kinds of attack, where the attackers crack the victim’s password, hence taking control over their systems.
SQL injections: such attacks manipulate the backend database and hence displaying certain information at the frontend, which otherwise was not intended to be displayed.

What’s the Impact of cybercrime in 2021?
Cybercrimes are affecting both individuals and institutions in many different ways. Be it stealing of business confidential data and selling it to a third party, or be it emptying someone’s bank account or defaming a person’s image using his images or social media ID.
Cybercrimes have greatly increased during this lockdown when the world is completely dependent on cyberspace. Also, the lockdown has given many people sufficient time to carry out their notorious activities.

If we believe in the research done by the University of Maryland, a cyber-attack is carried out every 39 seconds.
In 2019, on average 78% of organizations in the US, have witnessed a cyber attack
Around 23% of US citizens, financial information or credit card details have been hacked.
On average 30% of US consumers faced a data breach in 2018.
An alarming 1000 data breaches, exposed 147 million records in 2019 that too in just initial 9 months.
There is a steep rise in data breaches every year
There is a 54% increase in mobile malware

Cyber attacks stats 2021

By 2021, Cyber will cost the world $6 trillion
By 2021 Companies have to expect ransomware attacks every second
At present, 24,000 suspicious apps are deleted on a daily basis
21% of files are not protected around the globe
60% of frauds have a mobile phone as their origin
Average ransomware demand will be more than $1000 by 2021
90% of hackers are using encryption. Making it hard to track them
It’s expected that cyber-security awareness programs spending will reach $10 billion by 2027
Studies have revealed that 41% have a loose end at their data protection system
Only 25% of companies have a standalone security department

What’s the Importance of cybersecurity
With the increasing usage of cyberspace, cyber crimes too have increased. And in this pandemic, almost everything is shifted to the digital medium. From education to shopping, from business to medicine, everything is handled online. But this has given immense rise to cyber threats. Students are being victimized, financial losses have become very common, data security is now at stake, etc. Cyber threats can be a great loss both emotionally and financially. With such a rise in cyber threats, it is very important to implement cybersecurity. Some of the important measures we can take are

educating everyone on the cybersecurity
Parents can keep a keen check on their children’s cyber activities.

There are more such measures that we will read about going further here.
What’s the Future of Cyber Crime
1. Information wars: With the significance of data on a global scale, information wars are now becoming more common. With the present trend, it is expected to be more dominant in 2018, as well. More than data thefts for economic needs, personal data is targeted more which leaves people in a vulnerable position.

With most of the information exchange taking place online due to lockdown, chances of information wars have increased many times. Be it any business information, financial information, medical information, personal information, all are being shared through a digital medium. The hackers are taking undue advantage of the situation to exploit their victims. They are using different techniques to get hold of valuable information and exploit it to their benefit.

Attempts were made to even make the highly celebrated officials’ confidential controversial information public. As these types of wars are becoming an unwelcome reality to humiliate people, serious attention needs to be given to avoid its huge impact in the future.
2. New vulnerabilities: The innovative technologies are witnessing exponential growth and this also opens a new window for new vulnerabilities. Even before a new technology comes into the market, hackers find a way to exploit it. Since there is less expertise in new technologies, there is less expertise in protecting it from hackers or cyber threats. According to estimates from SANS, familiar risks would be the reason for at least 80 percent of cybersecurity happenings.

It should be taken care that even before a new technology is launched in the market, all the loopholes should be deeply studied and barred. Even there should be proper documentation where its users have a clear description of how to use it and protect themselves from any kind of security threats. They should be guided on all the safety measures they should follow to ensure the highest security. We can’t stop the new to evolve but we can definitely find a way out by enlightening its users on all possible security measures.

3. Concerns for big data: The new era enterprises are handling too much data every day than ever before. As data comes in new types and formats, it would be less structured, unlike conventional data.
Even when GDPR can help to handle and monitor it up to an extent, the lack of proper internal processes can pose serious cybersecurity threats to such big data. So it becomes important to get back to basics such as updating software versions and maintaining basic security hygiene.
Some of the most worrisome threats posed by big data are:

The first one, obviously be the protection of data
Data ownership and rights
Lack of proper data analysts or lack of expertise.

As big data offer tremendous benefits, it’s important to find proper security measures to safeguard the use of big data and to leverage it to our benefits. Some of the common security measures we can work upon and rely on are:

Setting up of industry standards, government rules and regulations, and share the best practices to ensure to make wiser use of big data
To protect secure and sensitive information, Attribute-based encryption should be adopted for the information shared by third parties
More security should be added to open source software such as Hadoop
audit logs should be maintained for all the facets of the business

4. Cloud storage security: cloud storage is a new norm. From businesses to individuals are depending more and more on cloud storage for their data storage purposes.

With the data increasing at a tremendous rate, we need an extra and reliable storage unit to store an infinite amount of data. And cloud storage has come to our rescue.

Due to minimal storage systems, companies are now largely dependent on cloud storage for data-keeping. Cloud is more susceptible to security threats because of its structure.

There can be a serious threat to its privacy and mishandling if no proper governance is provided. Proper measures and techniques should be enforced to ensure the high-end security of the cloud.

The problems of insecure access and instability can be a threat to confidential information. Designing a cloud decision model would be a good solution in order to control the personal as well as its public use. A few steps that you can take to ensure the safety of data on the cloud are:

As far as possible, don’t store sensitive information in the cloud.
Be very familiar with the user agreement and how cloud storage works.
Passwords are very important, make them strong; very strong.
Encryption can be your security guard when storing data in the cloud.
Prefer encrypted cloud service.

