The security of your website is one of the most important aspects you should focus on as a business that serves customers online. With cyber threats constantly evolving, it’s important to ensure your website is secure. The neccessity for website security over the years is what has led to the many tools and methods to test for website security and also make these websites secure.
Cyber attacks can lead to significant financial loss to businesses and other problems that can run a business to the ground. In this article, we’ll explore the world of website vulnerability testing, from the types of tests that can be carried out to popular tools used in carrying out this test.
Let’s get started!
Testing for website security vulnerabilities is a process that aims to discover, assess, and reduce any potential security weakness of a web application. It attempts to expose vulnerabilities that, if exploited, may result in unauthorized access to data and websites and also disrupt website functionality. The process normally entails running different classes of tests against the web application's security.
Website security testing for vulnerabilities is important for the following reasons:
In the next paragraph we’ll look at the different classes of test and the tools they offer to run security checks on websites.
SAST involves the analysis of vulnerabilities in a website's source code, nothing gets executed. Because this kind of testing is normally conducted during the development process, a developer can easily fix issues and solve them before the application goes live. Basically, SAST tools examine the code looking for known Deeplinks that indicate potentially security-related risk code, such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting.
SAST Tools
DAST scans a running application for vulnerabilities that could be triggered while in operation. In contrast to SAST, no access to source code is required for this kind of testing. Instead, DAST simulates an attack on a running application for potential weaknesses, like insecure server settings or bugs in the authentication flow. It's especially very good at catching issues that arise from interactions between parts of the application.
DAST Tools
RASP testing is a type of testing that is integrated into an application and continuously monitors and detects attacks in real-time. It works within the runtime environment of the application, identifies all malicious activities going on at that particular moment, and then blocks them. The added security provided by RASP protects applications from potential threats that might just pass through traditional methods of testing.
RASP Tools
Penetration testing is mostly referred to as ethical hacking, which deals with simulating real attacks on websites to identify website security weaknesses. A pen tester applies different tools and methodologies to probe the website, finds weak points, and embeds detailed reports listing potential entry points along with recommendations for the remediation of weaknesses. It really gives insight into how an attacker could exploit security flaws on your website.
Penetration testing tools
Although powerful tools exist to check for vulnerabilities on your website, security vulnerability testing comes with its own set of challenges.
We started this article by discussing website vulnerability testing and why it is an important aspect of maintaining a secure website. We also talked about how to understand various types of security tests, enabling the application with the right tools to overcome known problems. Then the common challenges when carrying out vulnerability testing and how to fix them. Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed reading this blog post and are equipped with the knowledge to secure your website with vulnerability testing.