4 ways Application Security Testing supports Software Development

In a recently reported incident, the North Korea-linked Lazarus hackers infected the bank’s debit card payment system with malware and withdrew money from ATMs in 28 countries. Incidentally, this group of hackers has a reputation for conducting highly coordinated global raids — such as the $81 million theft at Bangladesh Bank and the 2014 attacks on Sony’s Hollywood studio. In the current digitally connected scenario these incidents are on the rise. Hence, the need for application security testing is growing in order to protect both the application and the organization at large.

Application Security Testing goes a long way in securing the applications and software from malicious attacks or any kind of breach. Applications being the easiest target for hackers, testing is indispensable to protect these business critical application from losing sensitive and confidential back-end data from probing parties.

Application security testing solutions are easily available with some really significant amount of investments. Gartner defines the Application Security Testing (AST) market as the buyers and sellers of products and services designed to analyze and test applications for security vulnerabilities. Gartner identifies four main styles of AST: (1) Static AST (SAST) (2) Dynamic AST (DAST) (3) Interactive AST (IAST) (4) Mobile AST. On these lines, it is equally critical to understand the objectives behind security testing to choose the right solution and build a relevant strategy.

How does Application Security Testing support Software Development?

According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Application Security market is estimated at $2.35 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $10.26 billion by 2023 growing at a CAGR of 23.4% from 2016 to 2023. Some of the factors fuelling the market include rising sophistication level of cyber-attacks, strict government regulations and increasing smart phone acceptance. In addition, the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and rising digitalization of industrial sectors in emerging economies, such as Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA) are anticipated to provide huge growth opportunities to vendors in the next 5 years.

The challenges around software development and application development are increasing due to risks related to cybersecurity. Hence, security testing becomes highly critical for businesses with a digital outlook and with related long-term business plans. It becomes absolutely necessary to look at application security testing across the larger canvas of software development.

• Opens up scope for leveraging new technologies

Security cannot be assured by using a single tool or platform. Innovation and experimentation is needed to bring in more validation and credibility to the process. Application security testing is a dynamic field, with no surety whether something will work or not work. Hence, testers keep on exploring new ways to look at filling security gaps, which brings substantial value to the software development process. Moreover, usage of the right tool not only depends on the language used, but also depends on the overall development process.

• Vulnerabilities can be used as critical information feeds

Application Security Testing tools can not only ensure an application’s security, but also bring value in terms of analysis and data related to defects with the application’s code. There is a lot to learn from the identified defects and issues within an application. This kind of information can be referred to while working on any similar applications in the future. This can be a great boon in the software development process, where vulnerabilities can be transformed into strengths.

• Ability to detect highly complex vulnerabilities

Making security testing an integral aspect of your software development process ensures that all your vulnerabilities are handled effectively. In this way, not only apparent, but even hidden vulnerabilities can be identified. This enables testing teams to accelerate the software development process and bring down the testing and development costs in the longer run. Security Testing is not placed towards the end, it becomes a part of the overall development process.

• Empowers enterprises to secure confidential data and approach with conviction

Security and safety of applications is a growing concern for almost all enterprises. It is in fact a primary concern for organizations that are involved in exchanging sensitive financial and customer-related data. Any kind of breach can not only result in chaos, but also deteriorate the brand’s reputation in the market. For instance, the entire ecommerce/online shopping industry depends primarily on robust and secure applications that they can extend to their customers.

Application Security Testing empowers various brands and enterprises to enter the market confidently without being worried about frauds or data breaches. This helps them to stay assertive and ensure seamless services for their customers. Only a secure environment can help companies to grow and stay upbeat in the consumer scenario.

MarketsAndMarkets in its survey report states, ‘Due to increase in security breaches targeting business applications, organizations across the world are deploying application security solutions to safeguard their web and mobile applications. The major forces driving the application security market are the need to protect enterprise applications and data from sophisticated application layer attacks, necessity to adhere to government regulations, and increased usage of third-party applications. Thus, organizations are adopting advanced application security testing solutions, which are mainly classified into static, dynamic, and interactive application security testing.’

Cigniti possesses rich expertise in Security Testing of enterprise applications, catering to diversified business needs. Cigniti has immense experience in serving clients across different industry verticals and organization sizes. Our Web application penetration testing uncovers vulnerabilities in applications and ensures the application risks are minimized.

Connect with us to leverage a dedicated Security Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE) that has developed methodologies, processes, templates, checklists, and guidelines for web applications, software products, networks, and cloud.