5. Internet of Things: Modern enterprises are heavily relying on internet technologies for data access and transfer. However, most of them are not so aware of the hidden problems and uses the new age technology without giving much emphasis to safety. However, the vulnerability of personal data can be a serious threat awaiting them.
The current pandemic has evolved the Internet of Things as the whole sole platform for all basic needs, be it education, financial needs, shopping desires, medical needs, business requirements, etc.
Amongst this dependency, hackers have found a golden chance to exploit data on the internet for their gruesome purposes. It has to be ensured that proper measures are to be taken while using the internet.
Apart from basic safety measures, everyone including children and adults needs to be educated on the safe use of the internet. From browsing various websites, sending data across, or playing games, everyone needs to well informed about the prospective threats of the internet.
The use of faulty communication methods and default password mechanisms are not going to do any good in the long run. Breaches of privacy can be a top cybersecurity threat in the upcoming year, as well.
6. Ransomware and Blockchain security: Ransomware is a widespread cybersecurity threat in which particular files within the infected systems would be encrypted. The users will be forced to pay big sums in order to retrieve the decrypt key. The worst part is that users will have to make the payment without any guarantee of receiving the key.

The possibilities of blockchain security can be an important phenomenon in this context. From eliminating passwords to generating fiddle proof infrastructure and superior encryption methods, this security technology would be a center of focus in 2018.
7. Wars across borders: If information over the web is not properly handled, the consequences may not always confine within the country. There is a huge chance for this insecurity to be a reason for wars across nations. Such problems would be very hard to sort out as it can cause a direct impact on the international political scenario.
In the recent past, we have come across various news where, foreign applications and software have been found keeping a keen check on the users and with a result, many applications have been banned in a few countries.
Such scenarios can take very nasty turns and can have huge repulsion. Even country sensitive information can be eyed upon by other countries and can be easily exploited to plan an attack against the first.
Countries should ensure high-end security of their internal and sensitive information. There should be proper guidelines on the usage of digital media for both authorities and the general public
8. Novel legal clauses: The government’s surveillance laws are seeing many changes and this could cause cybersecurity concerns for most companies. With the novel data protection and management rules, the finance systems of the enterprises can be impacted. The implementation as well as harmonization changes can take longer to be stabilized and this can affect a smooth flow of data in 2021.
This lag can result in cybersecurity threats. Companies should be ready to deal and act on such changes efficiently and quickly so that hacker doesn’t get a scope on entering into their systems illegally and exploiting them
In the recent past, we have come across various news where, foreign applications and software have been found keeping a keen check on the users and with a result, many applications have been banned in a few countries.
Such scenarios can take very nasty turns and can have huge repulsion. Even country sensitive information can be eyed upon by other countries and can be easily exploited to plan an attack against the first.
Countries should ensure high-end security of their internal and sensitive information. There should be proper guidelines on the usage of digital media for both authorities and the general public
9. Cybersecurity predictions: The security breaches from biometric authentication tools introduced by mobile giants are not a distant reality. The socially engineered threats are on the rise than ever before. Suspicious domain registrations as well as domain spoofing can be another important area that needs focus. The possibilities of industry-specific attacks from scammers cannot be written off.
10. Risk-based authentication tools: The previous authentication tools are designed with a general-purpose. With more and more threats being reported every day, it is alarming to design and implement some risk-based authentication tools for the job. This can fight out the known risks to some extent and provide a decent one level security from at least some of the possible breaches.
. Advancement in such technologies can definitely hamper the growth of cybersecurity threats. These technological advancements should always be a step ahead of hacking techniques to curb such risks.
11. Training for non-technical staff: In normal cases, there would be a particular group of technical staff in every company who will be responsible to take care of the cybersecurity.
As the situation is highly alarming, it is becoming important to give some basic training to nontechnical staff also regarding the first aids to tackle possible cyber attacks.
Similarly, giving sessions or seminars to common people regarding basic cyber safety can prove good to eliminate at least the basic problems.
The irony is that a large percentage of our population uses technology, but only a few are aware of cybersecurity. There should be seminars not only for the working population but also for the general public about the safe usage of the cyber world.
People perform a lot of confidential tasks over the internet without taking any security measures and hence landing themselves into cyber threats. Hence it becomes very important to educate everyone on the safe usage of cyberspace.
12. Digital ecosystems: Cybersecurity is not a simple thing as its impact can even be on wider society. Not only big companies get affected, it’s after-effects can cause long term hazards for many individuals. In a digital ecosystem, every individual has his role in the protection, security, and privacy of data.
Data analytics and data science will have a bigger role as monitoring of larger data becomes important to predict the present trends and understand human behaviors.

This understanding can play a major role in curbing many security threats, which otherwise are very prominent and put on stake the security of the individuals.

13. Artificial Intelligence: A remarkable difference in ICS Security can be witnessed with the widespread usage of artificial intelligence.
Quicker threat detection and faster troubleshooting is the key. It can replace the drawbacks of a shortage of cybersecurity staffing to a certain extent.
Whether it is a large multinational company with multiple branches across the globe or a small company with a single branch, the use of this technology can prove vital to making better out of the situation.

