Security Testing Archives - Page 5 of 5

5 Major Benefits of Using a Bug Tracking System

Posted on July 4, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Any issue in design, requirement, specifications and coding that cause incorrect results is called a bug. In a software development life cycle, tracking bugs is one of the most important steps and without which the entire process would be incomplete. Bug tracking is important for every product to maintain quality, to save time and money. Selecting a right bug tracking tool can help you improve software quality assurance.
Now let’s see the major benefits that a bug tracking system provides:

Deliver High Quality Product

A bug tracking system assures that detected bugs are fixed. It helps to remove flaws in the product by controlling the work of each team member. The system can track problems and analyse efforts taken by team members to fix a bug or an issue. This results in delivering efficient product on-time within a given budget.

Improve Return on Investment (ROI) by Reducing the Cost of Development

A bug tracking system can prioritize bugs and assign issues. This helps to spot repetitive problems and concentrate on important issues. The development team will be able to focus on high priority bugs rather than wasting time on smaller issues. This improves team’s productivity and reduces cost of development.

Better Communication, Teamwork and Connectivity

A bug tracking system provides better communication through chat interfaces and email notifications. This reduces the communication gap and informs the right person to test or fix bugs on time. The centralized data system provides access to real-time data that helps in attempting new bugs, exploring application and preparing clear reports.

Detect Issues Earlier and Understand Defect Trends

The most obvious advantage is that it allows companies to keep a record of the bug issues that are detected, who fixed them, and how long it took to fix a particular issue. A bug tracking system detects bugs in the formal testing phase. This helps to create a bug-free data in the production stage.
This system provides dependable metrics that can be referred in future to know the type of defects previously reported. The team can relate bugs to change codes, tests and other data that can be used for analysis of defect trends.

Better Service and Customer Satisfaction

A bug tracking system allows end users to report issues and bugs directly on their applications. Common issues can be analysed and solved through product modifications. Most of the tools are designed in such a way that you can use it easily without any special training.
It provides automated response to end users. They get updates and status of development through alerts.
This also provides better and relevant service to customers by allowing feedbacks and suggestions.
A good bug tracking system results in happy and satisfied customers. Less or no bugs leads customer to use the product efficiently, they find products more reliable, trustworthy and even may recommend it to others.

Conclusion
A bug tracking system is relevant to find, fix bugs and other related issues to reduce cost of development and save time. If a defect management system is used right, then you understand your work atmosphere better, thus improving overall efficiency.
By using this, a company can manage resources in a better way and offer solutions much faster. Bug tracking can be used in each and every stage of the development process, thus helping developers to be content and more productive. This needs to be done rigorously and if you are not using it, then probably your development efforts can go in vain.

How Important is Penetration Testing to Network Security

Posted on June 19, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Penetration testing can create wonders for upcoming enterprises if they come up with the right solution according to the demands and blend them with the automated testing method for security expert analysis.

Penetration testing services is not just about jumping into the network security by running different steps at random, but it is about creating an organized, step by step plan that details on what, when, and how exactly are you going to do things.
How Important is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is an essential process that needs to be performed on a regular basis in every organization to secure the network system. Penetration testing is of different types, which include:

Network Penetration Testing
Application Penetration Testing
Wireless Penetration Testing
Infrastructure Penetration Testing

But the main problem is that many of us will have a misconception that once penetration testing is done, their systems are safe forever. Such people will never get the real benefits of this process until they follow the method regularly and will practically have to face disappointing outcomes in the future.
The need for conducting a penetration test varies according to businesses as they all work in a different way. However, the question is, what are the main benefits that a company gets from penetration testing and here we have listed a few:

Manage the Risk Factors

One of the most important benefits of pen testing or penetration testing is that it will provide you the baseline to work with the risk factors in a structured and optimal way. In this testing, the number of vulnerabilities is listed out, which is found in the target environment and also the risk factors associated with it. At first, the sequence with the highest risk is tackled and then followed to the lower ones.

Increase the Business Continuity

Business continuity is the main aim for every organization and any hurdles to this can cause a huge loss to the entire company. A breakdown in business continuity can be due to many reasons and lack of security loopholes can be one of them.
If your systems are insecure, then it might suffer more breaches. It is always important to set a stronger encryption to avoid MITM (Man In The Middle) attacks. This is because, even hackers are hired today by the rivals to stop business continuity by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the competitors to gain access to their network and also create a denial of service condition, which causes a crash in the working of the company.
3. Evaluate Security Investment
Penetration testing provides an opportunity to know about the current situation of a company and analyse the existing potential breach points. It gives us a clear idea about the entire security system and helps us to ensure whether the configuration system management has been followed properly within the company.
Such type of testing methods helps to evaluate the security investments, that is the total investment required to secure the entire network systems, what is needed, what works properly, and what does not work properly.
4. Protect your Clients, Projects or Third Parties
A vulnerability that attacks a company not only causes problems to themselves, but also to their clients, third parties and even the projects a company is handling with. However, if a company performs penetration testing regularly and takes necessary actions for security, then it will help others to have trust and confidence in that organization.

