Myths About Web Application Security That You Need To Ignore
Usually, teams prefer an automation tool in a hurry without going into details of its pros and cons. The tool might not be comprehensive enough to satisfy all the testing needs of the application. Even if the best tools are selected, they may not integrate smoothly into the QA process. We have highlighted the pros and cons of the best open source testing tools that give more clarity on their suitability.
Web Testing Tools JMeter Apache JMeter is a protocol level load testing tool. It can be utilized to test loading times for static and dynamic elements in a web application. A tester can simulate a heavy load on a server, group of servers, network or object to test their strengths.
Pros of JMeter • • • • •
Easy installation: It can be installed on any desktop with Windows, Mac or Linux. It has a user-friendly interface or can be used in a command line interface. The test IDE enables test recording from browsers or native applications. Has the ability to extract data from popular response formats like HTML, JSON, XML or any textual format. Readily available plugins, for example, visualization plugin for data analysis.
Cons of JMeter • • •
Has a high learning curve, therefore, it requires skilled testers. It doesn’t support JavaScript and by extension doesn’t automatically support AJAX requests. Complicated applications that use dynamic content like CSRF tokens, or use JS to alter requests can be difficult to test using JMeter. • Memory disease is high in GUI mode which causes it gives out errors for a large number of users.
Myths of Web Application Security
Myth #1: We Do Penetration Testing. Isn’t That Enough?
Pen testing has various benefits, including the ability to pinpoint important weaknesses in your network that can be utilized when attackers leverage numerous smaller vulnerabilities (such as minor coding flaws and employee breaches of security protocols). But, it won’t protect against zero-day exploits, which can be devastating to your network and your data.
Myth #2: If We Protect the Network Perimeter, Our Apps Will Be Safe. It’s a general misconception that perimeter security solutions such as firewalls, anti-malware, and intrusion detection can fully safeguard web applications. Unfortunately, advanced threats such as SQL injection and Account Takeover (ATO) attacks can simply bypass perimeter protections.
Myth #3: We Don’t Have to Worry About Security: Our Site Is Too Small to Be Targeted. This myth is particularly damaging to companies’ application security posture. Attackers of all stripes, from web application testing services, leverage automated tools that permit them to probe relentlessly for weaknesses in websites and web apps. In this case, obscurity is no guarantee of protection.
Web Applications Still Have A Lot Of Bugs So how come websites and web applications are still get hacked every day? For example, some time ago the Istanbul Administration site was hacked by a hacker group i.e. Red Hack via an SQL injection). In March 2013, Ben Williams published a Hacking Appliances: Ironic exploits in security products". The includes information about web application vulnerabilities discovered in the administrator web interface of various security gateway appliances that could be used to avoid the security device and gain administrative access.
Web Application Testing Problems Before you can watch web application testing services, it is necessary to know why it is so necessary to safe applications. With a consistent rise in the number of applications being produced and used for crucial business processes, they have also become primary targets for hackers. In fact, it has been estimated that over 85% of the breaches today occur at the application layer.