AI can be efficiently used to hamper cyber threats. AI has advanced multi-folds and we can mold it for making cybersecurity more strong and stringent that it becomes very difficult for hackers to crack it.

14. Security technology integration: This is going to be a game-changer in this highly alert situation. Large enterprises can rely on such mechanisms to manage situations better. With the present trend, integration hubs are on the rise. The professional services with a separate personnel manager can work wonders in helping fight the cyber attacks.

The comprehensive cybersecurity plan covers a lot of elements such as content protection, data security, privacy, IP, passwords, and encryption technology. Staying ahead of the situation helps you to take control of it and avoid the domination of fraud.
8 Tips for Cyber Security 2021
1. Establish a strong security policy among employees
2. Perform penetration testing, security audits, etc.
3. Devise a perfect action plan in case of emergency
4. Use a proper password management system
5. Have a thorough understanding of the risks involved
6. Make sure that the data is encrypted and secured
7. Make employees understand the vulnerabilities of social media
8. Secure and limit internal and external network access

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Final Thoughts
Proper measures need to be taken in order to handle these concerns without making much trouble. It is becoming really important to increase the number of security experts to overcome these concerns and proper quality training needs to be given to them. More serious interventions from the government are expected to provide enough scrutiny, attention, and care.
It is not just the data privacy rights or net neutrality that needs attention; a complete shift of focus to internet security is alarming. An additional step in cyber and email security can make a positive difference in the overall productivity of enterprises in the long run.

Thoughts on Penetration Testing Must Die or Evolve

Posted on January 17, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Penetration Testing, commonly called as Pen Test, is a testing strategy to evaluate the security of a system. The test is conducted to zero-in on the weaknesses (also called as vulnerabilities) and strengths of the security system that are already in place. It is a simulating test that is performed on the system to check the risk factors that will expose the system to an unauthorized breach of security.

There will be instances when unwarranted parties gain access to your system, trespassing your security levels. Penetration Testing, true to its name thus allows a complete assessment of risk factors that can cause malicious entities to infiltrate into your standard security borders.
The Significance of 2009
Security experts across the globe identify Pen Test as an essential tool offering an in-depth defense mechanism to systems and networks. However, in 2009, there was a notion amongst the technology spheres that Pen Test is heading to its natural death.
You will agree with the fact that every software version that is high-tech will soon be replaced by its successor version, paving the way for better and updated versions. So is the case with Pen Test that will prompt the release of updated versions; may be in principle than in practice.
But there’s good news, just around the corner.
And that is:
Pen Test will soon die but will come back as something better. So what is the fate of Pen Testers, you may ask. This phenomenon does not lead to the global unemployment of pen testers but will only make these testers less favorable to companies and businesses.
The Premise behind the Death of Pen Test
Investing in prevention is always better than spending on diagnosis. This principle can be applied to the concept of Pen Test. When businesses begin to invest more in trying to prevent the occurrence of security breaches, they will save monies spent on diagnosing problems. Hence, businesses are on the lookout for tools that can prevent security breaches than to invest in tools that are exclusively ordained to identify weaknesses that are already existing in the system.
Voicing the Thoughts of Experts Concerning the Evolution or the Obliteration of Penetration Testing
Brian Chess, the SVP of Infrastructure and Security Engineering attached to cloud operations at NetSuite came up with three thoughts that throw light on the controversial topic whether Pen Test is on the brink of evolution or is all set to face extinction.
Enlisting three opinions in verbatim that were expressed by him, every thought comes with an interpretation that explains the thought in a manner that is significant to you and your business.
Thought 1:
“People are now spending more money on getting code right in the first place than they are on proving it is wrong. However, this does not signal the end of the road for penetration testing, nor should it, but it does change things. Rather than being a standalone product, it is going to be more like a product feature. Penetration testing is going to cease being an end unto itself and re-emerge as part of a more comprehensive security solution.”
An Interpretation of the Thought
A noticeable tendency amongst businesses and technology decision makers is that investments are being made in the direction of acquiring error-free code rather than to unveil its weaknesses and errors. While this change does not sound the death knell for penetration testing, an imminent change is just around the corner. These variations can be witnessed in the form of a re-emerging technology that will lead to the implementation of an “all-inclusive” security solution.
Thought 2:
“2009 will be the year this strategy comes together, and when we look back, it will be the year when most of the world began thinking about penetration testing as part of a larger offering.”
An Interpretation of the Thought
The year 2009 will become an observer to this transformation and when businesses look back, this will be the time when penetration testing will become a significant part of a bigger picture. This concept of testing will emerge as a novel means to secure your business operations; as the days pass.
Thought 3:
“More than ever before, people understand the software security challenge, and penetration testing deserves credit for helping spread the word. But knowing a security problem exists is not the same as knowing how to fix it. In other words, penetration testing is good for finding the problem but does not help in finding the solution – and that is why it must take a long hard look at itself and then make a change. Just like the venerable spell-checker, it is going to die and come back in a less distinct but more pervasive form and I, for one, cannot wait.”
An Interpretation of the Thought
Earlier, people and businesses were of the opinion that challenges in software security and penetration testing were the two parameters that have made the most noise for the world to acknowledge and react to. However, getting to know the existence of a security problem cannot be seen in the same light as knowing how to resolve it.
That means, Pen Test is a good tool to identify the problem but fails to resolve it. This basic premise of Pen Test is what makes it vulnerable to change. And the change here does not mean its complete extinction but a chance to bounce back as a better and pervasive version that everyone concerned is looking forward to.
What’s In Store for Penetration Testers?
With so many changes prompting the evolution of Pen Test, it pays to spare a thought about the future of Penetration Testers; the human resources that are ordained to secure your systems.
Penetration Testers are professionals who should handhold companies by suggesting ways to address security issues. They will have to work in tandem with the recommendations of customers and offer ways to fix security lapses or issues that may jeopardize the safety of your systems and networks.
This having said, Penetration Testers will scrutinize the code and may demand a “recoding”, asking the developers to come up with a code that will not only identify an issue but also address it. This evolution with regard to Penetration Testing will call for a paradigm shift in how businesses will operate.
A multi-faceted approach will come to light when organizations will be prompted to consider various parameters to finally tread the path of least resistance. This practice will be in contrast to relying on pen testing to test one part of the network, another part of the web application and some other segment of the physical security.
There will come a time when businesses will pay attention to all those factors that influence their revenues. In that context, they will look out for ways and means to test all those parameters simultaneously, creating a situation of “full scope Pen Testing”. This should be the most objective way of looking at things as far as Penetration Testing is concerned.