5. Guard Reputation of the Company and Maintain Public Relationships
A good public relationship and reputation are built by a company through years of struggle, regular hard work, and a large amount of investment. Even a small security issue or vulnerability attack can cause major damage to their reputation in public.
6. Help any sort of Financial Damage and avoid Fines
Simple unnoticed breaches can cause a great loss to the financial support of the company and systematic penetration testing can help you protect your organizations. Such testing keeps the major activities updated within the auditing system, which can avoid fines in the future.
7. Helps to keep a Check on Cyber Defence Capability
During the process of penetration testing, the target company should be able to identify multiple attacks and should be able to respond accordingly. The effectiveness of the protected devices like IDS, WAF or IPS can also be checked during penetration testing.
8. Performed after Deployment of New Infrastructure & Application
Pen testing should be certainly performed in companies after the deployment of a new infrastructure and application, like updating of the firmware, changes in the firewall rule, patches and upgrades to software. Because once changes happens in software performance testing, it’s easy for breaches to occur, so it is always better to keep the network secured.
9. Gap Analysis Maintenance
Pen testing/penetration testing is not a one time event, instead it should be a continual process that measures how well the entire security system performs. It also helps companies to gain awareness on gaps if any, in the system at a given point of time.
Penetration testing is necessary for any businesses that wants their network to be secure and operations to continue without any service disruption. With high-profile data vulnerabilities continuing to dominate, methods for enterprise cyber security have started to change. If you fail to test the network security and environment prior to use, it might be impossible to ensure complete security. And this is why penetration testing makes sense for organisations of all sizes.

3 Phases Involved in Testbytes Penetration Testing Process

Posted on May 29, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Penetration testing is performed to determine vulnerabilities in network, computer systems and applications. Standard penetration testing process involves analysis of conventional vulnerabilities and either software testing or network security scanning. The Testbytes penetration testing approach is a bit different from the usual vulnerability assessment tests. We focus on catering to your needs with a testing process that reflects quality.

The Process
The penetration testing process involves three phases: pre-engagement, engagement and post-engagement.
Pre-engagement
Planning and preparation
A successful penetration testing process involves lots of preparations before the actual testing process begins. It is important for every party involved in the testing process to be informed about every new step taken. Therefore, holding a meeting between the testers and the clients is the best way to start.
Purpose of the penetration test
If there is no clear purpose for conducting the penetration test, the results won’t be great. Therefore, the objective of penetration testing is determined during the meeting.
Scoping
It involves taking decisions regarding the machines, systems and network to be used, the operational requirements and the people involved.
The results
The form in which the end results will be presented is also discussed during the meeting.
Duration
Testbytes has different projects to handle at a time and therefore, it is necessary to allot the timing and duration for the penetration test so that the other works can also be done uninterrupted. Also, proper planning about the test duration will reduce risks of neglecting testing steps due to time constraints.
Documentation
Most of the information finalized during the meeting must be documented so that testers can use it in future. It must include the important steps and the expected outcome that the testers can refer to perform effective penetration testing.

An effective penetration testing involves the testers trying out illegal ways to determine the vulnerabilities. Also, the information gathered during the process is confidential. Therefore, it is necessary for the testers to sign certain legal documents before they start, to avoid trouble.
Collecting information and analysis
After planning and preparation, the next step is to gather information regarding the systems or networks on which the testing is to be performed. The online website of the targeted system is the best place to start information gathering. All these gathered information will be used during the later stages of penetration testing.
Engagement
There are many tools available these days to perform penetration testing. However, the judgement regarding the approach, tools, vulnerabilities etc. is done manually. A testing process is best done by using both automation and traditional testing process simultaneously.
Penetration testing must be performed in locations where there are no restrictions on ports or services by the Internet provider.
Application layer testing
The tester performs the testing process with regard to the different roles of the application. This involves the tester checking if the users can access the data that they are actually not allowed to access. Also, the developers must ensure that all the functionalities and application security have been set up before sending it to the testers so that they can perform the testing process effectively. In case the application uses a backend API, it has to be separately tested.
Network layer testing
Network layer testing can be automated since most of the protocols have been clearly defined and have standard modes of interaction. The testing tools can be used to determine misconfigurations and vulnerabilities and to identify a service or a software version. Testing automation helps to perform the tasks faster than when done manually. However, it does not work for the entire testing process. The testing tools help to determine the potential attack; however, it is up to the tester to interpret the vulnerabilities and act accordingly.
Segmentation check
Segmentation check involves the same testing process performed during the initial stages of network layer testing. During this step, the tester must ensure that:

