How to Do Security Testing for Web Application

Security Testing for Web Application

When building a web application, security testing is an essential step. You should know about cross-site scripting, SQL injection, XSS, and other attacks and have a basic understanding of how they work. Security testing of a web application can start with a simple password cracking task. There are several tools available for common usernames and passwords. In case your web application security is vulnerable to any of these attacks, you should test that your application rejects the malicious data.

After you’ve selected the tools and resources to use, you need to decide what systems you’ll be testing. You may want to utilize vulnerability scanners or do manual checks. When deciding what systems to use, consider what kind of tests you’d like to do. It’s important to note that the scope of your security assessment may vary depending on the application’s target audience. Remember to include all stakeholders in your security assessment.

Once you’ve gathered a list of vulnerabilities, you need to determine the threat profile for each test. The threat profile is a document that evaluates the level of criticality of each test. You should also create a test plan and traceability matrix, which define the relationships between the various entities. These steps will help you determine whether your application is secure or not. It will also help you understand how to do security testing for web application.

How to Do Security Testing for Web Application

Another important element of web application security testing is checking the URL query string. It is important to check if critical information is contained in the query string. Also, check if your web application uses the HTTP GET method for client-server communication. Clear text protocols like HTTP can easily transmit sensitive information. A security tester can test this by changing the value of a parameter. This can lead to data leakage and redirections.

Security testing for web applications must be conducted on all layers of the application, including network, database, infrastructure, and mobile devices. In addition to security testing, it’s also important to understand deployed configuration of the server and the application. Because there are numerous types of application platforms, fundamental platform configuration issues can put the security of an application in jeopardy. These vulnerabilities include insecure HTTP methods, old/backup files, and unsecured file permissions.

Lastly, you must pay attention to compliance standards. As a website owner or developer, you are responsible for adhering to various compliance standards, such as GLBA, HIPAA, and SARBANES-OXLEY. Most websites must also report to federal PCI-DSS and NIST/FISMA commands. Security testing provides complete reports and demonstrates your due diligence. The benefits of security testing are obvious: it protects your business from costly penalties and lost revenues.

If you have a database, SQL injection is a common threat. An attacker can inject SQL statements through user input. If you have no way to verify this, you’re leaving your application vulnerable to this attack. It’s important to secure your database by identifying SQL injection entry points and correcting any faulty code. It’s also crucial to identify the codebase where direct MySQL queries are executed. Then, you can move on to other security checks for your web application.