As Things Stand Now, What Is In store for Pen Testing?
Keeping in mind the constantly changing methods of penetration testing, it is important to be notified of its latest trends. Hackers who exploit the loop holes in testing practices will find novel ways of hacking your data. It is hence the need of the hour for organizations to perform penetration tests, through pen testers who will be directed to actually think the way the hackers think; especially when you are updating your software.
When this practice is followed, you will be able to detect any vulnerability that might cause a security breach.
The three pointers that determine penetration testing are concerned about:

Protection
Detection
Response

For your system to demonstrate a high level of data security, it is essential that you have all the above mentioned pointers in place.
Currently, most of the organizations are incorporating pen testing as a significant part of their business maintenance plan with the IT heads banking on the suggestions offered by Information Security Experts. This has led to performing regular pen tests as part of compliance audits with pen testers making the most of automated and manual techniques teamed with testing tools that will be able to detect weak links in IT infrastructure.
Conclusion
And when all the loopholes are plugged with pen testing practices, you will be able to secure your data effectively, thus nipping the chances of a security breach in its bud itself. Without getting bogged down by the thought that the concept of Pen Test is nearing extinction, it pays to look at this change as a positive transformation that will fuel the advancement of novel ways to secure your networks and systems.

Basic or Advanced Software Testing: Which is Better?

Posted on January 15, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Software development is a simple step-by-step procedure that includes a few things that cannot be missed or compromised at any point of time. Testing is one of those steps that must be executed no matter how urgent the product delivery is. There are a number of reasons that make this step a crucial part of the software development life cycle (SDLC) such as delivery of high quality product, optimum performance and several others.

While it is true and accepted that testing cannot be separated from SDLC, it is important to decide the most suitable type of testing technique for the software – basic and advanced. The basic or standard software testing services are usually included in the entire package of the project delivery package.
On the other hand, the advanced testing techniques are suitable when the basic techniques are not enough to ensure the optimum quality of the product. Sounds confusing? Let us understand the differences between the two.
Basic Software Testing
Basic software testing is the generic form of testing during which a software product is tested for manually by a team of testers. During basic software testing, a software product is made to undergo various phases of testing to detect any bug present. This is done to get the same fixed during the later stages of development.
There are a number of steps that are executed as a part of basic testing. It includes the following:

Requirement analysis: Performed right before development, this step is aimed at analyzing the project’s requirements and making the project manager aware about the issues that might occur during the development. Completing this step helps in reducing the probability of several bugs that are obvious to occur.
Acceptance testing: After each software development iteration is completed, the requirements are checked again. These requirements are then referred to as user stories and executing this kind of testing is known as acceptance testing.
Smoke testing: This type of testing is conducted after each step of development is completed and the product can be used and tested. Conducting smoke testing helps in ensuring that all the major features of a product work properly.
Regression and sanity testings: Performed regularly after incorporating a change in each source code, these types of testings are executed to ensure that incorporating any change to the existing product, whether it is adding features, fixing bugs, or migration to another OS), should not affect the existing functionality of the product.
GUI testing: This type of testing helps in ensuring that designed product’s screens are in sync with the previously agreed mockups and wireframes. However, conducting GUI testing might not be enough as different browsers may display the product designs differently.
Usability testing: Conducting this type of testing helps in finding the best possible changes that can be made to the existing product. This is done to improve user interaction with the system as well as make things work correctly in the product.

Advanced Software Testing
A number of factors such as budget issues, unusual functionality and scalability requirements restrict the benefits of basic testing in a software testing. To meet these challenges and ensure that the product developed is at par to the requirements, advanced software testing is conducted.
To conduct advanced software testing, the specification documents and wireframes are handed over to the QA engineers who are then able to complement the requirements and prevent bugs before coding.
Some of the common steps taken during advanced software testing are:
Requirements analysis: This is done to precisely identify the requirements and detect all the bugs that are possible to occur at later stages of development.
Advanced GUI testing: The advanced level of GUI testing is executed to ensure that the product’s styles and are valid on a larger number of testing devices and platforms.
Test automation: This type of testing helps in executing the testing process faster and quicker. Executing test automation helps in ensuring and checking that the product is able to perform in unusual circumstances and parameters as well.
Compatibility testing: Executing compatibility testing helps in ensuring that the product being developed won’t affect the functionality and usability of other applications and system components.
Interrupt testing: Although this type of testing is included in basic testing, this is also an important part of advanced testing. It is recommended to include load testing and stress testing to ensure that the product is able to perform even under stressful circumstances.

