QATestLab 154a, Borschagivska str., Kiev, Ukraine ph.: +38(044)501-55-38 http://qatestlab.com/ contact@qa-testlab.com
Software Testing Company’s Enemies: Who Are They? We got used to blaming the so-called “hackers” for all the program failures, however sometimes even legitimate users can stumble across the right combinations of input and actions and thus cause a negative impact. Besides, nowadays the term “hacker” completely differs in meaning from its original version? So let us call them felonious users. Their actions are aimed at detecting such a problem in your software system that can be used to access or break your product.
Usually, their advantage is a lot of spare time as well as the availability of useful supporting resources, like: machines, scripts, data, and tools. The problem is that the number of software testers doesn’t correspond to the number of felonious users. A software testing company has a certain number of engineers conducting software testing before the product is released to the general public. Usually, there are more felonious users in the world who are interested in your software than there are methods and tools for problem prevention. Due to the fact that usually product requirements are based directly on industry standards, it is an easy task for felonious users to gain access to the blueprints. And if the task of a software testing company engineer is to find as many bugs as possible, a felonious user can afford spending couple of months finding one exact bug. If tester does the same, he would probably lose his/her job in no time.
(c) QATestLab, 2012
http://qatestlab.com/
QATestLab 154a, Borschagivska str., Kiev, Ukraine ph.: +38(044)501-55-38 http://qatestlab.com/ contact@qa-testlab.com
So basically, why do you care if your software was damaged by a felonious user or a legitimate user with a tough luck, when you have to deal with the consequences in any case? And if you could do anything to prevent the situation, it should have been done earlier. The questions of security are a major concern of both, a software developing and a software testing company . They have to make sure that their user’s personal data is safe, not to mention their own servers’ integrity. It doesn’t matter which user information we are talking about, be it a friend’s mail or insurance number, it is a software developing company’s job to make sure any of it is safe and sound.
How to “Trick” a Hacker? Some companies tried to secure themselves from hacker attacks by trying to conceal the importance of their software. The main concept is that software of little important would seem less attractive to felonious users. However, even when this method is used, the software company shouldn’t feel completely safe from hacker attacks. The false sense of security is a drawback of this method, as well as false opinions on your product quality. Look through any security forum and you will see how many different felonious users exist nowadays. If your company has no connection to politics or pollution whatsoever, don’t think you are out of risk group, you do still have computers connected to Interned, don’t you? Of course, there are felonious users whose aims are only certain companies, but there are others, who use tricky techniques to hack any server they can find. They may just blindly write scripts, however at times they possess more danger to your software than the knowledgeable users. Some users may inform you of the fault in your security before bringing it to the open. However, you should not expect every user to be so diligent. And not all companies take advantage of it as well.
(c) QATestLab, 2012
http://qatestlab.com/
QATestLab 154a, Borschagivska str., Kiev, Ukraine ph.: +38(044)501-55-38 http://qatestlab.com/ contact@qa-testlab.com
Conduct security testing , test your software for security as if you risk being hacked every minute. Then you will get a decent result.
(c) QATestLab, 2012
http://qatestlab.com/