An Overview of the Digital Immune System

In today’s digital age, our reliance on technology has increased significantly. As a result, the threat landscape has also evolved. Just as our bodies have an immune system to protect us from viruses and other harmful intruders, our digital world needs a similar defense mechanism. This is where the concept of a digital immune system comes in.

One of the main aspects of a digital immune system is a collection of security technologies and processes that work together to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber-attacks. Similar to how our immune system adapts to new threats and develops immunity, a digital immune system uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze data and learn from previous attacks to improve its defenses. It is an essential component of any organization’s digital defense strategy, helping to safeguard sensitive data and critical infrastructure.

The digital immune system comprises several layers of defense, starting from the network perimeter and extending to the core of the system. It includes various security mechanisms such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, antivirus software, and security information and event management systems. These security mechanisms work together to monitor and analyze network traffic, detect suspicious activity, and prevent or mitigate potential threats.

Why Are Digital Businesses in Need of Digital Immunity?

As businesses increasingly rely on digital technologies to run their operations, they are exposed to a growing array of cyber threats. Hackers, cybercriminals, and other bad actors are constantly developing new methods to breach digital defenses and steal valuable data, disrupt operations, or cause other forms of harm. In this context, digital immunity refers to the ability of a business to protect itself from these threats and maintain its operations even in the face of attacks.

Digital immunity is particularly important for digital businesses, which rely on digital technologies to deliver their products and services. These businesses are often more vulnerable to cyber threats than traditional brick-and-mortar companies, as they have more digital touchpoints with customers and store valuable data in digital formats.

To achieve digital immunity, businesses need to implement a range of measures to protect their digital assets and operations. This can include implementing strong passwords and access controls, using encryption to protect sensitive data, regularly updating software and systems, monitoring networks for suspicious activity, and training employees on how to identify and respond to cyber threats.

Evidently, achieving digital immunity is a critical priority for digital businesses that want to protect themselves from the growing array of cyber threats in today’s digital landscape. By taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity, these businesses can help ensure their long-term success and protect their customers’ trust and privacy.

Significance of Digital Immune Systems

Here are the key significance of digital immune systems:

Threat Detection and Response:

Digital immune systems are crucial in detecting cyber threats and providing immediate responses to them. By analyzing network activity and user behavior, these systems can quickly identify and mitigate threats, preventing further damage to systems and data.

Protection of Data and Privacy:

Digital immune systems help protect sensitive data by monitoring all activity across the network and identifying unusual behavior. This ensures that data is secure and not accessed by unauthorized individuals.

Enhanced Visibility:

With digital immune systems, organizations have increased visibility into their network, providing valuable insights into security threats and risks. This allows for proactive measures to be taken to prevent attacks before they occur.

Cost Savings:

Digital immune systems can save organizations significant amounts of money by preventing cyber-attacks and reducing the costs associated with remediation efforts.

Compliance and Regulations:

With the increasing number of regulations around data privacy and security, digital immune systems are necessary for organizations to comply with these regulations. These systems help organizations avoid costly fines and reputational damage that can result from non-compliance.

Reputation Management:

In the digital age, reputation is everything. Digital immune systems help organizations protect their reputation by detecting and responding to threats before they can do damage to an organization’s reputation.

Business Continuity:

Cyber-attacks can result in significant downtime for organizations, leading to lost revenue and productivity. Digital immune systems help ensure business continuity by preventing attacks and quickly responding to any incidents that do occur.

Digital immune systems play a critical role in protecting organizations from cyber threats. By providing threat detection and response, protecting data and privacy, enhancing visibility, and saving costs, these systems are essential for any organization looking to protect itself in the digital age.

Setting up a Digital Immune System – Key Considerations

As technology evolves, the need for organizations to establish a digital immune system becomes increasingly important. Hence, it is crucial for organizations to consider the following key considerations while setting up their digital immune system:

Threat Intelligence:

An effective digital immune system should have a solid threat intelligence system that identifies and analyzes potential threats to digital assets.

Access Control:

Organizations need to ensure that access to digital assets is granted only to authorized personnel. This involves implementing multi-factor authentication, password policies, and role-based access control.

Encryption:

Encryption is a critical component of a digital immune system as it ensures that data transmitted and stored is secure and protected from unauthorized access.

Network Security:

The organization’s network must be secure to prevent malicious actors from accessing it. This can be achieved by implementing firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and network segmentation.

Incident Response Plan:

The organization should have a well-defined incident response plan that outlines the procedures to follow in case of a security breach or cyber-attack.

Regular Testing:

Organizations should regularly test their digital immune system to identify any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. This can be done through penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security assessments.

User Education:

Organizations should educate their employees on security best practices to prevent them from inadvertently exposing the organization to cyber threats.

Patch Management:

It is essential to keep all software and systems up-to-date with the latest security patches to address known vulnerabilities.

Data Backup and Recovery:

A digital immune system should have a robust data backup and recovery system that ensures the organization can recover from a cyber-attack or breach.

Compliance:

Organizations need to ensure that their digital immune system complies with relevant regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

A robust digital immune system is essential for organizations to protect their digital assets from cyber threats and attacks. The above key considerations are crucial for organizations to consider while setting up their digital immune system. By implementing these measures, organizations can minimize the risk of a security breach or cyber-attack and safeguard their digital assets.

Key Aspects of a Digital Immune System

A digital immune system is a set of technologies, processes, and protocols designed to protect digital assets from cyber threats. Some key aspects of a digital immune system include:

Threat Intelligence:

The ability to gather and analyze data from various sources to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Security Operations Center (SOC):

A centralized unit responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to security incidents.

Incident Response Plan (IRP):

A pre-defined set of procedures and protocols to follow in the event of a security breach.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM):

A system that collects and analyzes security-related data from multiple sources to detect and respond to potential security incidents.

Vulnerability Management:

A process of identifying, prioritizing, and addressing vulnerabilities in software, hardware, and networks.

Identity and Access Management (IAM):

A framework of policies and technologies that ensure only authorized users have access to digital assets.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP):

A set of technologies and policies that prevent the loss or theft of sensitive data.

Security Training and Awareness:

Ongoing education and training programs for employees to promote good security hygiene and awareness.

Threat Hunting:

Proactive searching for potential security threats in digital assets and networks.

Security Testing and Assessment:

Regular testing and assessment of the effectiveness of security measures and processes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a digital immune system is a critical defense mechanism that helps organizations proactively identify and respond to cyber threats. As cyber threats continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, having a robust digital immune system in place is becoming increasingly important. By leveraging advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, organizations can better detect and respond to potential threats before they cause significant damage. As we move forward into an increasingly digital age, it is crucial for organizations to prioritize the development and implementation of a strong digital immune system to protect their critical assets and data.

The post Digital Immune System: Why Organizations Should Adopt This Line of Defense? first appeared on TestingXperts.

1. An Overview of Cyber Security Metrics
2. Importance of Cyber Security Metrics
3. Top 10 Security Metrics Businesses Should Keep an Eye On
4. Why Partner with Tx for Cyber Security Testing?
5. Summary

In today’s digital business environment, when it comes to preventing security breaches, identifying cyber-attacks, and protecting data, there must be a checklist to keep track of cybersecurity efforts. And what would be the best way to do so? The answer is Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They offer an effective way to measure the success rate of security strategies and aid in decision-making. But why should businesses focus on security metrics? They convert complex security data into actionable insights.

Without security metrics, businesses will be practically blind to emerging threats and vulnerabilities. According to the Cybersecurity Ventures report, cybercrime will cost around $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, highlighting the urgent need for continuous monitoring and adaptation. Edwards Deming states, “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” This is why KPIs, and security metrics are crucial in justifying the value of cybersecurity efforts.

An Overview of Cyber Security Metrics

Cyber security metrics are critical for evaluating the effectiveness of cyber defenses. The KPIs and metrics provide insights into threat patterns, system vulnerabilities, incident responses, and tracking mechanisms, in which AI-driven analytics is also crucial. Organizations can draft better security strategies and allocate resources more efficiently by monitoring security metrics. These metrics keep stakeholders informed about the proficiency of their cyber security protocols, assuring better ROI and the robustness of security measures.

As digital dependency increases, these metrics are necessary for strategic decision-making to standardize business resilience against evolving cyber threats. Cyber security metrics reflect the organization’s adaptability and readiness in the digital threat environment, highlighting the necessity of tracking and improving cyber security strategies.

Importance of Cyber Security Metrics

Things that are not measurable can’t be managed. As cyber threats constantly evolve due to new tech innovations, they become harder to detect. This is why businesses need to have proper measures in place to analyze the effectiveness of their cyber security programs. The metrics allow companies to access vulnerabilities, track performance improvement, and justify security investments. Let’s take a look at some of the factors highlighting the importance of cyber security metrics:

Threat Detection:

Businesses can detect possible security threats before escalating into serious breaches. They can identify and mitigate risks by monitoring trends and data patterns.

Resource Allocation:

Effectively using these metrics would allow organizations to allocate security resources more efficiently. It will ensure critical business areas receive the necessary support, thus optimizing security spending.

Regulatory Compliance:

Adhering to regulatory standards is a crucial practice. Security metrics provide businesses with a clear compliance framework, showing security auditors that the business takes regulatory compliance seriously.

Continuous Improvement:

Businesses can improve security measures by regularly reviewing and analyzing these metrics. This ongoing process enables companies to be ready against emerging threats and adapt to the dynamic cyber landscape.

Stakeholder Confidence:

Maintaining cyber security metrics reports can boost the confidence of stakeholders, including customers, business partners, and investors. Showing commitment to security practices will reassure stakeholders regarding sensitive data protection.

Top 10 Security Metrics Businesses Should Keep an Eye On

Knowing which metrics to monitor is crucial for analyzing cybersecurity effectiveness and maintaining security against potential attacks. These metrics are like the eyes and ears of the security team, providing necessary data to prevent breaches and improve system integrity. Below are the top 10 cyber security metrics and KPIs businesses should track and present to the stakeholders, demonstrating their vendor risk management efforts:

Readiness Level:

The readiness or preparedness metric assesses the risk management program’s security posture and overall value. It allows businesses to evaluate the readiness of their cyber security protocols to handle and mitigate threats. The effectiveness of cyber security measures can be measured following the below set of metrics:

• Amount of security incidents identified and prevented within a given period (week, month, quarter, or year).

• Percentage of security incidents prevented by security measures, such as threat intelligence, endpoint protection, and breach detection systems.

• Number of false positives and negatives generated by monitoring tools, and the reduction in these numbers due to continuous improvement in the monitoring process.

• Level of security awareness among employees due to cybersecurity awareness programs.

• Backup frequency, completeness level, and accuracy analysis

• Simulated phishing attack frequency to evaluate phishing attack susceptibility.

• Number of devices on the corporate network running outdated OS or software.

MITRE ATT&CK Coverage:

By following MITRE ATT&CK, businesses can assess their threat detection capabilities and identify areas for improvement. This metric covers several attack techniques that allow businesses to prioritize security measures according to real-world scenarios. They can strengthen threat detection capabilities against evolving cyber-attacks. When assessing MITRE ATT&CK coverage, organizations must consider the following questions:

• Did they map existing detection processes according to MITRE ATT&CK techniques?

• Are they utilizing the MITRE ATT&CK framework to structure their detection protocols?

