What is security testing?

It involves assessing the system’s ability to protect data and proactively resist unauthorized access or attacks.

Methods involved in security testing

• API testing: APIs provide access to sensitive data, so it’s important to rigorously and regularly test them from unauthorized access or abuse. APIs can be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MtTM) attacks or denial of service attacks (DoS), so it’s critical to partner with API providers that take steps to verify that APIs maintain strong user authorization, authentication, and SSL/TLS encryption for all communications.

• Penetration testing: Ethical hacking is the process of simulating a cyber attack under safe conditions. A skilled security professional attempts to gain unauthorized access or manipulate the system to uncover weaknesses in existing security measures, such as zero-day threats or business logic vulnerabilities.

• Vulnerability management: A continuous process that helps to identify, assess, report, and remediate security vulnerabilities within a system. This can include scanning for weak passwords, insecure network configurations, and other common security issues. Vulnerability scanning tools allow users to detect potential issues and implement manual or automatic processes to remedy them.

• Security audits: A structured process that reviews an app or software based on defined standards, such as security policies, permissions, firewall rules, and other security-related settings. This usually involves reviewing code or architecture, hardware configurations, operations, and more to ensure they align with security best practices.

• Compliance testing: Assesses whether a system meets industry best practices and specific security requirements outlined in compliance frameworks such as PCI DD, HIPAA, ISO 27001, GDPR, and more.

• Security control testing: Evaluates the efficacy of security controls and mechanisms with a system, including authentication, encryption, access controls, error handling, input validation, and more.

After conducting security testing, you generate a report that outlines the identified vulnerabilities, their severity, and recommended next steps. This helps to prioritize security improvements.

Security testing is an ongoing process that should be integrated with software development and service lifecycles. It plays a central role in helping businesses reduce the risks of data breaches and maintain a strong security posture that’s resistant to outside threats.