Containing software attacks requires increasing testing efforts—and not just at the end of development. For those developing software in-house, testing should be done early and often. This will help reduce the delays and extra costs that occur when software has to be rewritten late in the production cycle.
In the case of outsourced software, the most sensible approach is to test it using multiple methods before putting it into full-scale production.
"It's always better to prevent problems than to find them in production, so testing security from the start makes a lot of sense," says Janet Worthington, senior analyst for security and risk at Forrester.
One of the most important testing tools to prevent threat escalation is static analysis . Also called static analysis-assisted application security testing (SAST), this type of testing analyzes either the program code or application binaries to simulate applications for code security weaknesses. It is especially good at detecting injection attacks. SQL injection attacks are a common attack vector that inserts a SQL query through input from the client to the application. It is often used to access or delete sensitive information.
SAST tools can also help identify SSRF vulnerabilities (before they reach production), where attackers can trick servers into sending forged HTTP requests to third-party systems or devices.
Another important testing method is cambodia mobile database composition analysis . Such tools help to completely block malicious components from entering the pipeline. They look for known vulnerabilities in all components, including open source and third-party libraries. Vulnerabilities like Log4J contributed to the growth of this type of tool. According to Forrester, 46% of developers use them today.
Other important types of software security testing tools include:
Vulnerability scanning. While these tools are aimed at finding vulnerabilities in applications in general, there are also specialized versions for finding weaknesses in web applications. They are especially useful for finding threats such as SQL injections, path traversals, insecure server configurations, command injections, and cross-site scripting.