Total Count of Unidentified Devices on Internal Network: 

Companies can gain valuable insights regarding the risk level of critical assets by identifying vulnerabilities in the internal and external accessible systems. By doing so, they can prioritize gap fixing. Businesses can use manual scans, automated assessments, and other security evaluation tools.

This is also one of the key cyber security metrics because the generated results help update security policies, prioritize patch management, and fulfill compliance requirements. In this metric, businesses should take care of the following points:

• Regular updates for device inventory

• Event and logs of respective network devices

• Tools and protocols for network segmentation

• Device authentication measures

Breach Attempts:

Monitoring and categorizing breach attempts is necessary to understand the frequency and impact of cyber breaches that a business faces. One must keep track of all breach attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of cyber security protocols. While doing so, businesses should focus on the following points:

• Document the number of breach attempts made by cybercriminals. This will provide insights into attackers’ focus targets.

• Access how frequently the unauthorized attempts have been made. Is there a pattern between them, or are they sporadic? This will help identify and make proper arrangements for future attacks.

• Identify the sources of the breaching attempts and use that data to reinforce cyber security measures against the attack vectors targeting IT infrastructure.

Mean Time to Detect (MTTD):

This metric calculates the average duration the cyber security team takes to detect a security incident. It allows businesses to assess the responsiveness of security operations. MTTD allows security teams to measure the efficiency and swiftness of the cyber security and threat identification systems. Shorter MTTD means quick detection and faster response to mitigate risks. Businesses can also identify areas requiring improvement in threat detection methodologies. This enhances the security monitoring tool’s capabilities and alert system’s effectiveness.

Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR): This metric helps in answering the following queries:

• The mean response time after identifying a cyber attack.

• Average MTTR for security teams.

• Coordination and management of security incident response, and the resources involved during the process.

• Continuous evaluation and improvement of the incident response process and the metrics used for tracking.

• The average time taken to identify the root cause of security incidents and the measures utilized to ensure a thorough investigation.

• System and data restoration process following a security incident and the roadmap to validate the process effectiveness.

Patch Management Efficiency:

This metric allows companies to measure how quickly they address identified vulnerabilities by measuring the efficiency of their patch management systems. A high patching rate demonstrates a proactive approach to resolving vulnerabilities, reducing attack areas, and minimizing exposure to security incidents. This metric can be easily calculated by dividing the number of patched vulnerabilities by the number of identified vulnerabilities in a given timeframe (usually every month). Measuring the ‘day to patch’ metric would help in answering the following questions:

• How long does the relevant team take to implement security patches?

• How is to implement security patches? metric defined and measured within the organization?

Access Management:

This cyber security metric relates to a business’s controls, processes, and practices to manage user access controls to networks and systems. With this metric, businesses get to know:

• Number of users having admin access.

• The way they manage user access within the networks and systems.

User authentication success rate is the part of access management that evaluates the effectiveness of authentication mechanisms, such as MFA, passwords, biometrics, etc. A high authentication rate demonstrates robust access control, which reduces the chances of unauthorized access.

Non-Human Traffic:

This metric prevents businesses from tracking bot traffic and helps them understand their operations and efforts’ success rate. NHT consists of a portion of network or web traffic originating from automated sources instead of real users. This metric allows businesses to quantify the following questions:

• Have they been experiencing normal traffic on the website, or is there a potential bot attack?

• What is the web traffic percentage that’s categorized as non-human?

Phishing Attack Rate:

Phishing attacks remain the common and frequent vector in the current digital business environment. Monitoring phishing attack rates will allow businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of their training and preventive measures. This metric allows businesses to measure the following:

• Percentage of phishing emails opened by end-users.

• Variations in phishing attacks that were successful.

• Percentage of users who clicked on Phishing links.

• Percentage of users who submitted information on the Phishing Simulation Page.

• The percentage of users mandated to take phishing awareness training and the percentage of users who successfully completed it.

A high click rate on phishing emails will represent the need for proper user training and awareness programs. Businesses must conduct regular training and simulated phishing activities to inform employees, reduce click rates, and strengthen cyber security defenses.

Why Partner with Tx for Cyber Security Testing?

Choosing the right cyber security testing partner is necessary for protecting digital assets. Tx specializes in evaluating a wide range of applications for security threats by analyzing the necessary metrics and the results they provide. Our security auditing and testing approach aligns well with industry standards such as NIST, OWASP, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, WAHH, SOX, etc. Partnering with Tx will give you the following benefits:

• Our team of Highly Certified Security Professionals brings years of expertise to our security testing efforts.

• Our security testing follows international standards to ensure every cybersecurity metric is by respective guidelines and protocols.

• We provide vendor-independent security testing services and possess deep expertise in key cyber security methodologies.

• Our auditing and testing approach ensures zero false positives and provides snapshots of exploitation to validate the severity of vulnerabilities.

• We perform vulnerability and pen testing to safeguard your apps, infrastructure, and systems from cyber threats.

• Our cyber security center of excellence team conducts in-depth pen testing to identify and rectify security gaps before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

Summary

In the dynamic landscape of digital security, the role of cyber security metrics must be addressed. These metrics provide businesses with crucial insights to manage threats, optimize resource allocation, and adhere to regulatory standards. By continuously monitoring and analyzing these KPIs, organizations can effectively detect and mitigate risks and enhance their overall security posture. Partnering with Tx ensures that your cybersecurity measures are comprehensive, up-to-date, and aligned with the best industry practices. With our expertise, your business is better equipped to face the challenges of tomorrow’s cyber threats.

The post Top Cyber Security Metrics Business Should Track in 2025 first appeared on TestingXperts.

Table of Contents

1. Banking App Testing Challenges
2. Security is Critical
3. Complex Data
4. Omni-Channel Banking
5. Performance Failures
6. Integration with Programs
7. Usability testing
8. Real-time Activities
9. Internet Connections and Browsers
10. Time to Market
11. Devices
12. Security
13. Mobile Environmental Factors
14. Privacy
15. Conclusion

The banking domain has become multifarious with ever-changing and cutting-edge technology. With complex functionalities tangled into the banking applications, it is considered to be the most advanced and complicated enterprise solution. The day-to-day transactions made via banking applications call for high scalability, reliability, and precision in terms of data. Therefore, it is imperative to test banking applications under various set-ups. An adept test strategy for banking applications should comprise of Mobile, Cloud, Internet, and various other features linked to a banking application.

What are the characteristics of a banking app?
– Banking applications should be able to integrate with several other applications such as billing apps, credit cards, trading accounts, etc. – The apps should be able to navigate fast and help to process secured transactions – When a number of users use the application, it should be able to support all users with flawless performance – The app should be able to handle any complicate workflows – The storage capacity of the banking apps should be more – The app must be user-friendly and support the users on all devices and across their platforms – The app should have a high auditing capability to troubleshoot the customer issues – There should be a fool-proof disaster management recovery to protect users from unfair practices – The app should support service sectors such as for loans, retail, etc. and provide the scope to perform payments through multiple gateways

As a various number of banking transactions happen each day, these applications need to deliver a high performance that meets customer needs. Besides this, the banking sector needs robust reporting in order to monitor and record transaction and user interactions instantly. To ensure that the banking applications are performing efficiently well, testing is essential. However, there are numerous challenges from the testing point of view that need to be addressed. In this article, we have highlighted key challenges that are faced while testing any banking application.

Banking App Testing Challenges

Security is Critical

Banking applications are overloaded with private customer information and data. Therefore, it is essential to ensure security at all levels in an online application. However, security testing becomes quite challenging, especially when there is a variation in the network and operating system across various devices. A banking application must be compatible with all versions, operating systems, and devices etc. Security testing of banking applications is a must, and should adhere to all applicable security standards.

The bank should ensure that all access validation codes and one-time passwords work properly. To ensure that the software doesn’t have any defects or faults, a QA team needs to validate both positive as well as negative sides of the system, reporting it before any unauthorized access occurs.

Complex Data

One of the major challenges that become difficult to address while testing a banking application is the complexity of the data. Banking applications contain all sorts of private information, data, passwords, and assets of the customers stored in their back-end. It is imperative to ensure that the back-end databases are not affected by any malware and that the data within is protected.

A bank certainly needs to have an automation tool to check database connectivity and logical functions continuously. It is beneficial if this is done over a virtual private network (i.e. a VPN) in order to ensure safety across its private data.

Omni-Channel Banking

Omni-channel banking or the branchless banking is the modern concept where the financial markets are functioning without a need of any branch. And, this is a great challenge to the teams for understanding its end-to-end functionality and efficiency in mobile applications.

Performance Failures

Performance levels consist of infrastructure, connectivity, and back-end integration. The transactions happening through the application should be administered at regular interims. Moreover, load and stress tests should frequently be performed to ensure multiple support for transactions at the same time.

Integration with Programs

Banking apps should have the ability to integrate with the programs that are used by users. Also, the applications should be capable to handle every complex workflow without any hurdles and troubles. While integrating with any third-party websites, there is much scope to get bugs and issues, hence the QA teams have to be cautious to deal with issues related to bugs and incompatibility.

Usability testing

Banking apps are being accessed by wide number of people but not every person is having with the technical skills to perform banking tasks with ease. The banking should be user-friendly so that everyone can easily access it, if not these can lead disinterest among the people who are unable to use it with ease. Hence, the app has to be tested across different groups of customers.

Real-time Activities

Banking applications need to provide real-time updates on the transactions to the customers as well as the back-end. It is important that the functionality of the application is continuously managed and identified by the testing teams. If there are any network connectivity issues that can hamper the real-time updates of the transactions, the teams should ensure proper testing of the application for any response delay.

Internet Connections and Browsers

User may login the app by using various devices, different browsers and from different internet connections. If the app fails to respond in any of the scenario then this can create a negative impact. Hence, to avoid such situations, teams have to check the performance of the app across all internet connections and browsers.

Time to Market

The addition of new features is a way to attract more customers, but with reduced time to market, there is a pressure that causes testing teams to cut short the testing cycles.

Devices

The present market is having a multitude of devices. If any of the devices is not considered, then this may be a big drawback and can create complexities. Hence, while testing the applications, it is necessary to consider every device across networks and platforms.

Security

Security is an important challenge for the banking sector. When planning for security testing, it is essential to consider all security standards in accordance with mobile devices, networks, operating systems, and platforms.

Mobile Environmental Factors

There are several mobile environmental factors that can affect the behaviour of the mobile bank application. The app can get affected by the background applications, memory card, camera usage, GPS, switching of the network, the state of the battery, etc. The integration of the mobile app with all these features may be a big challenge if the testing team fails to consider all these possible scenarios. Hence, it is important for the teams to consider every environmental factor while testing.

Privacy

Privacy is a challenging issue in mobile apps. Mobile devices are much personalized as they consist user’s data and identity. These are the important constraints which have to be considered and require the need for security. If the privacy factor fails, then this can create risk for the user data when there is an integration with other third party websites. Hence, while practicing security testing it is important for the teams to consider every factor so that the user-data is secured.

Conclusion

Testing banking application can be an intricate process, but if there is an experienced testing partner involved, the testing challenges can be readily eradicated. TestingXperts, with its efficient testing strategies and the right blend of testers and processes, is helping its banking and financial clients to achieve successful and vulnerability-free applications.

The post 12 Challenges Faced While Testing an Banking Application first appeared on TestingXperts.

