A Deep Dive into Application Security Testing 

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Apps are everywhere these days. They are ubiquitous tools for organizations to deliver services and run operations. However, this has not not gone unnoticed in the eyes of threat actors. They’re eager to barge into the application environment to get sensitive data. But protecting applications is not easy. There are so many ways to attack them.

That’s why security experts keep an eye from the application development phase till they go live, and even when they’re deployed in the cloud. It’s a continuous process. 

This blog delves deeper to explain various aspects of application security testing, methodologies, best practices, and how SecureLayer7 can help protect your applications. 

What is Application Security Testing? 

Application security refers to a process of evaluating applications for identifying and fixing potential vulnerabilities and various other security weaknesses. It encompasses web, mobile, and desktop applications, as well as APIs. Its primary purpose is to take proactive steps before  malicious actors can exploit these loopholes. 

Application security testing utilizes various techniques, including static and dynamic testing, penetration testing, and source code analysis. This includes examining several areas, such as input validation, authentication, authorization, data encryption, and session management. AST encompasses various tests, analyzes, and shares reports about your  application’s security posture. 

Significance of Application Security Testing:

Security testing helps evaluate an application’s security status, identify potential vulnerabilities and threats, and mitigate them. This is an integral stage in the SDLC, enabling teams to uncover application security concerns before they develop into severe attacks and breaches.

An in-depth understanding of business logic, data flow, and interdependencies between components and requirements of the application enhances testers’ ability to find potential vulnerabilities, and performance bottlenecks.  Here are some key advantages it offers: reasons:

  • AST helps protect business-critical data. Applications handle sensitive data, such as personal information, financial records, or intellectual property. Security testing ensures that threat actors can’t access this data. 
  • It aids in compliance. Some industries are sensitive and have strict policies on data privacy and security matters, such as HIPAA, GDPR, OWASP, and NIST. Application security testing helps  avoid fines and legal implications that may arise out of noncompliance of mandatory compliances and standards. 
  • It increases people’s trust in the organization. Regular application security tests can help prevent security breach incidents, thereby maintaining the organization’s integrity and reputation.
  • It saves costs. The cost of fixing vulnerabilities in terms of money and time at the development stage is much less than dealing with security issues post deployment. 
  • Application security test assists in managing new threats. The landscape of threats constantly changes, and new vulnerabilities are discovered regularly. Continuously conducting security tests helps ensure applications are protected against these threats. 
  • It protects from third-party integrations. Many apps have third-party components or APIs integrated into them, which may expose your applications to security risks if they don’t have adequate security protocols. 

Application Security Testing Methodologies 

There are three types of application security testing methodologies, which include: 

  • Black-box security testing: In black-box pen-testing, testers think out of the box and perform as real hackers. They attempt to break into a system like a malicious actor.  
  • White-box security testing: In this case, testers know everything about the system. They have unrestricted access to the system, and they understand code base quality, API documentation, and internal designs. 
  • Gray-box security testing: Here, testers have limited knowledge of the system and carry out focused attacks.  

Application Security Testing Techniques 

There are several application security testing methodologies, which includes the following:

Application security testing techniques

1. Vulnerability Scanning

 Utilizing vulnerability scanners helps in identifying security vulnerabilities in operating systems and software. This is part of vulnerability management programs to enhance security and prevent breaches. VA results provide insights into security readiness and help mitigate risks.   

  • External vulnerability scanning aims to identify vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit from outside the organization’s cloud network.
  • Internal vulnerability scanning assists in identifying vulnerabilities that could potentially be exploited by attackers who have already gained internal access, such as employees or third-party vendors. 
  • Non-intrusive vulnerability scanning is a type of vulnerability scanning, or passive scanning that involves assessing a system’s security without interacting with the application. This relies on observing network traffic, analyzing configurations, and examining publicly available information to identify potential vulnerabilities.
  • Intrusive vulnerability scanning is a type of VA that actively interacts with the target system to identify vulnerabilities. This can include sending specific packets, attempting to exploit vulnerabilities, and interacting with applications to simulate real-world attack scenarios.

