What is Application security testing?

The major goal of software development is to develop an application that is scalable, secure, flexible and also meets the requirements of the clients. To ensure the security of the application various measures are taken by the developers to protect against any attack on the data. One such method is Application Security Testing (AST) which aims at discovering all the security issues in the product developed. Performing this test ensures that the application is resistant to the different types of threats that it would usually face. The major goal of this test is to test and fix all the issues in the application before it is deployed and exploited.

Importance of Application Security Testing:

Application Security Testing is mandatory and an important testing process that should be used before the application is deployed in the market. These are the key reasons why we need Application security testing.

1. Identify Vulnerabilities: It helps to identify and detect all the vulnerabilities present in the application that affect the security.
2. Mitigation of Risk: All security threats need to be mitigated as they cause a lot of trouble after the attack occurs. This test helps to mitigate all the risks associated with the early stage.
3. Protection of sensitive data: All the applications developed will have sensitive data stored in the database, this test helps us to protect them from unauthorized access and manipulation.
4. Cost-Efficientaffect Security: It is always cost-efficient to detect vulnerabilities before they are deployed. The cost increases significantly as the development cycle proceeds.
5. Maintain User trust: Data integrity should be protected to uphold the trust. Testing the application at regular intervals of time will help to safeguard the data.

Need for Application security testing:

These Application security tests are used to discover various types of threats that an application may be attacked. This threat needs to be identified and proper actions need to be taken to avert the potential threat that the attack poses. The Application security testing will be able to track down all the security attacks, some of them include:

1. Injection Attacks: These injection attacks include SQL injection and the Command Injection where the attackers insert malicious commands and code through the input field to manipulate the database in the worst case destroy the database.
2. Denial Of Service (DoS) Attack: The major goal of this attack is to restrict the normal functioning of the application by overloading the infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic. It results in the slow performance of the site where the legitimate users won’t be able to reach the site.
3. API Security Issues: If the API does not properly identify the users who can access it, with no encryption then unauthorized users will gain access to the data and there will be loss of data integrity. The API keys received by the user should be stored securely.
4. Information Leakage: Exposure of sensitive data due to poor handling of the methods and encryption methods. Vulnerabilities in the third-party components should also be studied before.
5. Cross-Site Request Forgery: It is a type of vulnerability that occurs when a malicious script uses the user’s web browser to perform unwanted activities on other sites where there is authentication. Proper security measures should be taken to protect websites and the users.
6. Broken Authentication and Session Management: If the authentication performed is not strong enough to detect the malicious users it will result in unauthorized access.

Limitations of Application Security Testing:

1. Resource Intensive: It requires significant computational resources, which can lead to increased costs and time.
2. Not a Complete Solution: It cannot guarantee 100% security and may miss some vulnerabilities.
3. Dependency on Tools: The effectiveness largely depends on the capabilities of the testing tools used.
4. Complex: It involves intricate processes and requires specialized knowledge to perform effectively.
5. Generation of False Positives: It may flag benign activities as threats, leading to unnecessary follow-ups.
6. Limited Scope: It can only test for known vulnerabilities and may not cover all potential security risks.

Tools Used for Application Security Testing:

1. SAST(Static Application Security Test):

Static application Security testing is a type of security testing that will analyse the source code of an application to identify if there are any security vulnerabilities without running the actual program. It is performed during the development phase and is a white box testing method as it tests the internal workings of the application.

2. DAST(Dynamic Application Security Test):

Dynamic application Security testing is a type of security testing that assesses the security of the application when it is running. Unlike its counterpart, the Static Application Security testing which has the source code the DAST evaluates the application in its live deployment. It interacts with the application as an unknown attacker to check if it is possible to penetrate the security features of the website.

3. IAST(Interactive Application Security Test)

Interactive application Security testing is a type of security testing that assesses the security of the application by combining both static and dynamic analysis. It performs the test by having insights about the source code and also performs the test during the runtime to know about the application’s response to a particular attack.

4.MAST( Mobile Application Security Test):

Mobile Application Security Testing is a type of testing that analyses mobile apps for the security procedures that the application has posed to protect the app from all types of cyber-attacks and data theft. It also includes testing the application for all the operating systems.

5.SCA(Software Composition analysis):

Software Composition analysis is a security process that is widely used in the analysis of the third-party components that are used in the application. It aims to detect all the issues and vulnerabilities that the third-party component will pose as a threat to the application developed.

6.RASP(Runtime Application Self-Protection):

It is a security technology that provides an additional layer of protection for the application when they are deployed. It always aims at implementing security measures in the network layer and detecting and responding to security threats in real time.

Application Security Testing

How to perform Security Testing:

• This test is performed as a combination of both manual testing and automated tools to identify and analyse the vulnerabilities. Initially, the objectives and the scope are defined.
• The second step would be to choose the most suitable security testing tool and methods based on the application. All the testing environments such as the servers, network configurations and the API are set up. The results of the analysis should be done to identify all the possible threats and assess the threat level.
• All the risk needs to be assessed and prioritized to know each vulnerability. A plan needs to be devised to ensure that the vulnerabilities are addressed, and remedies should be taken.
• All the process needs to be repeated until the application meets the standards. The entire testing process should be documented, and there should be continuous monitoring and improvement. It is very important to integrate all the security testing into the SDLC and view it as an iterative process.

Conclusion:

Application security testing is an essential and proactive method that ensures that the software application developed is not prone to any sort of threat. By assessing the vulnerabilities of the application throughout the development stage the risk associated with the threat can be averted beforehand. The evolving nature of cybersecurity makes this test inevitable to protect sensitive data. As this test addresses all the vulnerabilities before the deployment it greatly reduces the cost involved in security.