1. The Need for Cybersecurity Automation
2. Traditional IT Security Vs. Automated Cybersecurity
3. Signs that your organization needs Cybersecurity Automation
4. Types of Cybersecurity Automation Tools
5. List of Cybersecurity Automation Tools and its Use Cases
6. Conclusion

The rapid transformation of the digital environment has brought about unparalleled challenges for organizations, emphasizing the crucial importance of staying ahead of cyber threats. With the adoption of hybrid work models, increased reliance on cloud services, and the widespread use of edge devices, the potential attack surface for cybercriminals has expanded significantly. Consequently, cybersecurity professionals are recognizing the essential need to embrace a more preemptive and proactive strategy to secure their fundamental business operations.

The Need for Cybersecurity Automation

Recent research indicates that the average global cost of a data breach in 2023 has reached $4.35 million, showcasing a notable disparity with the United States where the figure stands at a substantial $9.44 million. This stark contrast underscores the significant financial repercussions that organizations face due to cyberattacks.

In response to the escalating threat landscape, leaders across various industries are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) as a pivotal tool for enhancing security. Notably, a substantial 64% of survey respondents worldwide have already integrated AI into their security capabilities, while an additional 29% are in the process of evaluating its implementation. This underscores the widespread recognition of AI’s effectiveness as a strategic asset in safeguarding against cyber threats.

Traditional IT Security Vs. Automated Cybersecurity

Traditional IT security approaches have historically relied on manual processes and human intervention to identify and mitigate cyber threats. This conventional method often involves setting up firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software to protect networks and endpoints. While effective to a certain extent, traditional IT security can be reactive, responding to known threats rather than proactively identifying and preventing emerging risks. Moreover, the sheer volume and sophistication of modern cyber threats make it challenging for human-centric approaches to keep pace, as they may struggle to detect subtle patterns or rapidly evolving attack vectors.

On the other hand, automated cybersecurity represents a paradigm shift in defending against cyber threats. Leveraging advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, automated systems can analyze vast amounts of data in real-time to identify anomalies and potential security breaches. Automated cybersecurity solutions can adapt and learn from new threats, providing a more dynamic defense mechanism.

By automating routine tasks such as threat detection, response, and patch management, organizations can enhance their overall security posture while allowing human cybersecurity professionals to focus on more complex and strategic aspects of cybersecurity management. The move towards automated cybersecurity reflects an acknowledgment of the need for speed, efficiency, and adaptability in the face of an ever-evolving threat landscape.

Signs that your organization needs Cybersecurity Automation

Slow Incident Response Times

Swift identification and resolution of security incidents play a crucial role in mitigating the impact of breaches. Nevertheless, a study conducted by NIST revealed a concerning trend: the mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to remediate (MTTR) incidents has been on the rise across various organizations. If the time it takes for your incident response is increasing, it serves as a clear indicator that enhancements are needed in your security infrastructure.

Increased Frequency of Data Breaches

As per the 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, there has been a notable surge in global data breaches. The report underscores that these breaches are not only more frequent but also more severe, posing an escalating threat to organizations. This underscores the critical importance of adopting robust cybersecurity measures.

Burdened by an abundance of false positives

Security alerts generating false positives can lead to a misallocation of valuable time and resources, resulting in alert fatigue and diminishing the effectiveness of your security team.

According to the Ponemon Institute’s research, organizations encounter an average of over 17,000 false-positive alerts every week, leading analysts to dedicate up to 25% of their time to investigate and resolve these issues. If your security team is grappling with an excess of false positives, it signals an opportunity for automation to enhance overall efficiency.

Alert fatigue and resource constraints

The ever-evolving nature of threats places significant pressure on cybersecurity professionals to continuously adapt and uphold a strong defense stance. Yet, limitations in resources can impede their capacity to effectively address emerging challenges.

Findings from a survey conducted by the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) indicate that 62% of organizations have reported a deficiency in skilled cybersecurity personnel. If your security team is grappling with overwhelming challenges, experiencing alert fatigue, or is constrained by insufficient time and resources to proactively tackle threats, the implementation of security automation can alleviate these burdens.

Types of Cybersecurity Automation Tools

For the successful integration of security automation, organizations can utilize a range of tools and technologies specifically crafted to streamline security operations, boost capabilities in threat detection and response, and automate repetitive tasks. The following are examples of commonly used cybersecurity automation tools:

Vulnerability Management Tools

Tools for vulnerability management automate the identification, categorization, and prioritization of vulnerabilities within an organization’s IT infrastructure. They conduct scans on networks, systems, and applications to detect vulnerabilities, evaluate their severity, and suggest remediation actions. The automation of vulnerability management enables organizations to take proactive measures in addressing security weaknesses, thereby minimizing the timeframe in which potential attacks could exploit vulnerabilities.

Benefits:

Efficiently detect and prioritize vulnerabilities in a timely manner.

Expedite the remediation process with automated recommendations.

Enhance overall security posture by taking proactive measures to address vulnerabilities.

Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Tools

SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) tools enhance the efficiency of security operations by automating and orchestrating tasks associated with threat management, incident response, and overall security operations. These tools seamlessly integrate with diverse security technologies and systems, enabling organizations to establish standardized playbooks and automated workflows for incident response and mitigation.

Benefits:

• Speed up incident response through the automation of repetitive tasks.

• Foster improved collaboration and coordination among security teams.

• Enhance efficiency and consistency in incident management and resolution.

Endpoint Protection Tools

Endpoint protection tools concentrate on safeguarding individual endpoints, such as PCs, laptops, mobile devices, and IoT devices, against a range of threats, including malware, ransomware, and unauthorized access. Incorporating features like antivirus, anti-malware, firewall, and device management capabilities, these tools offer comprehensive protection for endpoints.

Benefits:

• Identify and address threats at the endpoint level.

• Centrally oversee and administer endpoint security.

• Safeguard sensitive data and thwart unauthorized access.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technology employs software robots to automate routine, rule-based tasks that lack the need for intricate analysis. While not inherently tailored for cybersecurity, RPA can be harnessed for certain security functions, including vulnerability scanning, the operation of monitoring tools, and basic threat mitigation. RPA can carry out predetermined tasks triggered by specific events or scheduled occurrences.

Benefits:

• Automate everyday security tasks and procedures.

• Enhance efficiency by minimizing manual effort and human errors.

• Boost scalability and accelerate the pace of security operations.

List of Cybersecurity Automation Tools and its Use Cases

Conclusion

Considering hackers’ growing use of AI and other generative technologies for malicious purposes, it is essential for security practices to adapt by integrating the latest automation tools and techniques to remain competitive and efficient. The right automation tools in cybersecurity enable organizations to identify vulnerabilities swiftly, automate threat detection, and respond to incidents with greater speed and accuracy, which is critical in mitigating the impact of attacks. Moreover, implementing automation in cybersecurity signifies a strategic shift towards more proactive and predictive security postures. This shift is crucial for organizations to manage the ever-growing volume of data and the complexity of modern network environments.

Tx-Secure – A Security Testing Accelerator to Enhance Cybersecurity

To safeguard your organization against evolving cyber threats, TestingXperts Test Center of Excellence (TCoE), has developed Tx-Secure, a security testing accelerator designed to enhance and streamline the security testing process. Here’s what makes Tx-Secure an essential tool for modern businesses for streamlining cybersecurity automation process:

• Tx-Secure integrates specific processes and guidelines, complemented by various tools and checklists, to facilitate seamless security testing.

• The accelerator is engineered to expedite the security testing process, ensuring quicker and more significant outcomes.

• This framework is adept at testing applications across various platforms, including Blockchain, IoT, and Network Infrastructure security.

• Tx-Secure also offers the flexibility to establish secure testing labs tailored to specific customer needs.

• All security testing services under Tx-Secure align with global standards like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, OSSTMM, OWASP, etc., ensuring top-notch security and compliance.

To know more, Contact our Cybersecurity experts now.

The post Importance of Choosing the Right Cybersecurity Automation Tool first appeared on TestingXperts.

An Overview of SAST

Static application security testing (SAST) analyzes the source code of the application to detect security vulnerabilities. The security vulnerabilities may be in the form of SQL injection, buffer overflows, XML, XXE attacks, hardcoded-credentials, vulnerable libraries and other security risks.

SAST is a white box testing approach in which the application is scanned from the inside out. Testers perform SAST to identify security vulnerabilities in the code before it is compiled or executed.

The SAST methodology enables testers to evaluate the applications early and without the need to execute any functional components. This way, security-related vulnerabilities are found and fixed early, preventing such security issues from going unattended until the later development phases. SAST saves time and effort for teams and enhances app security.

Business Benefits of SAST

Provides Security in the Early Stages:

SAST ensures an application’s security early in its development lifecycle. It enables finding vulnerabilities in the source code during the coding or designing stage, making it easier to fix the bugs early. However, when tests are not performed until the end of development, the build has inherent bugs and errors which take time to fix and delays the timeline.

Enables faster and more accurate testing:

SAST tools scan the application and its source code faster than a manual review. The tools validate and precisely scan millions of code lines in a time-effective manner and precisely detect all underlying issues. In addition, if configured and used correctly in the Dev pipeline, SAST tools continuously monitor the code for security leaks and preserve the code integrity and functionality while suggesting mitigations for the identified problems rapidly.

Ensures secure coding:

Secure coding is mandatory for all kinds of applications, be it for websites, mobile apps, or embedded systems. Creating robust, safe coding from the beginning reduces the risks of getting the application compromised later. The reason is that attackers are able to target poorly coded applications easily and perform cyber-attacks like stealing sensitive data, passwords, account takeovers, etc. It has adverse effects on the organizational reputation and customer trust. Using SAST ensures safe coding practices and regulatory compliance.

Enables detection of high-risk vulnerabilities:

SAST tools make it possible for testers to detect high-risk application vulnerabilities, such as SQL Injections and buffer overflows, etc., throughout the lifecycle. In addition, SAST tools identify cross-site scripting (XSS) and vulnerabilities.

Provides ease of integration:

SAST tools come with simple integration and can be easily embedded into an existing QA process. SAST tools perform security testing within the Dev environments, repositories, and issue trackers. SAST tools feature a user-friendly interface that ensures a reasonable learning curve and consistent testing.

Enables automated audits:

It is a time consuming and tedious task to perform manual security code audits, and the auditor should know of the possible vulnerabilities before they can examine the code thoroughly. However, SAST tools are capable of reviewing code frequently with accuracy and in less time. The tools accelerate code audits and ensure code security more efficiently.

An Overview of DAST

Dynamic application security testing (DAST) evaluates the application by simulating the actions of hackers who may try to sneak into the application. DAST tests the applications in real time and against vulnerability scenarios to detect and report security-related bugs.

DAST can be closed box, also called Black-box, or a grey-box where application functionality is known to the tester. It can also be a white-box where underlying technologies and architecture are also known to the tester. This helps in testing against any insider threats as well. DAST helps testers identify bugs that may not be found during SAST and appear only once the application is tested in runtime.

Business Benefits Of DAST

Provides a broader coverage against security vulnerabilities

Modern applications are complex and are integrated with a wide range of external libraries, legacy systems, extensions, template code, etc. As security risks evolve, such a solution offers businesses broader testing coverage. DAST scans and tests all applications and websites, regardless of their technologies. Therefore, DAST addresses various security concerns while checking how the application appears to attackers and end-users. It helps the testers run a comprehensive QA plan that may find and fix issues and ensure a secure application.

