Hello all, Thamsil Ahmed here. In this blog, I would like to share with you some of my knowledge of security testing. This type of testing is of vital importance to any software as it aims to find vulnerabilities that ill-intentioned parties can use to cause harm.
Security testing involves finding the flaws or bugs related to the security features of that product. To find and correct these bugs as quickly as possible is very crucial, to avoid any kind of mishaps and involvement of intruders with an intention to harm. It is an important process to ensure the safety of a developed product and its users. The whole process involves evaluating the system from a security point of view and involves regular tests to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited and cause harm.
This type of testing evaluates the product from the security point of view, trying to identify the possible vulnerabilities that have a chance of being exploited by intruders with malicious intent. There are different forms of security testing, such as security scanning, vulnerability scanning penetration testing, risk assessment, ethical hacking, security auditing, and posture assessment. These types of testing are included as a part of a general security strategy to guarantee that all potential weaknesses in a system are detected and tackled before they get exploited.
What are the different types of security testing?
Security scanning involves evaluating the system to uncover the threats and vulnerabilities, with both automated and manual tools. These risks are analyzed in depth, and based on the analysis, a solution is provided to mitigate the risk.
Vulnerability scanning is all about using automated tools to identify misconfigurations and open ports, which provides a comprehensive picture of the security status of a product or system and identifies the areas to be worked on.
Penetration testing is considered a more comprehensive type of security testing. Here, the attempt is made to exploit the known vulnerabilities, in order to determine if an intruder can access the system and what type of data can be accessed. In other words, penetration testing involves replicating an attack, not with malicious intent, but to examine the system for potential vulnerabilities and working on them.
Ethical hacking is very similar to penetration testing but is much broader. It also involves simulating possible attacks to exploit the vulnerabilities but without a malicious intent. The key difference between ethical hacking and penetration testing is the scope of testing. While penetration testers conduct tests within the scope specified, testing involved in ethical hacking doesn’t have any such scope.
Risk assessment involves analyzing the risks identified and categorized into 3, Low, Medium, and High. It also involves understanding the perspective of the testing and the probable causes of risk, such as the quality of the product and other technical issues.
Security auditing involves the overall, in-depth analysis or inspection of the product, where each line of code is inspected.
Posture assessment is a combination of security scanning, vulnerability scanning, and risk assessment. It is performed to determine the security posture or stance of a product or organization.
To conclude, security testing is a significant part of any organization’s security policy. Routine testing can assist organizations to detect possible vulnerabilities and take measures to remediate them before a cyber-attack take place. Organizations should guarantee these tests are conducted regularly to ensure that their products and systems are safe and free from vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
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