All isolated LANs do not have access into the CDE
Each network segment isolated from CDE does not really have any access into the CDE

In scenarios that involve large number of network segments that have been isolated from CDE, using a representative subset for testing can help reduce the number of segmentation checks. The tester performs test on individual segments to make sure that all security controls are working as expected. In case it has been found out that the LANs have access to the CDE, the testers must try to limit the access or perform a complete a network layer penetration test to keep check on the access.

Access to cardholder data
In case the testers are able to access the cardholder data during the penetration testing process, the clients must be notified instantly. The testers must also document details of the data that was accessed and how it was accessed.
Post-engagement
After performing penetration testing, there are certain things that both the testers and the clients must do.
Remedial practices
There may be some vulnerability that is left undetected even after performing effective penetration testing. They occur mainly due to weak development practices or ineffective security controls. The testers will investigate the whole application to determine the hidden vulnerabilities.
Retest detected risks
After correcting the vulnerabilities that have been detected, the application will be retested to check whether the enhancements made still have the risk. If the retest is performed long time after the original test, it is important to perform a new testing engagement. Whether it is required or not can be determined after analyzing the quantity of changes that have been made after the original test.
Documentation
The testers document the changes that have been made during the test. This involves the new accounts created for testing and the tools installed by the testers to perform testing. These details will later be removed so that nobody can use it against the client organization.

7 Possible Security Testing Mistakes that Can Occur Anytime

Posted on May 18, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Mobile apps become a double- edged sword especially when a mobile payment application has to do mass transfers. New features are prone to hacking and extortion if not handled with care. NowSecure Mobile Security Report 2016 has found that 25% of the mobile applications always deal with at-least one highly extended security risk. When attacks on mobile applications increased, authorities started considering security checks before launching the app.

Here, we are going to discuss about 7 possible security testing errors that may occur but can be avoided:

Failing to understand how an application is exposed to risk

We know that to cure a disease, we have to understand the cause first. So, it’s necessary to analyse the possible security risks that can affect the user, device and systems, and the damages it can bring. ‘Threat modeling’ is a practice which helps organizations to analyse the potential of risk, measuring up the development and growth of the threat. Usually, the risks happen to be identity theft and financial fraud, where the password and user name to any kind of financial account of an individual is hacked. The type of attack depends on the hacker’s motive.

Failing to connect security with application design

Usually, security testing is left to be done at the end of the development process or is never done at all. This is mainly due to the misconception among developers that security testing costs a lot. But, patching up the bugs after the application reaches the audience is more expensive than designing a security checked code from beginning.

Lacking the quality in security testing

Checking vulnerabilities and block box testing should be included while performing security tests. Penetration testing has the ability to prevent bugs and malware from real world hackers and keeps apps secure. It is always better to arrange a professional security than an in- house testing team with little knowledge in security testing.

Use end-end encryption in data

Using weak or no encrypted data is a commonly made mistake which make data theft easier for the hacker. To avoid malwares, it’s better to use the end-end encryption in data for all data transferred through mobile devices. Apart from that, it is also important to input the encryption feature in devices so that non transmitted data is also secured. This has to be built directly into the device.

Exposing sensitive data

Try not to use password remembering feature which may lead to accidental login without the user being aware. Easy access to the login details can help hackers find the weakest points of an account. Never keep sensitive data unattended. Always ensure their safety. An experienced hacker may always try tricks on users to retrieve information.

Limit app features

Avoid adding features that doesn’t add value to your app. Keep the number of features to a minimum; it ensures that the app leaves a smaller surface for security attacks to happen, thus increasing safety. . THE same applies to permission requests, and therefore, ask permissions only for the necessary details.

Develop a security response plan

A 100% secure application is not possible, even though it passes through every type of testing. Technology is growing fast that new vulnerabilities are also being made every day to beat security plans.