Advanced Testing Ensures the Delivery of High-Quality Product
Unusual functionality that goes beyond conventional functionality, higher safety requirements, specifically in case of products related to financial operations, scalability requirements and budget issues are not easy to handle in case of basic testing. Therefore, at the end it is better and recommended to opt for advanced level of testing so that the product delivered is optimum in quality.

What’s penetration testing? How’s it done?

Posted on January 11, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

If it is your dream to secure your systems and data from security breaches and data threats, you should look into the inclusion of Penetration Testing as part of your information security program. A Pen Test can make this dream a reality provided you are well versed with the most frequently posed “How’s” and “What’s”.

What’s Penetration testing?
As you have already understood, Penetration Testing offers a complete analysis of threats and vulnerabilities that will adversely impact your systems. To move on with this testing procedure, you should be informed about what’s in store for you.
Let us now move on to the section which helps you understand the three variations of a Pen Test.
Why does your company need penetration testing?
You might have come across many news regarding cyberattacks that have happened all over the world. In most cases, exploitation of loose ends is the main cause behind such attacks.
The reason does not end there,

There is a financial and critical data transfer frequently
To secure user data
You have deployed a system and not aware if there is any vulnerability in it
To asses the business impact and to device risk mitigation
To check whether the company is complying with information security regulations.
To implement an effective security strategy

Types of pen testing

External Pen Test

True to its name, an External Pen Test is a testing procedure that focuses on testing publicly exposed systems, by getting into the shoes of a hacker. Applying the mind of a hacker, an external pen tester will be able to uncover all those scenarios that will provide external entities to gain access to your internal systems by breaching security firewalls.

Internal Pen Test

As the name suggests, an Internal Pen Test focuses on all the systems that are internally connected. As an internal pen tester, you will be ordained to assess the security of internal systems that are remotely being operated by an external hacker or attacker. The internal pen test is conducted to check whether the security of your internal system is compromised when intruders can get past your internal perimeter barricades.

Hybrid Pen Test

The third variant is a mix of internal and external pen tests. Presenting a blended means to outsmart complex and modern data attacks, you can secure your systems in a novel way. All set to safeguard your internal and external systems, a Hybrid Pen Test helps you shield your systems from remote and local infiltrations.

Social Engineering Test

it’s a tricky kind of assessment where an individual will be subjected to elements that can make him reveal sensitive data. For instance, an employee will be sent a tempting email which will have a phishing link

Physical penetration testing

Physical devices such as USB sticks will be injected into the system to find out the reaction. It’s usually performed in top-secret facilities such as the military.

Network Services Test

It’s a kind of log that’s used to find out entry points and exit points in a network system.

The Span of Control of a Pen Test
Termed as a rigorous form of testing, a pen test analyses the security and stability of your entire infrastructure. Penetration Testers analyze each and every access layer, application, system, and network. These are professionals who are adept at reviewing the code of a front-end web application to bring out the possibilities of a cyber-attack on your network.
In a nutshell, a pen test helps you uncover the following vulnerabilities:

Checks how well your information infrastructure and networks are protected
The potential risks that your business is running into
The level of dependability of your current security solutions along with the provision that is in place to counter and prevent external intrusions
Ideation of measures to strengthen and improve your web protection and security systems to minimize risks

Who are Pen Testers? – Technical Experts Who Shield Your Systems from Cyber Attacks
It is interesting to note that pen testers possess the same level of knowledge and skill as that of a hacker. A pen tester is always simulating the real-world attack that has the power to throw your cyber-security norms to the winds. Such activity comes with an underlying disruption that can well be handled by a good pentester.
A pen tester with recognized technical knowledge and expertise can become an invaluable asset to organizations looking to protect their systems from cyber-attacks. He/she will not only record inferences in the form of vulnerabilities that are identified but will also handhold your customers to identify such instances. Ordained to provide you with a holistic security evaluation of your systems, a good pen tester helps you know your environment better.
How is Penetration Testing Carried Out?
There are two main types of testing approaches that are employed by Pen Testers. They are:

Black Box Testing

External pen testers who do not have any knowledge of their target network will get to assess your system. True to its name, black box testing is like shooting an arrow into a dark room without being informed of its internal arrangement. That means pen testers ordained to perform black-box testing don the hat of external hackers.
They operate as outsiders who are restricted to even get a peek into the internal technologies that are currently in use. This testing approach goes a long way to evaluate the response of your IT department team and the measures it will take to counter an infiltration or security breach.

White Box Testing

As a sharp contrast to what happens in Black Box Testing, White Box Testing is conducted by pen testers and security auditors who are thoroughly informed about each and every facet of their target network. The comprehensive information is made available to pen testers in the form of IP addresses, the versions of the operating system and application source codes along with the network topology.
Allowing auditors to enjoy full visibility of your internal infrastructure supported by internal technologies, White Box Testing demands the coordination between the audit team and your internal security teams.

