{"id":17721,"date":"2022-05-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/?p=17721"},"modified":"2022-05-13T12:06:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:06:25","slug":"security-testing-program-for-web-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codemotion.com\/magazine\/cybersecurity\/security-testing-program-for-web-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Implement a Security Testing Program For Web Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a web app developer, you have enough on your plate already. But with cybercrime on the rise \u2013 with 86% of companies<\/a> experiencing at least one successful cyberattack in 2021 \u2013 it\u2019s become more important than ever to test your own security measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re building a small ecommerce website<\/a> or an enterprise SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, cybersecurity should be a top priority. Cybercrime rates are accelerating. This is in part because of the remote work revolution, which has radically increased the entire world economy\u2019s vulnerability to attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think your web app is a small fish in a big ocean, and therefore low-risk. However, hackers are increasingly using AI to carry out their attacks, so the time and money it takes a hacker to attack your web app\u2019s defences is shrinking by the minute. That means everyone on the team must be vigilant, not just the security manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, by failing to safeguard user data, you could inadvertently be violating the law. Failing to follow local compliance regulations and GDPR could put you in legal danger. And as more and more critical services are moving to centralised cloud servers (think of logistics companies trying to automate inventory management<\/a>), providers are under more pressure than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, let\u2019s consider the best practices for implementing a security testing program for any web application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source<\/a>: 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report, CyberEdge Group, LLC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Why is a security testing program important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of reasons to make security a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year there are new, high-profile stories about companies losing their customer\u2019s data, from leaked emails to sensitive bank information. More recently, the UK-based gift company Funky Pigeon had to suspend all orders<\/a> after a cyberattack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re offering a B2B (Business to Business) SaaS<\/strong> solution like a customer service platform<\/a>, you\u2019re asking business to trust you with their customers\u2019 data as well as their own. So when it comes to your security measures, it\u2019s not just your business you\u2019re trying to protect, but that of your customers, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as for a B2C (business to consumers) company often holding large numbers of banking details for their customer bases, losing data can put a serious dent in their brand image<\/strong>. If customers don\u2019t trust in your data protection abilities, they will take their business elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Hiscox found<\/a> that a single cyber incident could cost a small business up to $14,000, with a mean cost of $395,000 for larger businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The high cost of cyber incidents is why end-to-end encryption has become such a selling point, from chat apps to a virtual business phone service<\/a>. These businesses are effectively unable to operate without a third-party security audit like Cyber Essentials, a government-backed cyber certification scheme. A business can earn that kind of certification by implementing their own successful security program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Losing data can put companies in trouble.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Common threats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some of the common threats you\u2019ll be testing against will include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This is most commonly the \u2018SQL injection attack\u2019, where hackers are able to send SQL (\u2018Structured Query Language\u2019) code via a user-facing search bar. Other kinds of injections using NoSQL, OS command, or Object Relational Mapping<\/strong> are also possible. If your search bars aren\u2019t actively scrubbing anything but the expected input, you\u2019re leaving your web app open to injection attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spoofing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Email was designed for the high-trust internet of the 1970s, which is one reason why it\u2019s the most common avenue for cybercriminals to attack companies and their customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they compromise your network, hackers can imitate you and send emails from your domain, sometimes containing malicious attachments. We\u2019re used to seeing phishing spam in our junk mail inboxes as consumers.<\/strong> Behind the scenes, hackers will opt for ransomware and privilege escalation attacks to target companies and cause serious damage. In 2020, just 92 ransomware attacks cost US healthcare companies $21 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross-site scripting (XSS)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The modern internet is an extremely interconnected place: if hackers can compromise one site, this can sometimes get them access to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is done with cross-site scripting (XSS), a technique where the hacker inserts code into the JavaScript console to move malicious data from one site to another. This is similar to if they\u2019d compromised an admin account \u2013 the hacker is able to abuse the trust and privileges your web app puts onto the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URL Manipulation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The web browser itself is one of the most common attack surfaces for hackers. If your web app encodes any remotely useful information in URLs<\/strong>, you can bet that hackers will attempt to manipulate it as much as they can to access webpages and information they would not normally have access to. They\u2019ll then be able to use this information to attack you further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we\u2019ve considered four of the most likely cyber threats to your web app, we can move to think about how to implement security testing measures to mitigate these threats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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7 Cybersecurity Threats You Must Know as a Web Developer<\/a><\/blockquote>