From emails to banking and online shopping, businesses are getting their businesses to customers browsers daily, evading the requirement for complex update launches or installations. Moreover, businesses are launching internal web-based applications for marketing automation, finance, internal communication, and more. These are either homegrown or fine-tuned for the specific needs of customers. Though web applications offer great convenience to customers and business alike, their ubiquity is what makes them a target for cybercriminals. Hence, web applications security testing or testing web application for risk becomes vital.
What is Web Application Security Testing?
Web application security testing refers to the procedure of testing, identifying, and reporting about the posture or security level of web applications. It is mainly used by security administrators and web development Canada companies to test and measure the strength of security of web applications using automated and manual security testing methods. The main goal behind web applications security testing is identifying any threats or vulnerabilities that can endanger the integrity or security of a web application.
This systematic process begins from recognizing and scoping an entire application, which is followed by planning various tests. Usually, the security testing is done once the application is created. The application will undergo a demanding testing process that involves a series of fictitious, malicious attacks to find out how the application responds and performs. The overall web application security testing procedure is followed by format reports that include the possible threats, recognized vulnerabilities, and recommendations to overcome the shortfalls. The testing process generally includes the following processes:
- Password quality rules
- Brute force attack test
- Session cookies
- SQL injection
- User authorization processes
Different Web Application Security Tests
Dynamic Application Security Tests: These tests are best for the internal, low-risk web applications that should comply with regulatory assessments. For critical and medium-risk web applications undergoing small changes, combining this test with a few manual tests can be the best option.
Static Application Security Tests: These tests offer manual and automated security methods. It is great for recognizing bugs without executing applications in production environments. It lets app development services Toronto to scan the source code and find and remove security vulnerabilities.
Penetration Tests: These tests are excellent for critical web applications, particularly those undergoing many major changes. The evaluation includes adversary and business logic- based testing to find superior attack scenarios.
Why is Web Application Security Testing Important?
Web application security testing intends to find out security vulnerabilities in applications and configurations. The main target is the web application’s layer. Web application security testing often includes sending different inputs to provoke the errors and make a system work in unexpected methods. Such negative tests find out if the system is performing anything that it is not intended to do. You should also understand that web application security testing isn’t only about security features testing that are included in the web application. It is also vital to ensure that all the other features are applied securely. The aim is to guarantee that the features and functions are secure in the web application.
Tips for Web Security Testing
- Test Business-Critical Systems Frequently: A system that stores client data, such as personal identifiable information, credit card numbers, or other sensitive data, must be tested frequently for any security vulnerabilities. It is often necessary according to many industry- or government-mandatory compliance guidelines. Remember this while looking at the prospective scope of testing a web application in your business.
- The Earlier the Test in Done, the Better It Is: Never leave the security testing as the last step of your software development process. Vulnerabilities will be discovered surely and it can throw a wrench in the development as well as maintenance procedure. So, ensure to get security testing into the procedure in the application’s development lifecycle, generally with the involvement of your DevOps team. This will help streamline responses, decrease risks, and reduce any time or cost spent on remedies.
- Keep The Development Team On Track By Ordering Bug Fixes And Remediation: The application’s security output will frequently be the list of products that development team should address. Security names them vulnerabilities but the development team names them bugs. So, ensure to prioritize all the vulnerabilities and integrate with the bugs tracking system to maximize your time for remediation.
Features to Be Reviewed During the Testing of a Web Application
Below is the list of features that should be reviews while performing a web application security test. An inapt implementation of them can lead to vulnerabilities, resulting in severe risk for your business.
Server and Application Configuration: Future defects are related to web server configuration, encryption or cryptographic configuration, and more.
Session and Authentication Management: Vulnerabilities can potentially lead to user impersonation. Hence, credential protection and strength must be considered.
Error and Input Validation Handling: Cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and other injection vulnerabilities are because of poor output and input handling.
Business Logic: They are vital to most web applications that offer business functionality.
Authorization: Testing an application’s ability to protect it against horizontal and vertical privilege escalations.
Client-Side Logic: With heavy and modern JavaScript web pages, along with webpages using other kinds of customer-side technologies, this kind of feature is now becoming prevalent.
Conclusion
Security testing of a web application involves various checks performed to find whether the confidential information remains confidential or not. This also helps ensure that the users perform only those jobs that they actually are authorized to do. The main aim of a web application security test is discovering the different vulnerabilities of a web application so that the application developers can eliminate them from the web application. The vulnerabilities occur mainly because the web applications have to interact with many users across many networks, and this level of accessibility can be taken benefit of by the hackers. The security test will help make both the web application and the data safe from unauthorized actions.