“It takes many more years to earn a reputation and few minutes of cyber attack to ruin it.”

In the age of the internet, where high-profile companies like Target and Sony are vulnerable to hacking, protecting your customer’s data should be your responsibility, and if you can’t then don’t feel bad when they refuse to buy your product.

Data Security and privacy is about far more than keeping hackers at bay; It is all about ensuring customers that the trust which they show towards the company’s product brand is warranted.

Information and security protection should be at the heart of any business strategy as cybercrime is increasing at an alarming rate and costs hefty money to organizations to keep their business at the desired stage. Based on extensive research, the data collected from the cybercrime Magazine, it is seen that the overall worldwide cost of cybercrime damages is expected to be about $6 trillion annually by 2021 and it was around $3 trillion in 2015.

So what’s the right way to protect customers’ data? When it comes to making customer’s data confidential, security testing always becomes a game-changer.

Stuck into What, When & How? If you want to get better clarity regarding security testing and excited to know how it helps make customer data secure, you need to stay on our page and check the information below:

The method in which we evaluate and test the information security of networks, applications or IT systems to identify hidden vulnerabilities and ensure customers that their data is safe from potential hackers or intruders is called Security Testing.

Furthermore, it assures that the application and the software system, which is designed & developed by tech industries are free from any risks or threats that may cost you huge dollars and weeks of efforts to get everything back on the right track.

The security testing aims to find all possible weaknesses and loopholes from the system that may result in the information loss and completely ruin a company’s reputation.

What is the Purpose of Security Testing?

The goal of security testing is to identify and evaluate the possible vulnerabilities of the system and help developers while resolving a maximum of security issues and problems through good coding practices.

Who Requires Security Testing the Most?

Any company that runs an online business and contains a vast amount of customer’s data in their applications or systems needs security testing the most.

Performing security testing before the product launch is crucial because it gives a glimmer of hope that many customers would like to use it. You should get the security test done at least once, twice, or thrice a year to ensure that your consumer data is protected from breaches.

For example, if you develop a healthcare app for patient care, you need to consider security testing services firstbecause it contains sensitive data regarding patients and their personal health-related information. Moreover, no one would like to disclose their health problems in front of the world, except their doctors.

According to healthcare data breach statistics of 2018, 14 million individuals were affected. Similarly, in 2019, a total of 40 million citizens were negatively impacted by healthcare data breaches.

As you can see, healthcare applications have more confidential data with health-related details of patients, and that can cause a major violation if you don’t protect the information from being hacked. In this case, penetration testing andsecurity testingare one-stop solutions to make the app hack-proof and fully-functional in the overwhelming digital scenario.

When it comes to customer’s data safety, from finance, banking to other high-regulated industries, everyone should conduct a monthly penetration test to ensure its compliance. As penetration testing is the method that helps identify security flaws in an application by performing testing on systems or networks and with the use of different malicious techniques.

It is also known as a pen test or a simulated cyber attack that helps to evaluate the security of the system. With security testing, you can quickly fulfill the requirements of regulatory standards like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 that the majority of people prioritize to protect their business from many penalties and fines. It not only helps secure the information but also improves the functioning of data security in the organization.

What are Several Types of Security Testing Used to Reduce the Risks?

Several types of security testing are used by software testing companies to make the customer’s data secure and to satisfy application security requirements.

Vulnerability Scanning – It is performed through automated tools like Netsparker, W3AF, Nmap, OpenScap, Nikto2, OpenVAS to detect and describe system weaknesses in networks, computers, and communications equipment.

Penetration Testing – It can be performed either manually or with automated tools like Metasploit, Wireshark, and the Network Mapper to monitor malicious attacks from hackers.

Security Scanning – It first identifies the weakness of the system and network, and later gives solutions to minimize the potential risks. Security scanning can be done through both manual and automated ways.

Risk Assessment – The main objective of performing risks analysis throughout software testing is to identify the major flaws of the software that can cause severe issues during production. It is the best strategy that allows developers and testers to understand what can go wrong with an application in the future. This type of testing is carried out at the workplace before production of any application.

Ethical Hacking – Ethical hackers are hired by softwaredevelopment companies to check the vulnerabilities in their networks and systems. It provides a great solution to control data breaches.

Security Auditing – It is an internal inspection of operating systems and applications for security flaws. It can be done by checking every single line of code.

Security Posture Assessment – It is the security status of a network or a system of any organization that is measured based on resources such as hardware, people, and software whenever any new virus occurs.

Best Ways to Pass the Data Security Test

Here are some best ways to pass the data security test:

  • Make a habit of running a regular vulnerability scan.
  • Change the default passwords of all your network devices.
  • Understand access control and provide accounts’ access based on user roles.
  • Consider Microsoft-based local administrator passwords.
  • Choose the right methodologies for security testing – Black Box, Grey Box, and White Box security testing solutions.

Conclusion

Security testing plays a vital role to protect the application from hackers and ensures the customer’s data confidentiality.

For this, there are special security testers in the company that checks the entire system to find security-related bugs and fix it with their skill-set, tools, and methodologies.

So, in this blog, we learned about security testing, its various types, goals, and also discussed the best ways to secure customer data. To take care of user’s data privacy, you must have a robust and high-level of security testing service in your hand.

Author

Claire Mackerras is a Senior QA Engineer & Editor associated with a software testing company. She is passionate about writing on technological trends for manual & automation software testing. She likes to share her knowledge, for the readers who are interested in exploring testing tact’s and trends.

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