Ensures greater security across environments

Since DAST is not implemented on the underlying code but from the outside, achieving the highest level of security and integrity of the application is possible. Even if updates are made to the application environment, it remains secure and entirely usable.

Enables test deployments in the staging environment

DAST tools and techniques test applications in a staging environment for vulnerabilities. This way, Dev and QA teams are assured of the application security post-production. Teams test the application on a regular basis through DAST tools and use manual techniques to identify any underlying security issues that configuration updates may bring about.

Provides support for penetration testing

The process of DAST resembles that of penetration testing, where the application is verified for vulnerabilities by intentionally injecting malicious input or performing a cyberattack to review how the application responds. Using DAST tools in the penetration testing efforts simplifies the operations through its capabilities. DAST tools help streamline the penetration testing process through automated bug detection and reporting.

SAST vs DAST : 7 Key Differences

Conclusion

SAST vs DAST have underlying differences on the ways each method proceeds with security testing. SAST scans the source code of the application at rest and identifies the security loopholes. On the other hand, DAST tests the application that is running. When comparing SAST versus DAST, it is evident that SAST may be deployed earlier in the SDLC when it is relatively easy and cost-effective to fix the detected vulnerabilities and security issues. However, businesses should not rely on a single method to detect security bottlenecks.

A combined approach, which leverages both SAST and DAST, is recommended to enable a broader range of vulnerabilities and exploitable shortcomings. It reaps the benefits of both SAST’s static and DAST’s dynamic approach to end-to-end security testing. Adding other methods of security testing into the process, such as interactive application security testing (IAST) and runtime application self-protection (RASP), further strengthens the overall security testing process of applications.

How Can Tx Help You With Your Security Testing Needs?

TestingXperts (Tx), a next-gen specialist QA & software testing company, has been helping clients with various security testing needs. Our team of Certified Ethical Hackers (CEHs) ensures that your application is secure from vulnerabilities and meets the stated security requirements, such as confidentiality, authorization, authentication, availability, and integrity. Teams have more than ten years of expertise in assessing various applications for security threats and ensuring rigorous application testing for all possible threats and vulnerabilities.

TestingXperts Test Center of Excellence (TCoE) has developed Tx-PEARS –‘A holistic framework for enabling non-functional testing requirements quickly and effectively in one go.’

Tx-PEARS stands for Performance Engineering, Accessibility, Resiliency, & Security – Delivers innovative services in managing Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) that help customers drive better value for their businesses with scalable and robust solutions enabling great CX.

Benefits for Businesses Leveraging Tx-PEARS

• 80-90% time saved during the planning phase as ready-to-use accelerators embedded in Tx-PEARS framework helps to jumpstart testing engagements.

• Provides scalability and resiliency to applications deployed on the cloud and on-premise.

• Proactively addresses application NFRs and covers both application and infrastructure stack.

• Less code to develop and maintain as accelerators have all the required features for ensuring quicker testing outcomes.

• Helps to analyze application architecture and design to identify potential fault areas and recommend the right design patterns (e.g., circuit breakers, bulkheads, etc.)

• Executes resilience validations to understand application and infrastructure resilience.

• Analyzes monitoring and operational processes and suggest modifications to improve resilience (build self-detecting and self-healing capabilities).

• Provides Application Performance Capacity Management and Production Stability Improvement services in one go.

• Ensures equal access to apps to all people, including people with disabilities like color blindness, moto impairment, mobility impairment, etc.

• Helps to build quality gates from an NFT perspective.

• Helps in enabling an application to be fault-tolerant, reduce latency, and make it load tolerant.

• Ensures business continuity even during sub-system/component failures.

• Helps to cut down QA costs by 40%.

• Save around 55% on Total cost of ownership (TCoE).

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Table of Content:

1. What is security testing?

2. Why do businesses need security testing?

3. Recent cyber-attacks in 2022 depict the need for robust security testing

4. Different types of cyber threats businesses should know

5. What are the various security testing methods businesses can leverage?

6. Important techniques used in security testing

7. How is security testing performed in parallel to SDLC?

8. Role of security testing in the DevOps environment

9. Benefits of embedding security testing into the DevOps environment 10. Who performs security testing?

11. Best security testing practices to ensure robust cyber-security in 2022

12. Upcoming Cyber-security threats and trends to look at in 2022

13. Security testing tools for businesses to leverage

14. Conclusion

15. How can TestingXperts help?

What is security testing?

Security testing is a software testing technique where apps, systems, networks, infrastructure, etc., are tested for security threats and vulnerabilities. This testing method helps improve the security posture of businesses and protects them from all kinds of cyber threats. Further, it ensures that business systems, apps, and networks are free from security loopholes and vulnerabilities that hackers could otherwise exploit. Some of the basic concepts in security testing include Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authenticity, Authorization, Non-repudiation, and Resilience.

Why do businesses need security testing?

Helps to identify hidden vulnerabilities:

Security testing helps identify hidden issues or security loopholes in the software/app that, if left unidentified, can be exploited by hackers.

Ensures security of sensitive data:

Cyber security testing helps to keep customer and business-sensitive data secure from all risks.

Empowers regulatory compliance:

Businesses need to safeguard customer data and prevent data leakage. This testing method helps to ensure data safety and also allows businesses to fulfill regulatory compliances.

Safeguard infrastructure:

Security testing helps businesses safeguard their IT infrastructure from unknown threats and malicious attacks.

Reduces app/network downtime:

Cyber-attacks might lead to network or app downtime, which can stop the normal functioning of the business activities and might hamper customer experience (CX). Leveraging security testing protects from these attacks and helps reduce/eliminate app or network downtime.

Protects from reputational loss:

Cyber-attacks threaten the business’s reputation and might also affect its bottom line. Businesses can protect themselves from economic and reputational loss by leveraging security testing.

Recent cyber-attacks in 2022 depict the need for robust security testing

According to securityaffairs, on 24^th March 2022, The Anonymous hacker collective claims to have hacked the Central Bank of Russia and accessed 35,000 documents. Anonymous claims that the stolen documents include Russia’s economic secrets. The attack on the central bank of a state could have major repercussions on its domestic politics.

According to novinkycz, on 22^nd March 2022, Hacker group Anonymous released 10 GB of data from Swiss company Nestlé. This is the collective’s retaliation for continuing the company’s business in Russia.

According to Wikipedia, on 14^th January 2022, a cyberattack took down more than a dozen of Ukraine’s government websites during the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis. According to Ukrainian officials, around 70 government websites, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cabinet of Ministers, and Security and Defense Council, were attacked.

Different types of cyber threats businesses should know

SQL Injection:

This technique involves injecting malicious SQL code into the entry field for hacking database-driven websites or websites that use dynamic SQL.

Malware attacks:

Hackers install malicious software on the victim’s system without consent in this cyberattack.

Phishing and Spear Phishing:

In this type of cyberattack, hackers send malicious emails that appear to be from genuine sources to gain personal information or influence victims to do something via these emails.

Man-in-the-middle attack (MitM):

In this cyberattack, a perpetrator intercepts the communication between client and server to either eavesdrop or impersonate someone.

Denial of Service attack (DoS):

In a DoS attack, the perpetrator shuts down the victim’s system or network to make it inaccessible to its intended users.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS):

In this Distributed Denial of Service attack, hackers flood the organization’s servers or networks with fake or bot users to crash the system’s normal functioning and interrupt the communication channel.

Password attack:

It is one of the most common types of cyberattacks where attackers use a mechanism to steal passwords by either looking around the person’s desk or using the sniffing technique.

Botnet:

It is a collection of malware-infected internet-connected devices that remains under the control of a single attacking party known as bot herders. It allows attackers to steal credentials saved on devices and gives them unauthorized access, leading to data theft and DDoS attacks.

IP Spoofing:

In this cyber attacking technique, the attacker modifies the IP address in the packet header. The receiving computer system thinks it is from a legitimate or trusted source.

Session hijacking:

In this attack, an attacker hijacks the user session. It usually starts when a user logs in to the application and ends when they log out.

Ransomware:

In this cyberattack, the attacker encrypts the victim’s file and demands a heavy amount of money or ransom to decrypt it.

Evidently, there are various types of cyber-attacks, and businesses should leverage robust security testing to protect themselves from these malicious attacks.

What are the various security testing methods businesses can leverage?

Static Application Security Testing (SAST):

SAST is a white box security testing technique where testers examine the source code to identify security defects. By using this security testing method, the security issues are identified and mitigated early

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST):

DAST is a black box testing technique that involves testing the application as it is running. This testing method helps identify security vulnerabilities that cyber-attackers could exploit if left unidentified.

Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST):

It is a cybersecurity testing technique that involves the usage of software instruments to assess applications in real-time. This testing method helps businesses identify and manage security risks and vulnerabilities while running web apps using dynamic testing techniques.

Red Team Assessment:

It is a broader aspect of penetration testing where the internal or external team of security experts simulate real-time attacks on the organization to determine how well an organization can defend itself from cyber attacks. Red team assessment helps to test an organization’s detection and response capabilities and also improves its security posture.

Risk-based testing:

It is the process of identifying and prioritizing potential risks associated with the software. The security testing teams prioritize the features and functions in software based on the risk of failure and its importance.

Penetration testing or ethical hacking:

In the Penetration testing method, a certified and authorized ethical hacker simulates cyberattacks to identify the security vulnerabilities in the software.

Security review: It is the process of safeguarding the entire DevOps environment by ensuring stringent security policies, strategies, best practices, procedures, and technology.

Important techniques used in security testing

Testing for SQL Injection:

In this technique, testers check if it is possible to inject SQL queries into the input fields of the application without proper input validation.

Cross-site Scripting (XSS):

In this technique, testers check the web application for XSS to ensure that an application does not accept any HTML scripts. This attack happens when an attacker injects executable code within a single HTTP response.

Session Management:

Testers check the session expiration after a particular idle time after logging in and after the maximum lifetime. It also involves checking session duration and session cookie scope.

Password Cracking:

In this technique, testers try to crack the password to assess an application. They use commonly available user names, passwords, and open-source password cracking applications.

Security Misconfiguration:

It is one of the most common security flaws found in web applications due to weak or default passwords, out-of-date software, unnecessary features, and unprotected files or databases. Therefore, testers check all these aspects during the security testing.

Sensitive Data Exposure:

This issue happens when a web application fails to protect sensitive data and exposes it to end-user such as credit card/debit card information, contact information, health records, etc. Therefore, testers check the web applications to ensure that they do not expose sensitive data to the end-user.

Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards:

In this type of cyber-attacking technique, the hacker redirects or forwards the user to an untrusted website to steal information. Security testers check whether an application can stop redirection when it takes users to an untrusted link or website.

How is security testing performed in parallel to SDLC?

Security testing is a complex software testing process conducted either manually or with automation leveraging automation tools. It is best to start security testing in the early stages of SDLC, irrespective of the manual or automated approach. Below mentioned are ways in which security testing is done in parallel to SDLC:

Requirements gathering:

Testers perform security analysis and understand business needs and existing security posture during this stage.

Designing:

Once all the requirements are gathered, testers start security test planning.

Coding:

During the development or coding stage, testers perform white box testing or SAST and Software Composition Analysis.

Testing:

During the testing phase, testers perform Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing using automated and manual methods.

Operations & Maintenance:

During this phase, testers perform impact analysis to find any other remaining security loopholes.

