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2019 TRENDS & PREDICTIONS With the way that software is tested, developed and delivered constantly evolving – what will this year hold? We asked several experts in their fields to share their insights about what the software testing and cybersecurity landscape will look like in 2019
think it'll be more of the same from 2018. We'll still have people talk about automation and ML and AI (/ANI) replacing testers. And we'll still be talking
about how that's all still impossible, based on the difference between asserting expectations and exploring unexpected unknowns. For me, I'm hoping that we start to do more 'continuous testing'. Not in the 'continuously run your automation in a CI/CD pipeline' sense, but around continuously conducting investigative testing earlier and throughout the SDLC: testing the ideas for software solutions, testing the artefacts we create and the UX and UI designs, then testing the code design and the code as it's being written, all before we operate and test the software and test in production. This isn't new by any means, but it's still relatively unknown to many people. So I hope 2019 brings more awareness and allows people to start incorporating this continuous testing into their strategies.
he board, rather than just IT or operations departments, is now realising it has a responsibility to understand cybersecurity and ensure comprehensive procedures are followed. Many businesses appreciate it might be a matter of time before they experience a major incident, so a more proactive approach to cybersecurity is necessary. One result will be more investment from firms in solutions which want to cut through the data, see the alerts which really matter – so action can be taken quickly. Continuing skills shortages will mean businesses which lose cybersecurity expertise will be left facing the challenge of operating security systems and determining the real threats within all the noise of dayto-day business-as-usual alerts.
While cybercrime is constantly evolving, many criminals continue to make use of old ‘tested' vulnerabilities. Research we conducted last year on more than 170k Magento websites worldwide, found no region registered less than 78% of its sites being at less than 'high risk' from hackers for failing to update security patches. There's no reason to see this changing until there's a shift in the effectiveness of vulnerability management governance. There's been a shocking lack of investment and interest in the greater environment and very often that ‘lessprotected' environment is used as a beachhead to gain access to sensitive areas. The growth in the IoT and the media attention it will gain in relation to security will bring this issue to the fore.
DAN ASHBY HEAD OF SOFTWARE TESTING EBAY Dan is a testing enthusiast with a diverse range of experience in managing, training, mentoring & inspiring testers and teams
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T E S T M a g a z i n e | J a n u a r y 2 019
On top of this, I’m hoping that the external communities mix things up a bit. In our workplaces, we encourage that people mix across roles, that we understand and appreciate the value that each team member brings in these different roles. But we don’t see that in the external communities yet. Each conference is still aimed at a specific group of people – a dev conference for a specific type of programming language, a testing conference for a specific testing mindset, an Agile conference for Agile coaches, etc. It’d be great to see conferences mix more, and cater to all different kinds of people, bringing folks from different domains and roles together to learn from each other. I’m hoping we can start to break this current mould in 2019 too.
BENJAMIN HOSACK CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER FOREGENIX Ben specialises in managed detection and response, defining and reducing PCI DSS Scope, account data compromises, investigations and website security
