Finding Network Holes Before the Criminals Do
One of the major elements of protection against breaches and hacks has been in the adoption of application security testing or “AST.” Where it was once a manual process, coordinated as part of the IT department duties, Application Security Testing has become a well developed and automated method to seek out and test for any system vulnerabilities. Without the use of AST, an organisation is leaving itself open to the more sophisticated ways that cybercriminals can make their attacks. Professionals in the AST realm have crafted their programs to work as a multi-level strategy and in doing so, they can locate weak points and help to stop potential threat actors.
AST goes beyond just the obvious touch points. Today’s programs combine a kind of “deep research” into every nook and cranny that could allow exposure for a criminal to take advantage of. This approach is a requirement as cybercriminals have transitioned from loosely-knit gangs of hackers into complete professional businesses using sophisticated coding. Threat actors are maintaining a fluid attitude, often changing locations as well as countries as they look for easier and more profitable means.
Some of the applications that are involved in application testing can include:
White box testing/Static application security testing (SAST): Inspection by testers of static source code and the internal “guts” of an application including compiled and non-compiled code to create vulnerability reports.
Black box testing/Dynamic application security testing (DAST): A tool that executes code while it inspects it within runtime. It involves detecting vulnerabilities in such areas as script use, query strings, authentication, requests/responses, data injection, and memory leaks. DAST can also be an important tool for larger scale simulations as it creates reports in the case of larger malicious attacks.
IAST (Interactive Application Security Testing: This tool combines both DAST and SAST and was designed as a more efficient approach to find a larger range of vulnerabilities within a system. Functioning within the application server it inspects compiled software while also inspecting during runtime for any weaknesses. The purpose is to hone down into finding weak areas within the code so that it can be repaired. This is specifically useful for API testing.
MAST (Mobile Application Security Testing) Addresses mobile-specific problems using the same abilities as DAST, SAST and IAST. Seeks problem areas in mobile devices such as malicious WiFi networks, “jailbreaking,” and even data leakage so that these areas can be remediated.
SCA(Software Composition Analysis): This tool assists when using open-source and third-party commercial integrations and interfaces. SCA analyses which components may have security issues and identifies the areas for repair.
RASP (Runtime Application Self-Protection): Another evolution that originated with DAST, SAST, and IAST, this tool does a traffic analysis for the detection of threats. The analysis also identifies any weak areas that may have been breached and offers an alert or session termination. RASP has an additional ability for application integration and not only detects and warns, but prevents attacks. Some consider RASP as a priority tool as it reduces the priority need for DAST, SAST and IAST.
“Application security testing has now become one of the most important aspects of protecting the integrity of a company’s network. The growth in development of these tools has been one of the highest levels to circumvent cyber threats. DaVinci Cybersecurity works brings a wealth of partnerships and alliances to recommend the type of AST that fits your needs.”
Sharon Knowles, CEO DaVinci Cybersecurity
Source:
www.getastra.com/blog/security-audit/what-is-security-testing/