Role of security testing in the DevOps environment

Security testing plays a vital role in the DevOps environment as it ensures continuous security checks throughout the DevOps CI/CD pipeline. Below mentioned are some ways in which security testing is integrated into the DevOps CI/CD pipeline:

Planning phase:

The DevSecOps team identifies the business’s security requirements and prepares security policies during this stage.

Coding phase:

At this stage, testers conduct in-depth code reviews to ensure the robustness of the software build.

Build phase:

During this stage, testers perform Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and dependency scanning.

Testing phase:

At this stage, testers execute Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST), and penetration testing to identify and remove vulnerabilities.

Release phase:

During this stage, the software is checked against all necessary guidelines, best practices, policies, and protocols. Continuous testing is ensured to remove all bugs.

Operations phase:

At this stage, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Secret management processes are implemented to ensure proper provisioning of infrastructure through code.

Monitoring phase:

At this stage, logging and alerting methods, threat intelligence methods, and vulnerability disclosure methods are used to ensure robust security.

Benefits of embedding security testing into the DevOps environment

• Helps testers to identify and rectify bugs early in the DevOps pipeline

• Delivers safer, secure, and resilient software

• Reduces expenses and losses

• Increases the delivery rate and ensures faster release of secured software

• Provides transparency from the start of the software development process

• Allows more rapid recovery in case a cyber-attack or security flaw is identified

• Ensures robust security checks and compliances in the delivery pipeline

• Provides the ability to respond to changes as and when they occur quickly

• Builds customer loyalty and uplifts the brand image

Who performs security testing?

Security testing involves various types of testers with varying roles. Depending on the complexity of IT infra, different testers are involved. Various types of testers involved in security testing are pen testers, security audit teams, security test engineers, cyber-security testing managers, etc.

Penetration testers, ethical hackers, or white hats are trained people who perform authorized simulated cyber-attacks on computer systems, networks, etc., to help businesses identify security vulnerabilities. Pen testers play a vital role in security testing by identifying security loopholes in IT infrastructure before a cyber-attacker finds and exploits them. Thus, penetration testers save businesses from monetary and reputational losses.

Best security testing practices to ensure robust cyber-security in 2022

Ensure Data encryption:

Businesses should ensure end-to-end data encryption of sensitive and critical data. Data encryption converts the data into a secret code and reduces the risk of cyber threats, data destruction, or data tampering.

Ensure Data back-up:

Businesses need to keep their data back-up to ensure easy recovery if the data gets lost due to a cyberattack.

Use Multi-factor Authentication (MFA):

MFA is a security verification process that requires the user to provide two or more additional proofs of identity to access the account. This way, MFA adds a layer of security and safeguards businesses from cyber threats.

Use strong passwords:

It is necessary to use strong passwords with an appropriate combination of letters, alphabets, symbols, etc.

Avoid using public internet:

Systems connected to the public internet are more prone to cyber-attacks as hackers usually steal data or try to gain access to such systems.

Install anti-virus:

It is essential to install anti-virus to defend systems from cyber-attacks.

Upcoming Cyber-security threats and trends to look at in 2022

Remote work attacks will increase more:

The remote working culture that started with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue for a long time as many organizations have adopted a permanent remote working policy. Due to this, the employees working from home are more prone to become victims of cyberattacks. According to Forbes, the cybersecurity threats that took advantage of this remote work dynamic will receive further attention.

Usage of AI for fraud detection will gain momentum:

In the upcoming years, it is expected that AI will be used more for fraud detection as it can analyze the data and find unusual patterns of cyber-attacks on the systems.According to Forbes, a shift to AI will help businesses meet the urgently needed gaps in the cybersecurity industry.

Rise in Ransomware attacks:

According to IBM, triple extortion ransomware is likely to rise in 2022. In this type of cyberattack, ransomware attack experienced by one business becomes an extortion threat for its business partner.

The need for cloud security will increase:

Today, businesses are rapidly adopting cloud solutions as it provides more benefits. However, cloud solutions are comparatively more secure than on-premise solutions as they have an added layer of security. Still, due to the advanced cyber-attacking techniques used by hackers, even cloud solutions are at risk of cyber threats today. According to Economic Times, cloud vulnerabilities are still a significant concern for many enterprises.

The risk of a cyber-attack on IoT devices will increase more:

The world is getting more connected with IoT devices and relies on heavy data, making it more prone to cyberattacks. According to IGT Solutions, the risk of cyber threats will increase in 2022 with more proliferation of IoT devices.

Security testing tools for businesses to leverage

Veracode:

It is a cloud-based security testing tool used to perform dynamic analysis (DAST), interactive analysis (IAST), static analysis (SAST), software composition analysis (SCA), and penetration testing.

Acunetix:

It is an end-to-end security testing tool that audits web applications by checking vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Cross-site scripting, and other exploitable vulnerabilities. This tool comes with a suite of security testing tools: DeepScan Technology, Login Sequence Recorder (LSR), AcuMonitor, and AcuSensor.

Burp Suite Professional:

It is one of the widely used penetration testing and vulnerability scanning tools for web apps. This proxy-based tool evaluates the security of web-based applications and enables hands-on testing. It helps to find vulnerabilities faster and helps to save time and cost.

Microfocus Fortify:

It is a suite of automated security testing tools that support DevSecOps, Cloud transformation, software supply chain, Maturity at scale, Enterprise DAST, and CI/CD pipeline security. Various tools of this tool suite are: Fortify on Demand, Static Code Analyzer, Software Security Scanner, WebInspect, and Software Composition Analysis.

Conclusion

As businesses become more digital, there has been an increase in the number of cyber-attacks they face. It has become essential for digitally transforming businesses to ensure the robust security of apps, data, networks, systems, and infrastructure. It is necessary to adopt effective security measures such as strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, data encryption, etc., to protect businesses from cyber-attacks. Along with these measures, enterprises should leverage security testing methods like vulnerability scanning, pen testing, and ethical hacking to safeguard their systems, apps, networks, and IT infrastructure from possible cyber threats.

How can TestingXperts help?

TestingXperts (Tx), with its rich expertise in security testing, caters to businesses’ diversified security testing needs across industries. We have a large pool of Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH) that help businesses ensure their applications, networks, and servers are secure from all possible vulnerabilities and meet the stated security requirements like confidentiality, authorization, authentication, availability, and integrity. We are among the best security testing companies with expertise in assessing various applications for security threats. Tx teams ensure that your application is rigorously tested for all possible threats and vulnerabilities.

We primarily follow the OWASP (Open Web Security Project) guidelines in our security testing services along with PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, WAHH, OSSTM, WASC, and NIST Standards as per the application-specific requirements.

The post Security Testing – An Effective Guide for Businesses first appeared on TestingXperts.

1. An overview of cyber security
2. Significant cyberattacks
3. Why do businesses need to adopt cyber security measures?
4. How can businesses protect themselves from cyberattacks?
5. What is the need for outsourcing cyber security testing?
6. Benefits of outsourcing your cyber security testing include
7. How to choose your outsourcing partner for cyber security testing?
8. Conclusion
9. How can TestingXperts help?

Today’s businesses are trying to cope with the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while a wave of cyberattacks continues to pose a challenge for businesses. These cyber-threats significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as employees worked from home. Due to this new work culture, many vulnerabilities surfaced online that weakened the security of systems, networks, and data, across organizations worldwide.

Apart from the remote working culture, other reasons for the sudden increase in cyberattacks include weak passwords, public internet usage, unprotected systems/networks, and downloads from unknown sources, etc. Some of the most common attacks include Phishing, Ransomware, Password Attack, Cross-site Scripting, SQL Injection, Malware, DOS, Zero-day Exploit, etc. Eventually, today, it has become essential for all businesses to protect their critical apps, systems, data, and networks from cyber threats by adopting cyber security measures.

An overview of cyber security

Cyber security, also known as information technology security, protects computers, networks, servers, applications/software, data, and more from cyberattacks. Its main aim is to combat cyber threats and protect businesses from any form of vulnerability. Cyber security is categorized into five types: critical Infrastructure Security, Application Security, Network Security, Cloud Security, and Internet of Things (IoT) Security.

Significant cyberattacks

According to The Stack, on 04^th Feb 2022, The UK Foreign Office was hacked in a major cybersecurity incident, forcing it to parachute into additional support with “extreme urgency” from its cybersecurity contractor BAE Systems Applied Intelligence. The UK government only revealed the existence of the “serious cyber security incident” affecting the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) through a public tender announcement.

According to AP News, a series of cyberattacks on 15^th Feb 2022 knocked the websites of the Ukrainian army, the defense ministry, and major banks offline. In such attacks, websites are barraged with a flood of junk data packets, rendering them unreachable. As per the report, at least 10 Ukrainian websites were unreachable due to the attacks, including the defense, foreign, and culture ministries and Ukraine’s two largest state banks.

Forbes, in one of their article on ‘More alarming cybersecurity stats for 2021,’ states that Americans seem to be wakening up to the need for better cybersecurity. A poll by The Pearson Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that “about 9 in 10 Americans are at least somewhat concerned about hacking that involves their personal information, financial institutions, government agencies or certain

According to a report published by IBM, titled ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021,’ the year 2021 saw the highest average cost of a data breach in 17 years, with the cost rising from USD 3.86 million to USD 4.24 million on an annual basis.

The rising frequency of cyberattacks and the higher number of compromised networks, apps, records, etc., indicate the severeness of risk posed by cyberattacks worldwide. Today, it has become essential for all businesses to adopt cyber security measures to keep them free from threats and vulnerabilities.

Why do businesses need to adopt cyber security measures?

Protects from cyberattacks

The rapidly rising cases of cyberattacks have necessitated the adoption of robust cyber security measures. For businesses to protect their critical apps, systems, networks, and data from cyberattacks, the adoption of stringent cyber security measures is essential.

Protects brand reputation:

Cyber attacks pose a significant risk to the sensitive information of businesses and their customers. Any data leak can cause damage to their brand reputation. Therefore, businesses need to adopt effective cyber security practices.

Improves customer trust

Businesses need to protect customer data from cyber threats, as any loss of customer data can affect customer trust. Therefore, businesses need to adopt cyber security measures to improve customer trust.

Protects business bottom line:

Cyberattacks, especially ransomware, can cause great monetary loss to businesses. Hence, businesses need to protect themselves from ransomware and other cyberattacks to protect their business bottom line.

How can businesses protect themselves from cyberattacks?

There are various cyber security measures that businesses can adopt and leverage to ensure their apps, systems, infrastructure, and networks are free from threats and vulnerabilities. Some of them include:

Data encryption:

Businesses should ensure end-to-end data encryption of sensitive and critical data. Data encryption converts the data into a secret code and reduces the risk of cyber threats, data destruction, or data tampering.

Data backup:

Businesses need to keep their data backup to ensure easy recovery if the data gets lost due to a cyberattack.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA):

MFA is a great way to protect businesses from any cyberattacks. MFA is a security verification process that requires the user to provide two or more additional proofs of identity to access the account. This way, MFA adds a layer of security and safeguards businesses from cyber threats.

Employee awareness:

Businesses should create awareness among their employees about cyber security policies and employ the best practices to keep their businesses safe from cyberattacks. Businesses should make their employees aware of the importance of strong passwords, secure downloads, anti-virus, etc.

Outsource security testing:

Outsourcing is when a company hires a third party to handle operations or provide services. Thus, businesses can outsource the security testing of apps, systems, and networks to an able outsourcing partner to get an unbiased opinion on the cyber security readiness of their business.