Gray Box Testing

Balancing the extremes of White Box Testing and White Box Testing, Gray Box Testing is an approach that enables security auditors to work around some information and knowledge about your internal infrastructure. This is an approach that not only unveils vulnerabilities but also helps you identify weaknesses.
Is the Time Ripe for a Pen Test?
After assimilating information about the various facets of Penetration Testing, you have now come to the juncture of making a well-informed decision as to when to conduct a Pen Test. Scheduling a Pen Test at the right time is an important parameter that will go a long way in managing a security plan that is tightened with stringent counterattack mechanisms.
The biggest mistake committed by organizations is to conduct a pen test too early.
Hence you should now delve deep into the chronology of the testing process and perform a pen test at a time when you can powerfully test your security defenses.
Different Phases of the Security Assessment/ penetration testing process
1) Audit: Audit is the first step a security auditor takes as part of his security assessment responsibilities. He/she will start off by gathering basic details about the various processes and their implementations that are routinely practiced in your company.
Performing a system audit, auditors come up with a better understanding of the standards and quality of various technical measures that are undertaken along with uncovering situations that can be improved.
He/she will look into aspects concerning automated security patching, system hardening and checking the capabilities of your system to detect intrusions. All in all, a system audit focuses on checking whether the right procedures are implemented.
2) Vulnerability Management: This is the next phase of pen testing which looks into the effective management of vulnerabilities after ensuring that the right security measures are in place. Under this head, the system software is subjected to a number of vulnerability scans. This is done to plug the innumerable compromises that arise primarily because of coding issues. Checking into the type of software that is being used, vulnerability management is also concerned about uncovering the potent areas where software can be exploited.
3) Pen Testing: Once you check whether the right procedures are in place along with an in-depth scan of your technical environment, it is time you move on to conducting Pen Testing. It is only when the above two steps are completed that you will derive the best out of a Pen Test.
The time is now ripe for pen testers to enter the testing field. Pen Testers will now take on the mantle of external auditors, performing real and simulated attacks on your environment. They will then be able to uncover the potent security leaks that will attract the attention of hackers who are eyeing to make good through security breaches.

4) Report of your Security Plan: The summary of all the inferences obtained by pen testers is presented in the form of a Penetration Test Report. The Penetration Test Report comes as a barometer to assess the prevailing situation of your security systems.
Accounting all the weaknesses that were discovered by pen testers, you can also lay hands on the comprehensive description of the various testing methodologies that are currently in vogue.
Top 15 Penetration testing tool

IndusFace
Spyse
Metasploit
Intruder
W3af
Kali Linux
Nessus
Cain and Abel
Burpsuite
Core Impact
Netsparker
Canvas
SqlMap
John the Ripper

Conclusion
Given the fact that security is a constant concern to meet your organizational goals, it pays to look into the various aspects of Penetration Testing to ensure the implementation of the basic security plan. Once this is done, pen testers step into the ground, unveiling flaws that were masked and missed out earlier.
This way, Pen Testing comes across as a potent security testing tool that guarantees uninterrupted management and improvement of your security measures. All in all, a Pen Test comes as a relevant tool to safeguard your system from malicious cyber-attacks.

Meltdown and Spectre: 2 CPU Security Bugs You Need to Know About

Posted on January 5, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Being a cyber security term, vulnerability refers to the flaws seen in a system which further make ways for hackers and malware. At the beginning of 2018, the IT industry is already scrambling to patch up with the major security vulnerabilities that have affected almost all computers in the world.

The two flaws naming- Spectre & Meltdown was found by the security researchers at the Project Zero at Google. The vulnerabilities could allow leaking of information from mis-speculated execution which further leads to arbitrary virtual memory across various local security boundaries. Vulnerabilities in this particular issue are affecting numerous modern processors including AMD, ARM, Intel, and Apple.

Meltdown and Spectre- Security Bugs

According to the researchers Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) is considered to be one of the worst CPU bug found till date. This bug is primarily thought to affect Intel processors manufactures since 1995. Meltdown allows the hacker to get through the hardware barrier seen between the users and the core memory of the PC.

Features:

Discovered by Jann Horn, a security analyst at the Google Project Zero
Allows low privileged processes to gain access to high privileged kernal processes to steal system memory
In modern processors, it used the side channel informations
Till now, has only affected the Intel processors
Makes fundamental processes fundamentally unreliable

In the case of Spectre, the vulnerability is more widespread and seen affecting modern processors from AMD, Intel and even the ARM chips on mobile devices. This is considered to be more likely a much serious issue as it requires redesign of the processors to fix the problem in future hardware generations.

Features:

Discovered by Mr. Horn and Mr. Kocher, in coordination with Mike Hamburg, Mr. Lipp and Yuval Yarom at Google
Hardware vulnerability with speculative execution that affect modern processors
Much deeper and is hard to patch
Consist of 2 common ID’s- CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5715
It centres on Brand prediction which is a part of speculative execution
It is more generalized as it does not rely on a single processors memory management

Both these vulnerabilities can be used by attackers to steal and spy on secure data like encryption keys, passwords etc. which are seen on the cache memory and also can access the recently processed data in the system.