2. Penetration testing

Penetration testing methodology refers to simulated attacks on a computer system to evaluate its security. Pen testers assess the impact of potential weaknesses using penetration techniques, tools, and methods that real attackers might employ. This ensures that systems can withstand attacks from authenticated or unauthenticated sources. Here are the different phases of penetration testing:     

  • Scope: This is the first stage in which boundaries and objectives of the security testing and the rules of engagement are established.
  • Reconnaissance: Penetration testers gather information about potential vulnerabilities of target systems. This may include OSINT (Open Source Intelligence), network scanning, and social engineering techniques.
  • Vulnerability Analysis: Security experts use the information obtained from reconnaissance stage information to pinpoint loopholes using scanners and manual assessment. .
  • Exploitation stage: Now, penetration testers attempt to exploit discovered vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access using a combination of publicly available exploits, custom scripts, and manual techniques.
  • Data Collection: After the exploitation stage, pentesters gather evidence of successful exploits and system compromises. This may include screenshots, system logs, and extracted data.
  • Analysis stage: This includes evaluating collected data to understand the nature and scope of vulnerabilities and their impact, and to identify patterns and systemic weaknesses in the system.
  • Reporting phase: This is the final stage when a detailed report containing the penetration testing findings is prepared. This report includes an executive summary, detailed technical information, risk assessments, and actionable recommendations for remediation.

3. Security Code Review

Code review is a critical process in secure application development. This involves systematically examining source code to identify potential security vulnerabilities, logic errors, and adherence to prescribed coding standards. This identifies security flaws that creep in the early phase of the development cycle, reducing the cost and effort of fixing issues later while improving overall code quality.  

  • SAST (Static Application Security Testing) is an automated testing method that analyzes source code, byte code, or binary code without executing the application. It scans the codebase for known vulnerability patterns, security flaws, and coding best practices violations. SAST tools can be integrated into the development pipeline.
  • DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) analyzes a running application by simulating attacks from the outside. This interacts with the application like a threat actor would, sends malformed inputs and analyzes responses to identify security vulnerabilities. DAST identifies issues that would manifest only during runtime, such as authentication problems or injection vulnerabilities. 

4. Ethical Hacking 

Ethical hacking is the practice of legally and authorized testing computer systems, networks, and applications to identify security vulnerabilities. There are several types of ethical hacking, including the following:

  • Web application hacking focuses on identifying vulnerabilities in web-based applications. Its primary objective is to test for common issues like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), broken authentication, and insecure direct object references. They utilize automated scanning tools and manual testing techniques.
  • System hacking involves assessing the security environment of entire networks by attempting to gain unauthorized access to systems, escalate privileges, and maintain persistence. Its purpose is to identify and address overall system architecture and configuration vulnerabilities in application systems.
  • Web server hacking focuses on identifying vulnerabilities in the servers that host websites and web applications. Ethical hackers test for misconfigurations in the system, legacy software, and vulnerabilities in server-side technologies like Apache, Nginx, or IIS. This demands a deep knowledge of server architectures, network protocols, and common server-side programming languages.
  • Database hacking involves gaining unauthorized access to databases, extracting sensitive information, and manipulating data. Additionally, it tests for vulnerabilities like SQL injection, weak authentication, improper access controls, and unencrypted data storage.

Understanding Security Testing Attributes

Security testing must cover several critical attributes to evaluate an organization’s systems, applications, and processes thoroughly. These attributes help pinpoint weaknesses, threats, and security hazards that may serve as an entry point for attackers to gain unlawful entry. 

The seven key attributes that security testing must include are enumerated below.

key attributes of Application security testing
  • Confidentiality

Confidentiality guarantees that sensitive information is safeguarded from unapproved and unlawful access. The primary objective of security testing is to ensure that sensitive data, such as personal, financial, and proprietary information, is encrypted in a proper manner, access-controlled, and comprehensively protected from unapproved users.

For example, confidentiality in a securities trading application ensures users’ account information and transaction history are always protected from illegal and unlawful access.