What is the need for outsourcing cyber security testing in 2022?

Rampant cyber attacks have increased the need for security testing of business-critical apps, networks, data, and more. This testing method involves an in-depth analysis of the business’ IT infrastructure from an attacker’s perspective to ensure no security loophole is left behind. Typically, it is beneficial for businesses to outsource their cyber security testing to an able security and vulnerability testing services provider, which ensures many benefits of saving time, costs, and more. Also, for businesses, maintaining a team of security QA experts and paying licenses for various security test automation tools involves some costs.

Some of the major benefits of outsourcing your cyber security testing include:

Threat detection and incident response time improvement:

One of the major benefits of outsourcing is the quick incident response time or turnaround time. With outsourcing, the services are available on time and much faster than in-house teams.

Skilled professional services:

Outsourcing security testing allows businesses to test their software with highly-skilled resources. The organizations that offer outsourcing services have skilled and certified experts that can help businesses improve their cyber security readiness.

Automated cyber security testing:

For in-house teams, it is challenging to source and keep a wide range of tools in-house. However, outsourcing partners have access to various tools and frameworks that they leverage to automate software testing.

Security compliance and regulations:

There are various types of compliances and regulations, such as HIPPA, GDPR, SOC, etc., that businesses should follow. Businesses can get their security compliance and regulations checked by outsourcing cyber security testing.

Need effective security teams:

Vulnerability testing is a complex and continuous task that keeps getting more difficult as the application grows. Usually, organizations have a limited workforce available who are involved in various activities. Therefore, it is better to outsource cyber security testing to security testing service providers with in-house security testing experts.

Unbiased services:

Reliable outsourcing partner provides unbiased opinions about the security readiness of a business. This helps business decision-makers make correct and unbiased decisions.

Customized services:

As the application grows, software testing becomes complex. Also, applications need to be tested more frequently and thoroughly during peak load days. With outsourcing, businesses can get customized services as per their needs.

24x7x365 monitoring:

With outsourcing, businesses can achieve 24/7 monitoring of their applications and faster response to their needs. It becomes easy to get seamless support from the outsourcing company.

Access to advanced technology:

A reliable outsourcing partner stays updated with the latest technological stacks, such as AI, ML, IoT, RPA, etc. By outsourcing cyber security testing, businesses can get their software thoroughly tested with the help of advanced technologies.

Cost-effective:

For a business, in-house hiring resources, upskilling them, and buying tools could be a costly affair. However, with outsourcing, businesses get skilled resources, advanced tools, customized services, and more at a much lower cost.

How to choose your outsourcing partner for cyber security testing?

Reputation in the market:

The outsourcing partner’s credibility and importance matter a lot. Before offering the project to the partner, the background, history, and market reputation should be checked.

Years of expertise:

Before choosing an outsourcing partner, it is essential to look at the experience level of the partner, years of service in the industry, clients served, client-communication procedures used by the partner, etc.

Automation capabilities:

Automation testing has become the need of an hour. Thus, before outsourcing security testing, ensure that the partner has relevant automation testing capabilities.

Service flexibility:

Every business has different security testing needs. An outsourcing partner should be flexible enough to cater to varying types of testing needs as per the requirement of the business.

Engagement models:

For businesses to choose a reliable outsourcing partner, it is essential to look at the engagement models, like project-based, managed, staffing/time & material, etc.,

Thought leadership:

Outsourcing partner’s proficiency and subject matter expertise should be checked before hiring. The thought leadership of the outsourcing partner is all that matters and should be looked upon before hiring them for the projects.

Authentic partners:

The authenticity of the outsourcing partner should be validated before hiring them for the software testing project. Customer references can be checked to validate their authenticity.

Budget-friendly:

The outsourcing partner should be budget-friendly and must fit into the budgetary limits of a business.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, cyberattacks have been on the rampage and pose a great risk to business apps, data, systems, and networks and are at risk of losing customer trust and the organization’s reputation. Today’s businesses should ensure robust cyber security readiness by leveraging end-to-end security testing. Businesses should outsource security testing to the best outsourcing partner to protect their businesses from cyberattacks and ensure vulnerability-free. Outsourcing cyber security testing can help businesses achieve faster incident response time, save high costs, and overcome cyber threats and vulnerabilities.

How can TestingXperts help?

TestingXperts (Tx), is next gen specialist QA & software testing company, has been helping clients with a range of security testing needs. Our team of Certified Ethical Hackers (CEHs) ensures that your application is secure from vulnerabilities and meets the stated security requirements, such as confidentiality, authorization, authentication, availability, and integrity. Teams have more than ten years of expertise in assessing a wide range of applications for security threats and ensuring rigorous application testing for all possible threats and vulnerabilities.

Our Differentiators:

• A large pool of Certified Ethical Hackers (CEHs) with years of expertise in delivering security testing services to clients across domains

• Flexible engagement models best suited to customer’s business need

• In-house security testing accelerator Tx-Secure makes the security testing process quick seamless and helps you achieve significant results

• Secure and well-equipped in-house security testing labs help perform effective security testing of all applications, including Blockchain, IoT, network infrastructure, etc.

• Security testing services have conformance with International standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, OSSTMM, OWASP, and others,

• Deliver detailed test reports to stakeholders to make informed decisions

• Ensure 24x7x365 seamless customer support

The post What is the Need for Outsourcing Cyber Security Testing? first appeared on TestingXperts.

• What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?
• DSPM vs CSPM
• Core Components of DSPM
• Top Benefits of Data Security Posture Management
• Why Do You Need Data Security Posture Management?
• How can Tx assist with DSPM?
• Summary

To do business in the modern world and remain competitive, businesses must shift from traditional network perimeters, initiate data democratization, integrate AI/ML solutions, and adopt cloud-based technologies. And that’s a fact. On the other hand, these technological advancements have also introduced new security vulnerabilities. The average data breach cost in 2024 is $4.88 million, a 10% increase from the previous year. The healthcare industry had the highest average data breach cost at nearly $9.77 million, while the financial sector was second at $6.08 million. To mitigate the security risks dwelling inside modern IT environments, companies need robust data security posture management (DSPM). 

DSPM enables consistent management of data security threats and risks by continuously evaluating data security posture, identifying vulnerabilities, and implementing controls to reduce/mitigate those risks.  

What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?

DSPM is a cybersecurity technology that helps businesses identify sensitive information across multi-cloud services or environments. It also assesses vulnerabilities, security threats, and regulatory non-compliance risks. Data security posture management offers insights and automation to assist security teams in addressing data compliance and security issues and preventing recurrence.  

For instance, businesses nowadays process and store sensitive data, including PHI and PII, intellectual property, financial data, etc. This data is spread across multiple databases, cloud environments, and more. DSPM helps secure this sensitive information and automate data discovery, detection, classification, protection, and monitoring processes. As the data volume and capacity grow, DSPM assists businesses in identifying their sensitive data, controlling access and usage, and implementing data protection practices. 

DSPM vs CSPM

Core Components of DSPM 

Data security posture management core components focus on ensuring data compliance, protection, and visibility across platforms. These components create an integrated and comprehensive process to secure sensitive data. Let’s take a look at some of the components of DSPM: 

Data Discovery and Classification

Knowing where sensitive data lives is important. Data discovery creates an inventory that contains all sensitive data and helps identify where it’s stored. It also classifies all the data based on the regulatory frameworks governing it. Businesses can easily manage data access controls and decide what security protocols should be implemented to protect them. 

Data Risk Assessment

Data security risk assessment starts with finding every environmental loophole. The process involves using automated tools to run regular checks against industry-specific data security standards and then creating tailored risk detection rules based on business requirements. 

Real-time Monitoring

Ensuring critical business data protection is a continuous process that involves regularly scanning new data stores and identifying threats to data security. With real-time data monitoring, businesses can continuously supervise their data collection, storage, and usage. It would provide a holistic view of data and where, why, and how it is utilized. 

Compliance and Reporting

Ensuring compliance with regulations and industry standards. It includes benchmarking, sending violation alerts, flagging security issues, and reporting compliance status.  

Data Prioritization

This component prioritizes data based on its sensitivity level and the degree to which it is vulnerable to compromise. This allows businesses to identify potential attack paths and prioritize the data requiring urgent attention.  

Top Benefits of Data Security Posture Management 

The primary benefit of integrating DSPM is that it accelerates the process of keeping data safe and secure, no matter where it is. Unlike other security postures focusing on cloud, applications, devices, networks, identity, etc., DSPM’s main focus is data only. Let’s take a quick look at some of the benefits of implementing data security posture management: 

• DSPM helps avoid legal actions and fines by auditing business policies against data protection rules and regulations, ensuring improved data security for partners and customers. 

• Seamlessly connect with DevSecOps workflows for early risk mitigation whenever they appear in the app development lifecycle. 

• Pinpoint abandoned data stores as they are easy targets for cyberattacks due to lack of supervision, and businesses can easily transfer them to affordable repositories for cost savings. 

• It helps create data policies and controls (even across multi-cloud and SaaS environments) according to organizational needs and data sets. 

• It enables automation to continuously monitor and optimize security posture while enabling teams to address high-priority data vulnerable to security breaches.  

• DSPM helps secure all types of data, including data located in SaaS, PaaS, multi or public cloud, and hybrid or on-premises infrastructure. 

Why Do You Need Data Security Posture Management? 

Security tools and technologies protect sensitive data by restricting unauthorized network access or by identifying and blocking malicious behaviors by users, APIs, IoT devices, etc. Although these technologies have upscaled data security and threat detection and remediation capabilities, the rapid adoption of cloud-native technologies, AI, and ML has increased concerns regarding data security risks. These technologies don’t always address security vulnerabilities, leaving sensitive business data at risk of breaches and compliance violations.  

One of the significant risks is ‘Shadow Data,’ which means data copied, replicated, or backed up to a location that’s not governed or managed by the same policies, security teams, or controls that operate the original data. The major contribution to shadow data is AI or ML modeling, which requires a lot of data. To train AI/ML models, businesses usually expand data access to more users, some of whom don’t even have the basic knowledge of data security and governance. And the adoption of a hybrid or multi-cloud environment spreads this risk further.  

How can Tx assist with Data Security Posture Management? 

Tx can assist with Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) by providing a comprehensive approach to protect and manage your data security across various environments, including cloud, hybrid, and on-premises systems. Here’s how Tx can help: 

• We identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and potential risks in your data environment, offering actionable insights for mitigation. 

• Tx uses AI-driven tools to monitor and detect abnormal data activity, ensuring proactive threat detection and compliance. 

• We implement robust encryption, access controls, and policies to safeguard sensitive data at every stage. 

• Tx ensures adherence to regulatory standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS by auditing data security practices and aligning them with industry best practices. 

• Our team is prepared to respond to data security incidents swiftly, minimizing potential damage and ensuring business continuity. 

Our in-house accelerator, Tx-Secure, is a powerful security operations platform for SIEM, compliance monitoring, threat intelligence, and more. The tool offers advanced security analytics, threat detection capabilities, and comprehensive monitoring, analysis, and response for security-related data across your business infrastructure. Its key capabilities include the following: 

• Real-time threat detection 

• Vulnerability management 

• File integrity monitoring 

• Malware detection 

• Compliance monitoring 

• Network intrusion detection 

• Log management and analysis 

• Comprehensive visibility 

Summary 

Data security posture management (DSPM) is an integral part of modern business operations and data security strategy. Data’s growing demand and value raise concerns about the consequences of data mishandling, which is why businesses should prioritize DSPM. By leveraging DSPM, businesses can secure sensitive data, improve brand value, and maintain customer trust. Tx, the leading security testing services provider, can assist in establishing a strong data security platform. It will help you automate data discovery, risk remediation, prioritization, and monitoring processes.  
 
