Don’t Delay, Do Website Security Testing Today!

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September 6, 2022

Don’t Delay, Do Website Security Testing Today!

Website Security Testing

Website security testing is a key part of developing secure web applications. This is performed by people or automated tools to discover vulnerabilities in websites and web apps. To reduce risk, developers and testers should follow best practices to develop and perform website security testing. Best practices include choosing a security testing framework, selecting the right tools, and following a structured approach to identify vulnerabilities. The approach and results of testing should be documented so that organizations can assess the adequacy of their current security status and make improvements as needed.

Terms Associated with Website Security Testing

  • Vulnerability: Vulnerability refers to the weakness in the web app that is caused by bugs etc.  
  • URL Manipulation: Different web apps communicate added info between clients (browsers) and servers in the URL. Changing some info in URL(s) can at times result in an unexpected behavior at the server-end, which is termed URL manipulation.
  • SQL Injection: The process of inserting SQL statements through the web app’s UI into some query, which is then executed by the server is called SQL injection.
  • Spoofing: This means the formation of hoax look-alike emails as well as websites.
  • XSS (i.e. Cross-Site Scripting): When any user inserts an HTML/client-side script into a web app’s UI, the insertion is visible to other users, which is known as XSS.

Website Security Testing Steps

  • A framework guides testers through a series of tasks to find vulnerabilities. 
  • A common framework includes initial reconnaissance, finding vulnerabilities in the target website, exploitation, report writing, and cleanup. 
  • A test plan should include how the tester will access a website; typically by using their computer or a remote terminal via an application. Next, they will choose an appropriate tool for the task at hand.  
  • After that, steps should be taken to verify the vulnerability; generally by creating a test case with realistic settings for an attacker to utilize, and finally documenting findings for future reference. 
  • The best practices dictate that organizations perform regular vulnerability scans with their chosen tool to keep components secure against zero-day vulnerabilities and advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Website Security Testing Approach

A tool makes life easier for testers by automatizing common tasks like generating reports or generating test cases based on inputs from testers. Pen tests are also useful when performing risk management since they can look for signs of malware in non-web systems such as mobile devices before these devices are connected to the internet via Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or airport terminal where end users expect to find internet connectivity but may instead find an insecure internal network hosting their personal business transactions via that same internal network’s untrusted Wi-Fi access points. For performing result-oriented website security testing, a security tester must have sound knowledge of the HTTP protocol. It’s also crucial to understand how the client (browser) and server communicate over HTTP. Also, testers should know at least the basics of SQL injection as well as XSS.

Methods for Website Security Testing

  • Password cracking: Simple passwords are easy to crack. So, if some web app does not have a complex password, it is prone to quick password cracking. 
  • URL manipulation via HTTP GET method(s): Testers much check is the app is passing significant info in the query string or not.
  • SQL injection: Upon inserting a single quote (‘) in a textbox must be rejected by the app. If not, and if a database error is encountered, then the app can be prone to SQL injection.
  • XSS: Testers must also check the web apps for XSS i.e. cross-site scripting. 

Legacit Website Security Testing Services

Website security testing is essential when developing secure websites since it allows developers and IT administrators to discover vulnerabilities before attackers do. It is essential to develop secure websites since they can discover weaknesses before these weaknesses compromise company data or allow attackers to have full control over company resources without detection until it’s too late! You must avail of Legacit website security testing services today until it becomes too late for your organization!