What is Website Security Testing?
What is Website Security Testing?
It is a specific testing
process of assessing a web application or website’s security measures to
identify potential flaws, weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could be
exploited by attackers. The objective of website security testing is to ensure
the availability, integrity and confidentiality of the site, thereby
maintaining the trust of users and protecting sensitive data
Regular web application security testing and website security testing are important to protect
sensitive data and maintain a secure online presence from being compromised.
Security vulnerabilities are identified and fixed, user trust is maintained and
compliance with industry standards and regulations are expected.
The following are two key
approaches to conducting website security testing:
1. Manual testing: Human intuition and
expertise are leveraged to identify vulnerabilities. Website interaction takes
place by the tester and thus vulnerabilities are exploited by manipulating HTTP
requests, cookies and input fields. A deep understanding of web application
security testing is required to conduct manual testing feasibly.
2. Automated testing: Automated software tools
are used to scan the website for weaknesses and vulnerabilities automatically.
Common vulnerabilities are quickly identified by automated tools and the effort
and time required for testing is reduced.
Website security testing
best practices:
1. A bug bounty program can be created: It is a reward-based system for ethical hackers to find and report security vulnerabilities to the developer or website owner.
Following are a
few ways that depict the value of conducting a bug bounty program:
l Cost of testing is
reduced: Rather than focusing on hiring security experts, ethical hackers are
allowed to conduct testing and earn decent rewards in exchange for it
l Security vulnerabilities
are identified: Vulnerability can be identified and reported properly, through the
tactical use of the skills and knowledge of ethical hackers.
2. The relevance of cross
browser compatibility testing: The website’s code can be interpreted differently by different
browsers. Hence the website needs to be tested on multiple versions and
browsers.
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