Ready to secure your data with DSPM? Contact Tx today to learn how we can help protect your business from cyber threats. 

The post Why Your Business Needs Data Security Posture Management? first appeared on TestingXperts.

The year 2020 was full of challenges with rapid lockdowns in different countries across the globe and this year 2021 also seems to be no better than the last year. Typically, when the world began coping up with the COVID-19 pandemic blues, a wave of cyber-attacks continues to shake the world of businesses across domains.

Table of Content:
1. Latest cyber-attacks across industries during 2020-2021
2. Various dominant types of cyber-attacks in recent times
3. The emerging need for different types of security testing
4. Why today’s CXOs should leverage security testing?
5. How we can help with your security testing assessments?
6. Benefits of VAPT

Earlier this month, on April 04, 2021, 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online according to ‘Business Insider’ report!

These cyber-attacks pose a great risk to the identity and security of data of not only the general public but also the government and other institutions, and the cost of breaches has been consistently rising in recent years. This has also raised the dominance of new cyber vulnerabilities that emerged from shifting to a remote workforce with more IT employees shifting towards ‘WFH.’

This new work culture has truly expanded the cyber-attack surface and added many vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit from home offices too. Some of the other major reasons for these continued cyber-attacks are remote working, extensive cloud breaches, pandemic-related phishing, ransomware attacks, social engineering attacks along with more cyber threats on Internet-of-things (IoT), etc.

Today, invariably, board members, directors, and CXOs continue to review their organization’s risk practices to include network breaches and failures in their business continuity planning to safeguard from possible cyber risks and other similar incidents to stakeholders.

There had been nearly 445 million attacks detected since the beginning of 2020. There have been many types of cyber-attacks in recent times across industries which have been detailed below.

Latest cyber-attacks across industries during 2020-2021

Retail & eCommerce:

According to Economic Times, a group of hackers attacked at least 570 e-commerce stores in 55 countries and leaked information of more than 184,000 stolen credit cards. They generated over $7 million from selling compromised payment cards.

Healthcare:

According to a recent Forbes report, cyber-attacks on US healthcare facilities in the year 2020 affected 17.3 million people, and resulted in 436 data breaches. Cyber-attackers can sell medical records on the dark web for up to $1,000 each.

Telecom:

According to Verizon Mobile Security Index 2021, 40% of respondents faced mobile device-related cyberattacks and 53% said the damage was significant. According to BusinessInsider, it is predicted that there will be more than 41 billion IoT devices by 2027 and the significant rise In cyber-attacks on IoT devices calls for the need for strict cybersecurity measures in the telecom sector.

Banking & Insurance:

According to CSI 2021 Banking Priorities Survey, 34% of the bankers reported that cybersecurity is their major concern. While 84% of the bankers view social engineering as the greatest cybersecurity threat in 2021. As per the responses collected, customer-targeted phishing and employee-targeted phishing are the major concerns prevailing in the banking sector.

IT Industry:

According to BBC News, Amazon said that its online cloud, fended off the largest DDoS attack in history. As per Amazon Web Services (AWS), the February 2020 attack had fired 2.3Tbps.

Hotel Industry:

Marriott in 2020 disclosed that a security breach impacted data of more than 5.2 billion hotel guests in one of its more impactful attacks in recent times

Social media:

According to BBC News, Twitter faced a major cyber-attack in which 130 accounts were targeted including the accounts of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Kanye West, and Bill Gates. These accounts were used to tweet a Bitcoin scam to millions of followers by which attackers received hundreds of transfers, worth more than $100,000.

According to Business Insider recent report on April 04, 2021, nearly 533 million Facebook users phone numbers and personal data from 106 countries have been leaked online and security researchers warn that the data could be used by hackers to impersonate people and commit fraud.

Moreover, the Cybercrime magazine in its latest report states that cybercrime would cost the world $10.5 Trillion annually by 2025.

Various dominant types of cyber-attacks in recent times 

Malware:

It is malicious software that is installed by hackers on the victim’s system that damages the computer systems, servers, and networks. There are different types of malware such as worm, virus, Trojan, spyware, rootkit, adware, malvertising, ransomware, etc.

Ransomware:

It is the most common type of cybersecurity attack wherein the attacker encrypts the victim’s file and demands a huge amount of money or ransom to decrypt it. In this attack, the attacker threatens to publish sensitive or confidential data publicly on the dark web or blocks access to it until the ransom amount is paid.

Phishing and Spear Phishing:

It is a practice of sending malicious emails that appears to be from genuine sources. These emails also contain attachments that load malware onto the system of the user, by which attackers try to steal the personal information of the users.

Man-in-the-middle attack (MitM):

In this type of cyber-attack, a perpetrator intercepts the communication between the client and server with an aim to either eavesdrop or impersonate someone. The hackers try to steal personal information such as login credentials, account details, credit and debit card details, etc. Some of the main types of MitM attacks are IP spoofing, session hijacking, etc.

IP Spoofing:

The attacker tries to modify the IP address in the packet header to make the receiving computer system think it is from a legitimate or a trusted source. By this method, attackers gain access to computers and mine them for sensitive data. These infected computers are also used for malicious activities and for launching DDoS attacks further.

Session hijacking:

In this attack, the user session is taken over by an attacker. The attackers steal the victim’s session ID by either stealing the session cookie or by making the user click a malicious link containing a prepared session ID. After taking over the session, the attacker does malicious activities such as transfer money, steal the data, encrypt valuable data, and demand ransom to decrypt, etc.

SQL injection:

It is a code injection technique where the attacker injects malicious SQL code into the entry field for execution. This allows the attacker to view data that was not meant to be displayed or retrieved. It is a common issue with database-driven websites and websites that uses dynamic SQL.

Denial of Service attack (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS):

In this type, the attacker disrupts the organization’s servers or networks and floods them with fake or bot users to crash the normal functioning of the system. The most common types of DDoS attacks are TCP SYN flood, teardrop, smurf, ping of death, botnets, etc.

Botnets:

It is a collection of internet-connected devices which are infected by malware. Each infected device is known as a bot and is used to spread more bots. Using this technique, attackers steal credentials and data saved on devices and spread DDoS attacks.

These varied types of cyber-attacks continue to attack many businesses today and there is an exigency for ‘CYBER-SECURITY’ measures and especially ‘CYBER-SECURITY TESTING’ that should be leveraged by today’s businesses.

The emerging need for different types of security testing 

The variety of cyber-attacks are growing tremendously and intruders have found new and smart ways of spreading malicious viruses and hacking systems to steal important and confidential enterprise and customer data. Cybercriminals have a variety of ways by which they can hack systems and gain unauthorized access to business-critical apps, networks, and servers. These rampant cyber-attacks can affect organizations in many ways such as loss of brand image and reputation, loss of customer trust, and can even result in legal and financial consequences.

There is a critical need for organizations to adopt robust security testing of apps, systems, networks, servers, and cloud infrastructure to prevent cyber-attacks. However, to ensure the safety of business-critical apps, businesses should know the below-mentioned security testing types.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST):

It is a white box testing type where developers find security vulnerabilities in the source code of an application earlier in the software development life cycle. This testing method ensures that the app conforms to coding guidelines and standards.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST):

It is a black-box testing technique that allows testers to find security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in web apps. In this technique, the testers inject malicious data into the software just to mimic SQL injection and XSS attacks to identify common security vulnerabilities.

Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST):

It is a combination of both the SAST and DAST techniques. In this technique, an IAST agent is placed within an application that performs the analysis of the app in real-time. The IAST agent checks the runtime control and data flow information, configuration information, HTTP requests and responses, libraries, frameworks, and other components.

Other common types of security testing are:

Vulnerability scanning:

In this testing technique, automated software is used to scan vulnerabilities in the system. It examines web apps to identify vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting, SQL injections, command injections, insecure server configuration, etc.

Security audit/review:

It is a cybersecurity practice that should be performed regularly. It helps organizations to assess the current security level of their system by detecting vulnerabilities and security loopholes. It can either be performed manually or can also be automated. Depending on the types of risks identified during the auditing, proper solutions are provided to the organizations.

Ethical hacking:

In this testing technique, a certified ethical hacker intrudes the organization’s system with legal and authorized permission to detect vulnerabilities in the system before a cyber-attacker finds and exploits it.

Penetration testing:

In this security testing method, the testers try to mimic the real cyber-attacks to find the vulnerabilities in the system. The two most common types of penetration testing are app penetration testing which revolves around finding technical defects in the software, and the other is infrastructure penetration testing in which testers examine the servers, firewalls, and other hardware.

Red Teaming:

It is a broader aspect of penetration testing where the internal or external team of security experts simulate real-time attacks on the organization. The security experts assess the environment without any prior knowledge. The specific evaluation is based on combining various security controls of the organization. The asset can be digital or physical based on the scope and the job of the security experts is to perform attacks, avoid detection, and provide sensitive data as proof.

Security scanning:

This security testing process involves identifying vulnerabilities in the app, software, system, networks. Both manual and automated security testing methods are used to perform this testing method. The insights obtained from these tests are duly used to provide solutions to fix issues.

Why today’s CXOs should leverage security testing?

Businesses across industry domains continue to face rampant cyber attacks and it has today cyber-security has essentially become a boardroom discussion. These cyber-threats have grown so large that their consequences significantly influence their valuation largely. Hence, network security and data privacy are today well know boardroom governance concerns. Hence, boards, directors, stakeholders and CXOs should have a greater vision and devote more attention to evaluate these risks and ensure to leverage security testing to safeguard from threats and vulnerabilities.

Today’s digital and connected world is more susceptible to the rampant cyber-attacks that continue to invade the businesses of their data and networks. Hence, to identify these vulnerabilities and safeguard systems and networks, different types of vulnerability assessments should be taken up. These assessments involve automatic scanning of the network infrastructure to have a complete overview of the system to known vulnerabilities, if any.

In addition, with the help of automatic scans, a series of checks are carried out on every system/application to understand their configuration in detail and detect any vulnerability. Moreover, penetration tests should also be carried out using different attack scenarios and combining manual techniques with automated tools to protect systems and data from any possible threats and vulnerabilities.

Therefore, today’s CXOs need to establish the appropriate cybersecurity measures in their respective organizations in the digital world to safeguard from any possible threats and vulnerabilities of their data, systems, networks, infrastructure, etc. CXOs should leverage security testing to get many benefits some of which have been given below.

Helps reveal real vulnerabilities:

It proactively helps businesses to identify, and fix vulnerabilities in their software, apps, networks, and servers. CXOs should take up security testing to ensure their organizations continue to deliver high-quality and secure services to their customers.

Ensures compliance to standards like PCI DSS, HIPPA:

There are certain legal standards that every organization is expected to follow. To ensure that the organization is complying with all the required standards, CXOs should leverage security testing. Failure in abiding by this legal standard can result in huge penalties to the organization.

