What is the Role of Software Testing in Cyber Security?

ImpactQA
4 min readAug 2, 2020
ImpactQA — Role of Software Testing in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has turned into a major concern as hacking activities have reached threatening levels. It directly causes a breach against your personal information and it is essential to understand the different forms of cyber-attacks that can impact an individual or an organization.

Currently, cybercriminals are known to impose high-end technology to attack digital systems in order to extract crucial data from companies. It is surprising to know that approximately $5.2 trillion in value would be put at stake due to cyberattacks during the period between 2019 and 2023.

The correct use of software testing measures is seen as the key to restrict hacking incidents. In the past few years, this process has been gaining popularity and software testing has emerged as a trusted shield against cyber attacks.

ImpactQA — Software Testing and Cybersecurity

What makes Software Testing Important?

Ideally, looking at the current scenario where organizations are always at threat from cyber breaches and malicious activities, deploying a reliable software testing scheme should be the agenda. However, the propagation is limited that raises a huge concern at the global level. According to experts, organizations should strive harder for understanding the level of security measures they must incorporate to avert cyber-attacks. This ignites the need to seek help from professional security testing services to eliminate all such possibilities of network and software breach.

The irony exists within the approach people follow while recognizing system issues. The ignorance towards software development practices and extra focus on already released software products leave a major gap for hackers to exploit.

Hence, the pivotal nature of software testing is realized under such circumstances. You can easily include software testing as part of your organization’s working model. The most basic step is to hire a team of software experts skilled in security designing. Furthermore, it is important to put in place specific quality criteria throughout the pipeline for ensuring enhanced safety. This arrangement will maintain security at all levels as the process crosses different stages of the pipeline.

Penetration Testing & Its Impact on Cyber Security

Based on different surveys, it is revealed that almost 3/4th percentage of cyber attacks occur as a result of an insecure application that includes an insecure code. With applications being outsourced to the global population, they have become the prime targets for cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is important for an organization to ensure the source code quality which connects with the application. Such issues can be smartly curbed with the correct implementation of penetration testing.

A penetration test or pen test is basically a replicated cyber attack targeting your system with a purpose to utilize prime vulnerabilities. When we talk about web application security, the usefulness of penetration testing comes into play for escalating a web application firewall (WAF).

  • Smart System Security: Penetration testing is a smartly designed arrangement for examining security well before a hacker makes an attempt. It is only through penetration testing tools one can replicate actual cyber attacks for carefully spotting security vulnerabilities.
  • Highlight Weak Segments: If we are able to recognize the weak links within the software, then the chances of safeguarding records, personal credentials, cardholder data, etc, can be prominently increased. To be precise, penetration testing makes use of security vulnerabilities to structure an effective protection plan and prevent future cyber attacks.
  • Network Security Assistance: Penetration test also plays an important role in network security. With a dynamic approach of these tests, you can quickly recognize potential security vulnerabilities beforehand. In addition, information related to security compliance, security team response time, etc, can also be acquired.

Switch to Advanced Cyber Penetration Testing

Another key software testing methodology to escalate cybersecurity includes Advanced Cyber Penetration Tests. As per this arrangement, the methods imposed by the cyber attacker are used to stop future hacking incidents.

Similar to how cybercriminals make use of sophisticated technology tools for planning their next step; it is the task for pen testers to analyze details related to the technical landscape. This process helps them expose any potential attack before it actually happens. The same set of tools used by hackers are preferred to successfully recognize vulnerabilities associated with devices and public networks.

This write-up helps in highlighting the importance of software testing in the cybersecurity arena for better protection. The role of security testing professionals for an organization is essential in putting up shields against prospective cyber attacks. You can check out the operations of any famous software testing company to learn more about penetration testing and its useful implementation.

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ImpactQA

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