  • Integrity

Integrity ensures that data remains authentic, correct, and free from adulteration at all times. Security testing should verify the presence of mechanisms that forestall illegitimate modification or tampering of data at all stages, from storage to transmission and processing.

For example, in an ecommerce application, integrity ensures that the product prices and order quantities remain correct and precise while the order is being processed.

  • Authentication

Authentication verifies the identity of users and entities with access to systems and applications. Security testing should assess the firmness and soundness of authentication mechanisms to ward off unauthorized access, including identifying weak passwords and insecure authentication methods and ensuring proper session management.

For example, authentication in the corporate email system ensures that only employees with the requisite authority can access their email accounts.

  • Authorization

Authorization determines the actions that users or entities are allowed to carry out once their credentials are established. Security testing must evaluate the effectiveness of access controls, ensuring that users have the requisite authorization to carry out tasks. 

For example, authorization ensures that only healthcare professionals with the requisite credentials can access patients’ medical records within a medical records system.

  • Availability

Availability ensures that systems and applications are operational and accessible as and when the need  to access them arises. Security testing should validate that adequate defenses are in place and available to thwart any downtime caused by attacks such as DDoS or resource exhaustion.

For example, a cloud-based customer support platform needs to be accessible and operational at all times to ensure that customer inquiries are handled appropriately and timely.

  • Non-Repudiation

Non-repudiation ensures that users or entities cannot deny their actions at a later time. Security testing should assess the accuracy and robustness of audit logs and digital signatures to ward off disputes and confirm the authenticity of transactions.

For example, a digital contract signing platform guarantees non-repudiation through digital signatures.

  • Resilience

Resilience ensures systems can endure and quickly recover from security incidents and attacks. Security testing should evaluate the organization’s capability to identify and respond to breaches quickly, keep the impact of attacks to a minimum, and swiftly restore normal operations.

For example, an online shopping app should remain fully operational during peak shopping seasons.  

Security Testing Best Practices

To maximize the effectiveness and thoroughness of application security testing process, security testers should adhere to these key practices:

  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of the application’s structure, functions, and potential security risks. This helps write more targeted test cases to address entire security aspects of the application.
  • Utilize a mix of white-box, black-box, and grey-box testing methodologies, as their combined use ensures a more robust and comprehensive security assessment.
  • Given the rapid evolution of security threats and vulnerabilities, staying informed about industry developments is crucial. 
  • Maintain close cooperation between QA engineers and developers. This helps mitigate security risks throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and significantly reduces the potential for security breaches in the final product.  

Why Choose SecureLayer7 

SecureLayer7 offers comprehensive application penetration testing services to help businesses secure applications. 

Some of our USPs include: 

  • Battle-tested methodology: Provides deep insights through our proven hybrid security assessment.  
  • Comprehensive coverage: SecureLayer7 offers comprehensive mobile app security including web, Android and iOS penetration testing, source code review, API security assessment, cloud security, and infrastructure security evaluation. Our multi-layered approach ensures thorough protection across all aspects of mobile applications.
  • Safeguard your data Uncover and address critical vulnerabilities, including OWASP Top 10 threats
  • Fortify your backend infrastructure: Ensure your backend systems are rock-solid and security-optimized. 
  • Robust protection: Build resilience against sophisticated real-world cyber attacks. 
  • Optimize business logic: Tailored security checks aligned with your unique application workflows. 
  • Identify Weakness in App: Identify and shore up potential weak points before they can be exploited. 
  • Hybrid approach: Hybrid testing approach combines automated and manual techniques to uncover even the most complex vulnerabilities.  

Conclusion 

Application security breaches can damage reputation and finances. However, there is no single foolproof methodology to protect it. This requires a holistic approach that includes a combination of methodologies and in-depth expertise in proactive testing. The ideal approach depends on your organization’s unique needs, industry context, and technical requirements.

If you’re looking for a reliable application security testing partner, SecureLayer7 can help. Our experts can safeguard apps, help protect user privacy, and prevent data breaches, while helping you adhere to the latest security standards.

 Contact us now to secure your application.  

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