Security of the content online is one of the utmost things for the content owner. Hackers are always preying to hack content or website for their profitable gain. It helps them to gain the popular website’s traffic to sell their products or inappropriate content. Therefore, it is necessary to keep your website protected and safe. Hackers can use various methods to hack a website. Few methods help hackers to gain the username and password to delve into a website, while on the other hand, few methods help them to gain access to the database of a website and inject malicious codes into it.
Every hack involves a different method to resolve it. Therefore, a website owner should be knowledgeable about various security measures to protect the website. This helps the owner to understand the form of hack and the treatment required to heal the issue. This saves the time of the website owner and also helps to maintain the trust and loyalty of regular visitors to the website.
Types of Security Testing
Let us have a dig into some of the different forms of security testing:
- Vulnerability Scanning
As the name says vulnerability scanning helps to identify various vulnerabilities that can damage a website and its functioning. The scanning helps to identify the possible vulnerabilities to cease the loopholes that can help one to hack a website. It is usually the first step to recover a hacked website. Hence, one should not skip vulnerability scanning to identify the possible ways that can be preyed by a hacker to hack your website credentials and its data.
- Security Scanning
Security scanning helps to identify all forms of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. The scanning rectifies the vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in a website, application, or software. The scanning can be done manually or with the help of various tools and plugins. Security scanning also helps to identify various types of malware and also to know the method of resolving the issue.
- Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is the process of simulating a cyber-attack under safe and secure conditions. The process is only performed with the help of a professional under safe and secure guidelines. The testing helps one to identify the toughness of the application, software, or network’s security. This helps to identify the measures taken for security and what other steps one needs to take. One can also identify unknown vulnerabilities with the help of penetration testing.
- Security Review
The security review is the method of reviewing the security standards of an application, network, or software. The method can be done manually with professional help or one can also use security applications of plugins to do so. The security review is an important step to know the seriousness of the security measures taken for the software, network, or application.
- Ethical Hacking
Ethical hacking is a broader term for penetration testing. It is a procedure to stimulate a website, network, or application within security terms. Ethical hacking is done with the help of a professional ethical hacker. The procedure helps one to identify multiple vulnerabilities and malicious content. Hence, it is necessary to perform the procedure once in a while to ensure all the safety measures taken.
- Risk Assessment
Risk assessment helps to identify all the forms of risks faced by the application, network, and software. One can also identify the type of risk and also the measures to be taken to resolve these issues. Hence, risk assessment is a healthy way to prioritize the security measures to be taken and heal the application or software in the earliest possible time.
- Posture Assessment
Posture Assessment is a method of improving the security of the application or software by following a combination of methods like security scanning, ethical hacking, and risk assessment. The procedure helps to identify the security posture of an organization with ease.
Mentionable Attributes in Security Testing
Let us have a look at the must-have attributes while security testing of an application, network, or software:
- Authentication
Any form of security testing should begin with the proper authentication of the individual. With the help of this procedure, the system ensures that a legitimate user is testing the security measures. Authentication can be done simply by following the usual protocol of username and password combination, or it can also be done with the help of other security methods like biometric, token IDs, or OTP.
- Authorization
After authentication, the user is authorized by the system to perform changes for the settings of an application, network, or software. The user will also be allowed to access within a limited and set boundary to perform changes set by the authorization roles. This is done to maintain the security standards.
- Confidentiality
The confidentiality attribute helps one to maintain the security standards and ensure no unknown user is trying to access the admin privileges. It also ensures that no confidential data and credentials are leaked. The tester also has a look at the form of data presented as requested by the user and also has a check if the data is encrypted or not.
- Availability
The availability attribute helps to identify the services available by the application of the software are round the corner or not. The tester checks whether the services provided are on time and what is the downtime rate. It also has a check on the response of requested services and backup files in case of data loss.
- Integrity
The integrity attribute helps to identify if the information presented by the network and application is unaltered and in its purest form. The unadulterated information helps to maintain the authenticity of the application and also maintain the trust of the loyal visitors.
- Non-Repudiation
This attribute helps to identify the denied requests and their IP addresses. This helps to identify whether the user genuine or is just a security threat.
- Resilience
The tester checks the resilience attribute to know the resistance of the system to face an internal or external attack.
Conclusion
Security tests are essential to know the amount of attention paid to the security levels of a network, application, or software. One should also know the attributes of a security system and what are their roles for complete safety.