Know About Software Security Testing: Types, Tools, and Focus Areas!

Security testing looks at the vulnerability of the software to cyber-attacks and tests the impact of unpredicted inputs. It ensures that the systems and information are secure and well-grounded. This software testing process assesses and authenticates a software product and its functionality. Coming under the category of non-functional testing, it focuses on the precise design and configuration of the product, which means “how” the software does it. Unlike non-functional testing, Functional testing focuses on properly working the software’s functions, which means “what” the software does.

Furthermore, It aims to make sure that an organization’s systems, applications, and data stand by some principles such as confidentiality, integrity, authentication, authorization, availability, and non-repudiation are achieved.

Let’s check some security testing data!

• According to Ibis World, 20% of the demand for software testing comes from the Federal and State governments.

• Astra report cites, The global network security market is expected to grow by a CAGR of 12% from 2021 to 2028.

Let us further discuss some of the goals of security testing!

Objectives of Security Testing

Identification of Assets: It protects the data and software required to be secure such as software applications and computing infrastructure.

Identification of threats and vulnerabilities: It aims to Identify bottlenecks and threats in the software that hackers can use to cause damage to the assets.

Identification of Risk: It evaluates risks that can negatively affect the business by estimating the intensity of a threat or vulnerability likely to get exploited.

Improved Performance: Security testing provides the right direction for strengthening and verifying successfully fastened vulnerabilities, thus improving performance.

Types of Security Testing

Vulnerability Scanning: It is a continuous process enabling the organization to identify, access, report, manage and improve security vulnerabilities. Typically, used to identify inconsistency and vulnerability signatures. The team uses tools to discover and fix vulnerabilities through manual or automatic processes. In addition, It is used to obtain an understanding of the guideline for security risks.

Penetration Testing: Another name for Penetration Testing is Pen-Testing. Moreover, it stimulates an actual-time cyberattack against software or a system. Therefore, it should be performed manually by trusted and certified experts so that the strength to understand the security measures against the attacks are strong. An important factor with the Pen-Yesying is that it exposes unknown vulnerabilities.

Security Audits: A structured process auditing the software under a defined standard is known as a security audit. Audits usually entail reviews of codes considering the security requirements, security gaps analysis, and assessment of the security posture of hardware or physical configurations, user practices, operating systems, organizational practices, etc. It evaluates conformity with regulatory standards and frameworks as well.

Risk Assessment: This Security testing identifies, analyzes, and classifies the security risks overlooked by its business-critical assets. Moreover, it helps to understand the most critical threats to an organization’s infrastructure. In addition to that, it helps with long-term security investment planning and budgeting.

Posture Assessment: Through posture assessment, the organization’s overall security posture is assessed with a combination of security scanning, ethical hacking, and risk assessment. It combines security scans, ethical hacking, and risk assessment to identify risks faced by the organization, its current security controls, and the effectiveness of these controls. Furthermore, they can recommend changes or improvements in the progress of these protected assets.

Key Focus Areas of Security Testing

• Authentication and authorization of users and devices
• System Software Security
• Network and Infrastructure Security
• Data Security
• Client-side and server-side application security
• Database Security
• Security of systems data
• Testing of systems compliance
• Security of applications inside the systems

Software Security Testing Approaches!

A developer needs to keep in mind the below-mentioned approaches while preparing and planning security tests –

Architecture Study and Analysis: Initial step should be to understand if the software meets the requirements.

Categorize Threats: A list of all the must-test potential threats and risk factors should be maintained.

Test Set-up: Running out the tests based on the identified threats, security risks, and vulnerabilities.

Identification of Testing Tools: The developers should determine the best-suited software testing tools.

Test Case Execution: The developer should fix the issues manually or use open-source code after the security test.

Preparation of Reports: A detailed test report is prepared. It holds the list of all the vulnerabilities, threats, pending, and resolved issues.

Parting Thoughts!

Security Testing helps identify the system’s vulnerabilities that attackers may misuse, such as weak passwords and unpatched software. It also helps to ensure that the system meets the security standards with improved system security. Identifying and fixing the prior identification of potential threats help reduce the risk. There are some loopholes, too, with the various advantages of security testing. It requires special hardware and software resources, which is termed resource intensive. Moreover, it is complex, has limited testing scope, and is time-consuming. Hiring a software testing company can work out well since that will save time, and the software will get ready under experts’ hands.