Smoothens business continuity:

Every CXO wants their business to run seamlessly 24/7 which can be achieved with security testing. Regular security checks help businesses to eliminate situations of unexpected downtime or loss of accessibility which ultimately results in business continuity issues at times

Ensures security of IT systems, apps, networks & data:

As per a report by Hosting Tribunal, there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds. This clearly shows an alarming situation and CXOs need to protect their IT systems, business-critical apps, enterprise, and customer data from these rapidly increasing cyber-attacks and this is where security testing plays its role.

Helps to run a secure business during WFH:

Due to the current pandemic, employees continue to work from home and organizations require their employees to access the company’s data from a variety of devices, and through various networks including public WiFi and Hotspots. This has led to a rise in cybercrimes. As per a report published by The Hill’, US FBI reported that there has been a 400% rise in cybercrimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. CXOs must ensure end-to-end security testing and should take strict cyber-security measures to normalize WHF and safeguard their businesses.

Ensures security of cloud solutions:

In the current era, cloud solutions have become a part of almost all organizations as they have started moving their IT systems to the cloud and therefore, cloud security has become the need of an hour. Though cloud architecture is much flexible than on-premise architecture as it allows running virtual machines and can store a huge amount of data. But still, the cloud continues to be more vulnerable to attacks. As per McAfee, there has been a 630% increase in external attacks on cloud-based services. Therefore, the security testing of cloud solutions is another aspect that CXOs should consider.

Keeps up brand image and reputation intact:

Even a single cyber-attack or data breach can negatively affect the image of an organization. According to Business Wire, 81% of consumers would stop engaging with a brand online after a data breach. This can adversely affect the brand image and revenue also. Therefore, every CXO should start investing in security testing methods to protect customer’s data and to preserve their brand image.

Increases security IQ of employees with policies in place:

Ensuring the security of data and systems is not the sole responsibility of IT teams. Rather it is the responsibility of every employee irrespective of their roles and this extends to CXOs as well. CXOs should align with subject matter experts to understand the requirements of security testing in their organization. CXOs can foster a culture of cyber-security in the organization by adopting stringent cyber-security policies

Ensures business with a proper cyber-defence plan

According to FireEye, 51% of the organizations do not have a proper cyber-defence plan. Hence, CXOs need to look at their organization’s cyber-defence capabilities and should take up end-to-end security testing along with formulating stringent security policies.

How we can help with your security testing assessments?

TestingXperts security testing teams have rich expertise in security testing and caters to diversified business needs. With a team of Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH), we help businesses to ensure that their application, networks, and servers are secure from all possible vulnerabilities and meets the stated security requirements like confidentiality, authorization, authentication, availability, and integrity. We primarily follow the OWASP (Open Web Security Project) guidelines in our security testing services along with PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, WAHH, OSSTM, WASC, and NIST Standards as per the application-specific requirements.

Our Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) / Comprehensive Security Testing Approach:

TestingXperts (Tx) enables a comprehensive vulnerability security testing approach that involves effective planning & execution along with collective risk assessment performed against multilayers of applications that includes the network, the hardware, and the software. This methodology helps to reduce re-work and ensures shorter time-to-market and cost-effectiveness. It also helps to save time and resources and protects brand reputation.

The actual process consists of security principles that have a specific set of test scenarios, which will be mapped to required regulatory compliances. Specifically, vulnerability testing involves deep investigation of the application to determine whether current patches are applied, whether it is configured in a manner that makes attacks more difficult, and whether the application exposes any information that an attacker could use to gain entry against other systems in the environment. Our security testing teams are well equipped with many latest security testing techniques.

Benefits of VAPT

– Vulnerability assessment helps to find security gaps if any in your web and mobile applications along with your networking infrastructure

– Validates the effectiveness of the existing security safeguards

– Helps to detect any security weaknesses even before cyber-attackers do

– Validates the effectiveness of security and system upgrades

– Helps to achieve and maintain compliance with all international and federal regulations

– Ensures to protect the integrity of assets in case of existing malicious code hidden in any of them

Talk to our security testing experts today — we’re here to help you safeguard your digital assets.

The post Why Cyber Security has become a Boardroom Discussion first appeared on TestingXperts.

Undoubtedly, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a massive crisis for mankind and made us all reconsider our perception of this new world. This COVID-19 has led to an unexpected change in human life with a series of lockdowns and social distancing norms. Along with these new norms, especially the IT world has been dragged into the adoption of the new normal – ‘WFH.’

The pandemic has forced masses to work remotely and this new alignment of work adjustment has expanded the security threat landscape. As employees try to adjust to the WFH, still it underlies many security risks and mandates the IT team’s support that is much needed to make this WFH process a success.

Moreover, along with WFH normal, VPN, remote connections, multi-factor authentication, and video conferencing tools have become an integral part of this newly formed work culture. The World Economic Forum stated that the world is entering a volatile and unstable new phase. Scientists are increasingly confident that the COVID-19 pandemic threat will persist, possibly for years.

Another recent survey of 100 CIOs in North America conducted by Hitachi ID and social research firm Pulse state that, 95% of the respondents admitted that their IT teams have been bogged down by remote working efficiencies during the COVID-19 crisis. Among the challenges, employee password lockouts were the top issue cited by 71% of those surveyed. Specifically, IT support is being hit with more requests for sign-in assistance on the part of employees.

Evidently, today companies grapple with the pandemic situation as they continue to face security threats by hackers and other cyber attackers during this current situation. Organizations are unable to balance their business as usual processes.

Major Security Threats on IT Security During Pandemic

Phishing Attack:

This is a common cybercrime seen everywhere today, in which a fraudulent attempt is made through emails to steal an employee’s personal information. These emails appear to come from well-known organizations and other links wherein people fall prey to them and will lose their security access details as they tend to open these emails.

According to a Cyber Defence Centre (CDC) report, employees are the new perimeter for security. Attackers too have not been left untouched by the pandemic and we’ve seen a sharp rise in Phishing scams in the last few months. From our CDC, our team has observed that attacks which were Covid-19 themed (including phishing and brute force) rose as much as 100%.

In another survey by cyber security firm Check Point, it has been stated that “Phishing attempts (55 percent) and websites claiming helpful information on coronavirus (32 percent) have emerged as the leading threats to the organizations, the respondents said.

In phishing attacks, a bad actor steals sensitive information by tricking people to open an email, instant message, or text message containing malicious links or attachments.” The findings showed that the rapid changes to enterprise working practices, and broader concerns about the pandemic, are both being exploited by cybercriminals as they step up their attacks, generating a raft of new challenges for security professionals.

Ransomware Attack:

This is a type of malicious attack by cybercriminals observed, as they block the user from accessing their data. This attack process consists of encrypting the files in their systems and deliberately adds extensions to the attacked data and holds the user as a hostage and demands a ransom to be paid. Interestingly, most ransomware gangs demand payment in bitcoins, the most high-profile cryptocurrency, although some began shifting their demands to other currencies as bitcoin’s popularity made its value more unpredictable.

According to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, it has been stated that over the years, ransomware has grown from curiosity and an annoyance to a major crisis deeply twisted together with top-secret spy agencies. Ransomware cyberattacks are big business, so big in fact, that research anticipates a business is attacked by a cybercriminal every 11 seconds and damage costs from these attacks will hit around $20 billion by 2021.

Port Number & Network Footprint Attack:

Keeping in mind the remote work concept, many cyber attackers are actively looking to make changes in port numbers and thus attack their web traffic.

According to a Tech Target report, hackers are watching for changes in network footprints and exploring how they can exploit security gaps. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) need to be aware that any change on the networks should be essentially watched as they occur.

There are certain instances of VPN attacks seen during these days, as attackers closely see that a new VPN connection has been established and thus, try to find credentials of that particular organization on the dark web and try to attack it.

Remote Desktop Protocol (RPD) Attack:

As employees continue to work remotely, there is an increase in the number of systems with open RDP that can be potentially targeted. This RDP provides network access for a remote user over an encrypted channel.

The IT teams and network administrators use RDP to diagnose network issues, essentially use it for logging into servers, and also perform other remote actions. Specifically, cyber attackers use misconfigured RDP points to gain access to various networks.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack:

Downtime from these DDoS attacks is also reported by many organizations and is detrimental when seen with a large remote workforce. At times, there might be an unintentional DDoS attack when numerous users try to access the services at the same time.

Cyber-attack on Business Applications & Digital Solutions:

Today’s cyber-attacks have been ever-increasing and any sort of security breach adversely affects either applications or networks. These cyber-attacks might lead to the loss of customer data followed by loss of brand loyalty and sometimes might also lead to legal complications.

How Should CISOs Safeguard their Businesses with Security Testing?

Proper Monitoring of Endpoints:

With the new normal of WFH, employees should be made to assess, manage, and monitor their network endpoints to build trust in their systems. Employees should leverage Zero Trust Architecture to address the lateral threat network movement within a network by using micro-segmentation and granular perimeters enforcement.

Identify Threats & Vulnerabilities with Security Testing:

Organizations should embrace end-to-end security testing and application security testing leveraging security testing companies to protect their websites, apps and digital applications from phishing and ransomware attacks. Organizations should proactively detect vulnerabilities within the network to understand internet exposure and get to know the probable susceptibility to phishing attacks.

Incorporate Secure Video Conferencing:

Video conferences have become the new means of communication for remote employees working globally. It is important to use private and password protected meeting links to ensure security. New meeting Id’s and passwords should be generated to use a fresh with each session of the meeting in order to protect their sessions.

Intelligent Identify and Access Management:

It is essential for organizations to manage identities on the go when there is a complex ecosystem of stakeholders operating globally. Effective, comprehensive and automated identity management solutions ensure that only the right people have the necessary access to critical or confidential data, computers, networks, and other resources.

Increased Bandwidth Allocation:

In order to handle DDoS attacks, organizations should have increased bandwidth allocations ready, and it is important to temporarily disable unused services to allow more bandwidth. Employees should be discouraged from using live streaming services through a VPN.

Ensure Proper Configuration of Personal Devices:

It is essential that all employees have been set up with new VPNs or virtual desktops. They should ensure proper anti-virus to be installed in their systems even within their personal devices. When an employee downloads a VPN on to their laptop that has already been compromised with some malicious attack then they could easily spread the malware into the organization’s corporate network and hence care should be taken.

Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Bypass:

Organizations should implement MFA to reduce credential spraying attacks. Employees should be trained to identify and report unauthorized push notifications. It is essential for organizations to evaluate the risk tolerance even before taking up the MFA implementation methods.

Split Versus Full Tunnel VPN Visibility:

In case there are numerous remote workers available, then it is preferred for organizations to move from a full tunnel VPN configuration towards Split Tunneling. Full tunnelling VPN helps to see that all traffic traverses the VPN allowing web proxies to filter traffic and security teams will be able to identify unauthorized activity if any. While Split tunnelling may reduce this visibility unless proper endpoint agents are installed to ensure proper control.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has invaded the mankind in different ways and enforced social distancing and made a mandate of new normal of WFH for all IT employees. This sort of new normal has led way to some security compromise and made it easy for hackers to attack employee systems and also IT networks.

Hence, in order to protect your business and the new normal of WFH, it is essential to leverage security testing services to ensure proper protection from threats and vulnerabilities. In addition, businesses should also follow password protection, Split or Full tunnel VPN and other methods of security measures to make sure remote workforce is secure and protected from any sort of vulnerabilities either at the system-level or at the network-level.

Talk to our Security testing experts and understand how we can help your business avoid such cyber threats

The post IT Security Measures CISOs Must Take During and Post Pandemic first appeared on TestingXperts.