Part of Computer That is at Risk

The issues related to Meltdown and Spectre exist within the CPU of Windows, Android, Linux, iOS, macOS, Chromebooks and several other operating systems. A computer generally consist of huge amount of data and the core part of a computer’s operating system known as the kernel, handles the data synchronising process.
When data is in the cache, it is managed by the processor and, it is at this point that new vulnerabilities come into effect. Meltdown grabs information by simply snooping to the memory used by the kernel. And in the case of Spectre, it makes programs to perform unwanted operations which in-turn leaks data, that needs to stay confidential.
Both attacks exploit “speculative execution”, which prepares the results of a set of instructions to a chip. These results are then placed in one of the fastest bits of memory on the PC chip. Unfortunately, this can further manipulate the system bit by bit, therefore allowing the hacker to retrieve confidential data from a computer’s memory.
How is a Computer Targeted?
A hacker tries some kind of codes on a user’s computer in order to try exploit using Meltdown & Spectre. This can be avoided by the following steps:

Blocking ads, browser scripts and page trackers
Use Chrome’s ‘site isolation feature

Steps Issued Against the Major CPU Flaw:

Practically every computing devices including laptops, smart phones and even cloud computing systems are affected by these two CPU bugs. Every major technology companies have started working against Meltdown and Spectre to protect themselves and their customers.

Apple points out that it is already affected by these two CPU bugs and the company advised customers to update their device’s operating system and to only download apps from the App Store
Microsoft has released updates and installing the new patches can protect devices from the vulnerabilities
Intel has rolled out security patches and firmware updates to protect against Meltdown and Spectre. ARM is working with AMD AND
Microsoft, Mozilla and Google have issued patches for these browsers as the first step to defence
Google says that it will roll out a patch for Chrome 64
Chrome OS devices are patched with Kernel Page Table Isolation in Chrome OS 63 and above
The service provider Amazon is working to patch the servers used in their data centres

On the whole, companies and individuals should apply available security updates before the problem gets worse.
Conclusion
There is not much that can be done to resolve this issue but it can be avoided in future by redesigning processors so that attacks becomes impossible. Processors, devices, drives, operating system and numerous other have evolved optimizations for security security risks. As the security problems rise in IT industry, the choices needs to be reconsidered and in many cases new implementations are necessary.

What You Need to Know About Localization Testing

Posted on January 3, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Localization testing is a software customization process in which a product or application that was earlier designed for a particular market can be made available to foreign markets. Its all about quality checking the localized version of a product. Principles of this method are concerned to check if your product is in line with the locale settings that are governed by the culture of the geographical location that will be native to your product.

Localization testing, as you have just understood will require the translation of all native language strings into the targeted languages. Along with the target language requirement, your product should also look into Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Content and GUI are the two parameters that come under the umbrella of localization testing with efforts directed to match your product with the innate requirements of your target market. In a nutshell, localization testing is mainly concerned about quality checking the parameters linked to linguistics, content or UI, culture and all those that are dictated by the geographical placement of your product.
A Testing Concept That Surpasses All Language Barriers
A tester who has the source code commonly written in English will perform the same set of test cases on both the localized and source codes; simultaneously.
Say for example, you are launching a Chinese product and wish to test it as part of your localization activities. You don’t need a tester who is proficient in speaking the official Chinese language of Mandarin Chinese or Standard Mandarin.
You can assign the testing job to a tester who can test your Chinese product with the code written in English and execute a set of test scripts on it; without any hassles. He will ensure that the localized product will behave exactly the way in which the English version was designed.
The Requirements of a Localization Tester
You should understand the fact that localization testing is conducted once functional testing is completed. Localization testing is conducted by testers who do not follow any of the testing languages. Such testers who are tech-savvy simply add the native language of the locale to your product mix. They are also concerned about all the parameters that will impact the usability and functionality of localized platforms.
Localization testers thus ensure that the local version looks, feels, behaves and functions exactly the same as the source version. The only difference is that your product mirrors the native language linked to the locale in which it is launched and operates.
A Localization Tester should:

Demonstrate some technical expertise
Understand and identify issues that fundamentally come along with the software during localization
A skill to holistically identify key differences in languages so that he/she can spot a number of issues that emerge due to localization

Scope of Localization Testing
You may have the opinion that functional, linguistic and localization testing procedures are entwined. But, it is not the case. They are distinct procedures that need different types of testing resources. Hence it is important that you have a clear and precise understanding of each and every testing procedure, with specific reference to Localization testing which is now the topic of discussion.
Below are the various issues that can be tackled by Localization Testing.

Defects in the user-interface and layout including redundant or missing controls, overlap of content and issues concerning alignment
All the non-functional features of your product
Since the content of a localized product is assembled dynamically, Localized Testing procedures will identify the presence of jumbled dialog boxes and scrambled web pages
Bugs in concatenated strings and strings which are composed using placeholders, can be unveiled
You can also address the issues concerning text expansion, namely text bleeding and truncations with Localization Testing procedures
When you experience a problem with all the extended characters in accepting a tested system
Any issue concerning the “search and replace” functionality
You can rectify incorrect formats of calendar along with date and time that should match your geographical locale
When you encounter and have to manage files with extended characters featuring in their file name or directory path
Localization testing allows you to sort issues concerning the language and grammar of your target market
You can effortlessly rectify the bugs in converting from different currencies to your home currency along with the inclusion of the monetary symbol of your country or area in which your product operates
You can check for consistency in messages along with online help that is offered to your customers
Printed documentation and command key sequences can be also checked
Scenarios concerning Windows applications mirroring redundant or missing hot keys can be tackled
When your product is battling incorrect metric conversions with unmatched numeric formats, negatives and separators
Input, display and system requirements can be checked against the demands your environment comes up with along with confirming their adherence
While you can unveil and fix typographical errors, you can also check the usability of the UI
Localization testing procedures handhold you to assess your product to check whether it is matching the cultural requirements of your target market
To identify and address scenarios which have omitted politically sensitive content; the significant part of your product
Along with checking for the appropriateness of video content, you can also ensure the adherence to basic parameters like keyboard, mouse, operating system, audio interface language and accent

The Importance of Localization Testing To Your Global Business Model
The premise behind localization testing is to introduce a product that delivers functionalities in accordance with the demands of the target language. Calling digital marketers across the globe to spend time and money on localization, localization testing should only come as a revenue-saver.