We just can’t do anything about it.
But!
A critical action plan can be implemented by:-
1. Monitoring the device, identifying every unusual activity
2. Appointing an in/out house team to identify and recover threats
3. Having policies that help you to limit the damages

How to Do Security Testing For Web Applications

Posted on May 4, 2017 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Just like testing the performance of an application, it is also important to perform web application security testing for real users. Security testing is performed to detect vulnerabilities in an application while ensuring that the data is protected and that the application works as required.
Why Web Application Security Testing?
Among the different kinds of applications, web applications demand more security as they involve large amounts of important data and online transactions. The web apps must be tested to ensure that they are not vulnerable to any cyber-attacks.
In order to perform web application security testing, the tester must be well versed in the HTTP protocol. He/she should have a clear understanding of how the client (browser) and server communicate using HTTP.
The tester is also expected to know at least the basics of SQL injection and XSS. Though the number of defects regarding the security of web apps is comparatively low, the tester must take note of each defect detected, in detail.
While performing security testing, here’s the list of vulnerabilities a tester must keep a check on:

Password cracking
The most common way of a cyber attacker to gain access to a web app is by cracking the password. They may try to guess the password or use a password cracking tool to conduct the same. Therefore, the security tester must ensure that the app demands a strong password that must be encrypted.
URL manipulation
It’s easy to edit the URL in a browser. Lack of security can cause the users to be redirected and confidential data being leaked. Therefore, it is important for the security tester to check if the application passes vital data through its URL string. The web app becomes vulnerable to URL manipulation mainly when the app uses the HTTP GET method to pass information between the server and the client, which is usually passed in parameters in the query string. A security tester can just change a parameter value to see if the server accepts it.
SQL injection
Sometimes, a hacker may feed in illegal SQL statements to a text entry field so as to get access to web app content. If not security tested, the hackers may make use of this vulnerability to add, change or erase the data from the SQL-based database of the web app. While security tested, is even a single quote entered into the text field is rejected by the application, we can make sure that the app is safe. However, if the tester enters a quote and the app accepts it, but, shows a database error, the web app is vulnerable to SQL injection.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
It is important to make sure that the web app is not prone to cross-site scripting because if the attacker enters harmful script into your web app, you may end up unknowingly helping them to deliver the script to the people online. Therefore, the tester must ensure that the application rejects any malicious data and if at all it accepts the data, it must not affect the backed.
It is always best to test the app as a whole from a hacker’s point of view. Think of the different technologies used in the making of the app, different levels of access that users have to go through to log in and how the data can be obtained or stored. This will help you to recognize prospective weak points and see if they are vulnerable to common types of cyber-attack.
Also, think of the different methods and scenarios a hacker will try to crack into the app. Do not ignore any points as the hacker may get in through the least expected path.
Steps of Security Testing
Now, talking about the steps to perform security testing, it differs from different organizations. However, the basic process remains the same.

Understand what the business is about and its security goals. This helps to plan the test by considering all security needs of the organization while not going overboard
Understand and identify the security needs of the application
Gather all information regarding system setup information that was used for developing the web app and network such as the OS, technology, hardware, etc.
Identify the possible vulnerabilities and risks and make a list
Prepare a threat profile based on the list
Prepare test plan according to the identified possible vulnerabilities and risks
Prepare Traceability Matrix for each risk and vulnerability
Manual security testing can’t always be accurate and therefore, automated testing is also required. Make a list of the tools to be used for the same
Make the Security tests case document ready
Carry out the Security Test cases execution and once the identified defects have been fixed, retest
Execute the Regression Test cases
Create a detailed report on the security testing conducted, the vulnerabilities and risks identify and the risks that still persist.

Tools used For Web Application Security Testing

Apache Jmeter
Browser-stack
Load UI Pro
Ghostlab
Sauce Labs
JIRA
Soap UI
Test IO
Acunetix
Ranorex Webtestit
Netsparker
Experitest
TestComplete
LambdaTest
Selenium
Testcraft
Watin
Sahi
HP UFT
Testpad

Conclusion
With many advancements happening in this era of digitalization, we need to give considerable focus on filling gaps of vulnerability, minimizing hacker risks, and thereby securing our digital assets, in this case, web applications.

Why Security Testing is Emerging as a Trend Before The New Year?

Posted on December 15, 2016 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Now that New Year is just a month away, security testing services have started emerging as a popular trend. Several research reports can be found that claim how security testing services are going to be the buzzword in the coming year. It is not surprising to find out so many research reports flooding the market because of the increasing cyber-crimes. To eliminate these cyber-crimes and security threats, the security testing of applications, database and different networks has become the top priority for most companies. So, let’s first understand the different aspects of security testing services that are in focus now.

Following are the different aspects of security testing services that are making news:

Application Services: You can see several application services being introduced in the market. This include setting up of enterprise, Web, mobile and cloud configurations. Further, the work culture is also shifting because of the increasing demand for freelance employees. This has encouraged Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), work from home culture, and also the hiring of remote and offshore freelance employees. Reports suggest that in the coming years, almost 40% of the total workforce will be freelance employees. In such a case, security is a major concern as chances are that the security of the confidential information of the organisation might get compromised.
Application Tools and Methodology: Based on the goals of a business, the tools used for security testing services can be code review tools, automated testing tools and Web testing tools. Note that these testing tools must be periodically upgraded as and when to deal with cyber-crimes and cyber threats. Similarly different organisations must devise their own plans to deal with the cyber threats by using different evaluation methodologies such as performing security tests on a quarterly, semi-annually or annual basis. All over the world, organisations are ready to increase their budgets for performing security tests of their applications and networks in order to eliminate and minimize security threats and also reduce damages as far as possible even under some worst situations.
Industries: Now the million dollar question is which industries are looking for security testing services? In fact, every industry will try to secure its confidential business data and aim at increasing its market share.

Be it an e-commerce, retail, government establishments, healthcare, or telecom industry, the top focus will be to add technological innovations in its business. This will, however, also lead to vulnerability. Therefore, security testing must be done to eliminate any possibility of security threats.

Most business organisations have been able to increase their revenues by including security testing services in their business models and securing business applications. To get the real advantages of applications, organisations must be ready with security features in their applications and this can be done by appointing security testing services to perform security testing. Security testing companies use the latest methodologies, testing tools and mobile devices to provide high-quality application.

5 Reasons Why Your Security Testing Needs to Be Crowd Sourced

Posted on August 10, 2015 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

It is common for companies to launch bug bounties in order to improve upon existing security assessment tools and services. Researchers, who help with software testing, discover and resolve bugs for a reward which greatly improves the level of security. This process is referred to as crowd-sourcing.

Heroku, Twilio, Pinterest, and Dropcam are great examples of companies that utilize the process of crowd-sourcing in software testing. This helps in enhancing security in today’s world of increasing breaches.

Also Read: Top 5 Software Testing Trends to Look Out For in 2015

Here are 5 reasons why crowdsourcing can be your trump card:
1. Better results
When more security researchers are involved in assessing an application, naturally the test coverage for an app increases. More researchers mean a more diversified software testing knowledge. A different skill set is brought to the table with the addition of a researcher through crowd-sourcing.
The results obtained are something that is unattainable using conventional testing methodologies. This method is even better than the structured patterns of automated testing or the use of a handful of penetration testing consultants.
2. Cost Effective
Regardless of the results, penetration testers and security researchers are paid for their time. This invokes a belief that tapping security resources can cost you a lot. This is where a crowd-sourced bug bounty program can help you be more cost efficient. Under this model, rewards are only needed to be given to researchers who first find a valid vulnerability. This means payment is done based on the vulnerabilities they find or the bugs they fix.
Submitting a duplicate isn’t rewarded which helps reduce the cost per vulnerability which is in turn a cost efficient and legitimate method to find and report bugs.
3. Safe method of Disclosing a Breach/Exploit
By having a bug bounty or responsible disclosure program, your company is protected from a hacker who may fully disclose an exploit to the public. Inadequate set of rules for report the vulnerability more often than not causes bug leak to the public. Oftentimes companies are caught off guard by this lack of proper communication. Companies can use the transparent rules together with an increase its security which they get by using a bug bounty program.
4. Benefit of a Continuous Security Testing
A system update or code push or even something as simple as being online may cause software to become vulnerable. Running pen tests or automated scanners can shed light on a few bugs, but they are incapable of providing the extra layer of protection which is given by bug bounty program. Researchers from different countries all across the globe can test an app at any time to alert your team through crowd-sourcing.
5. Free your team
Time consumption and inefficiency are some defects related to searching for vulnerabilities especially when done in small numbers. Crowd-sourced security testing can free up IT teams to validate and fix the discovered vulnerabilities which are their sole responsibilities. This helps to fix security issues even before they become a problem, which is far better than reacting to a production level bug that your team is unprepared for.

Also Read: 8 Instances Software Bugs Proved To be too Costly

Incentivizing researchers through crowd-sourcing will help you protect your product in the world where security exploits have been increasing. This helps to level the playing field and proactively secure apps with the help of white-hat researchers.