If your product is released with a number of language-centric bugs, it does not do you any good except showing your product in a bad light to global customers. Hence, the onus is on localization testing to ensure that your product is error-free so that customers across the globe will embrace and patronize it.
You should also be wary of the fact that you can expect bugs even after you have localized your product. Which means localization testing is the only instrument that helps you steer clear of the issues that can cost you a fortune if they are remain undetected. This way, localization testing procedures ensure quick and budget-friendly means to fix issues and come up with a localized product that is user-friendly in more ways than one.
Final Thoughts
All in an attempt to come up with a holistically interpreted product that matches the cultural and geographical needs of your target market, you should strive towards the implementation of appropriate business processes.
You should also be watchful of governmental and regulatory requirements that are innate to every geographical area. Thus, it is a big task to localize your business logic so that consumers across the globe patronize your product and bestow you with a good return on investment.

15 Popular Testbytes Software Testing Blogs of 2017

Posted on January 2, 2018 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

As the year progresses, software development industry showcases new changes which is adopted by the software testing companies. To keep up with the pace, its important to know everything about the technology and here we have listed the 15 top blogs from Testbytes in 2017 that will help you in some or the other way in issues related to software testing.

13 Major Bug Tracking Software Tools 2018
To deliver quality software its essential to track bugs or issues. And for this a bug tracking software can help you report, capture and manage bugs. With many software tracking tools related blogs, this one will manage to stand out with a strong emphasis on the top 13 bug tracking tools.
10 Websites that Every Tester Needs to Go Through in 2018
Being a software tester or someone working in software development, its important that you are well versed with all the technicalities that are happening in the field. As the year ends, we have shared a list of top 10 websites that every software tester must visit and go through in 2018.
6 Trends Currently Reshaping the Software Testing Industry in 2017
As technology keep rising day by day, the skills of software testers are challenged making it hard for them to continue with the pace. This blog show cases the top trends that can reshape the methods in a software testing industry.
How to Create Test Cases in Android Application
Test case is believed to be a condition or a variable that is checked by a tester to ensure that the test under work satisfies all the specified requirements. And this blogs deals with the crucial steps that one needs to perform to create test cases for an Android application.
Top 13 Myths Surrounding Software Testing
As the process of software testing involves several testing procedures it is also surrounded by a number of myths which may or may not impact the process of software testing. But its important to debunk these myths, and this blog will help you on that note.
5 Major Benefits of Using a Bug Tracking System
Any incorrect issue, be it in the design, specifications, coding requirements or anything related to the software program is known to be a bug. Over the years, the number of bug tracking tools has increased and this blog explains the major benefits of using a bug tracking system.
What are Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Testing [Pros and Cons Included]
Every software release lifecycle consists of different stages-alpha, beta & gamma, that in turn describes the stability of the software. This blog from our list this year will let users understand the aspect of each phase of software testing.
5 Major Types of Test Automation Frameworks
As the major benefit of test automation frameworks is that it is dependent on the app and according to the application changes can be made to the framework. And this blog gives the major five types of test automation frameworks that you need to know.
Top 11 Open Source Security Testing Tools for Web Applications
Hacking of a website or an application is a common thing seen around these days and to stay away from this its definite that you need to put in some effort. And this can be made practical by using open source security tools and the top 11 has been listed in this blog.
5 Types of Regression Testing Methods You Should Know
Bringing changes to your systems and products by time is a usual factor. Regression testing, is one such testing method that checks whether the system functionalities works the same along with the driven modifications. This blog portrays the general regression testing methods and benefits that one should know.
11 Steps to Configure Email Notifications Using Jenkins
Email and email notifications are an important aspect in every businesses. And these days you have several plug-ins available as free and paid which helps you to configure email notifications. The main objective of this particular blog is to showcase the steps in email configuration.
How to Find Bugs in Game Testing
As any other application, its important to test a game from the very starting stage to avoid issues in future. This blog goes through the different methods to find bug in games thus, creating a hassle-free user experience.

6 Types of Software Testing Models
In an entire software development lifecycle, testing is a crucial step to be performed. In this, you have various testing models where each one of them have different benefits. And this blog goes through various testing models with their advantages and disadvantages highlighted.
9 Different Types of Game Testing Techniques
Game testing is the final step in a game development process and it is in this step its determined that the game you created is working properly. So, do you want to know about the types of game testing methods? This blog contains details on some of the main game testing techniques that can be implemented in a software.
11 Emerging Trends in Software Testing 2018
From the past few years, software testing methods have grown drastically with the emergence of latest technologies. As technology grows, there is an increased demand in specialized skills among testers. So, this blog will certainly help you to watch out for the emerging trends in 2018.
The technological advancements in software testing run on a high pace and thus the organizations and testers are forced to increase their skills and product quality rhythmically. We, at Testbytes will keep you updated through our blogs with all the forthcoming changes this year…
Stay tuned to testbytes to have more details on technological aspects in software testing!