Online data privacy has always been a concern for many organizations, governments and web users. Users are demanding the transparency on the usage of their personal data by organizations that store and process it, especially after seeing an increased rate of data breaches in the recent past.

Recently, Google has announced to shut down the consumer version of Google+ after falling prey to a Data Breach. The security of information in Google+ was compromised, which led Google to shut down its service. Read the full news here.

Contents 1. What is GDPR? 2. What changes did GDPR bring? 3. Impact of GDPR 4. Penetration Testing for GDPR 5. Conclusion

If the world’s most trusted technology giant like Google can fall prey to a data breach, it can happen to any organization. That’s why users want to know how safe their data is on third-party applications. To combat these data issues, such as security, privacy and confidentiality, various governments across the globe are focused on the security of their data stored on various third-party applications. Probably this led to the creation of regulation across the globe that recommends how data should be stored, secured, processed, shared, and ultimately used.

What is GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), became enforceable on May 25, 2018, and deals with data protection and privacy for individuals within the European Union (EU). GDPR is certainly one of the most important regulations so far.

Check out our previous blog to know more about GDPR Compliance in detail.

What changes did GDPR bring?

The most significant change presented by the GDPR was a substantial extension of jurisdiction. Under GDPR, companies processing data that are belonging to EU citizens are subject to its terms and conditions. The GDPR also introduced rigid penalties, of up to 4% of annual turnover for the prior fiscal year, or 20 million euros (whichever is greater) for organization that fail to meet this compliance. Several rules for giving consent were reinforced in GDPR. For example, organizations need to request consent from users in a clear and easily accessible way, explicitly stating the purpose of data gathering and keeping instances of how and where they obtained users’ consent. Also, it is mandatory for every organization to keep the users’ data safe and if any data breach occurs, they must report it within 72 hours.

Impact of GDPR

Industry giants like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram were reported to be hit with privacy complaints of GDPR. The complaints carried fines of up to $9.3 billion in total over breaking the European Union’s new privacy law.

Meanwhile, Google and Facebook assured that they will work earnestly to ensure compliance with the GDPR guidelines. However, these companies have faced legal challenges over GDPR.

Penetration Testing for GDPR

Penetration testing is essentially a meticulous form of hacking in which a professional tester, on behalf of an organization, uses the same techniques as a hacker to search for vulnerabilities in an organization’s application or networks.

Penetration testing and its importance became more prevalent when the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) was introduced. It is one of the methods mentioned in Article 32 of the Regulation, which outlines how organizations can reduce the risk of cyberattacks and fight back.

For GDPR compliance, penetration tests were crucial. They provide a final validation to ensure the necessary security controls have been executed appropriately. Organizations that ensure to execute proper pen tests on their systems and applications were able to survive and haven’t experienced business continuity issues, especially when the GDPR was introduced.

Is cybersecurity a growing concern for your organization? Specialists from TestingXperts can work with you to address your security testing requirements and current challenges in the digital scope. TestingXperts offer end-to-end security testing services, including Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing, Web Application Penetration Testing, Wireless Network Assessment, and Penetration Testing to help clients solve their security apprehensions. Connect with us to know more.

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The advent of DevOps has made the concept of “shift-left” familiar to the software development and testing industry. However, the effectiveness of the shift left concept is not just limited to QA. Security teams can also benefit greatly from shifting security operations to the left.

Contents 1. What is shift left? 2. The Benefit of Shifting Left 3. Why Shift-Left in Security? 4. How to Effectively Shift Security to the Left? 5. Conclusion

What is shift left?

Before penetrating into the details of shift-left security, let’s discover the shift-left concept and identify its importance.

Shift-left is a simple term for a complex task. Simply put, shifting left is positioning a process that is performed later in the development cycle to a point early in the delivery lifecycle. The main objective of the shift left concept is to start building more effective and easier-to-manage processes while also saving more time too.

The Benefit of Shifting Left

The traditional waterfall methodology taught us not to start the next step of the development cycle until the previous steps were accomplished; the real testing of the software was initiated after the development was completed. However, with the new shift left approach, testing is initiated with the development process itself. The traditional waterfall methodology could cause problems for an organization as the discovery of any major bugs at a later stage can activate the need for major code refactoring.

By addressing issues at the point of origin, shifting left clearly has a better ROI. In contrast to the traditional development method, there is a dedicated team for quality. The main objective of this mode of operation is to respond to issues, not necessarily preventing them.

Why Shift-Left in Security?

The benefits described are not just limited to the testing process but can also boost the security of an application. Shifting security left in the real world is like creating a fire escape strategy. In the software security world, it is a threat modeling plan before the coding begins, educating and training developers on securing the coding practices.

If the application is continuously assessed for security issues from the outset of development, it is extremely unlikely that a major security concern would arise toward the delivery pipeline. It is more likely that only trivial security distresses would exist as the application development process comes to closure. This is a direct outcome of placing discernibility into the application’s quality by constantly validating that security standards are being employed properly.

The objective is to move the application quality and security concerns closer to the developer, i.e. to the “left” of the delivery chain in order to avoid any potential issues and resolve them sooner, ideally before the code is finalized. Technology undoubtedly makes shift-left easier. However, it can only help in fighting half the battle.

How to Effectively Shift Security to the Left?

With the help of the shift-left security testing approach, software is developed with security as a design principle and software-defined platforms as enablers. This helps in implementing cutting-edge testing methods and eventually performing the end-to-end investigations. More importantly, it creates longer-lived and more secure software. Here are our 4 tips to effectively shift security to the left.

Conclusion

The benefits of shift-left security are remarkable. As application development grows, it is easier to see why so many DevOps teams are shifting processes such as security and testing to the left in the delivery pipeline. Shift-left security pays for itself by averting security issues or helping developers to identify them early on.

Shifting security to the left comes with time-saving benefits such as early detection of bugs and security issues while making the development lifecycle safer and faster. It helps DevOps organization in releasing high-quality, secure applications quickly to the market.

Get in touch with TestingXperts’ Test Advisors to know how we can boost the security of your applications and offer faster time-to-market.

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There was a time when the banking sector was less involved and open to technological innovations, primarily due to compliance and security concerns. However, technology has infused our lives so much that even the banking sector could not refrain from embracing it. Since then, the world of banking has seen incredible changes; one of the changes is ‘Digital Transformation’.

Traditional banking has evolved into digital banking; it is an important change as to how banks have started interacting with customers and satisfying all their business needs remotely. In this infographic, we will discuss the 6 incredible ways that technology has evolved in the banking sector.

Ways Technology Has Transformed the Banking Sector

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Cyber attacks are on a rapid upsurge across the globe. It is termed as a new and the most perilous face of war, involving defensive and offensive operations referring to the threat of spying, cyber-attacks, and disruption. The day-to-day increase of the web and mobile applications have attracted users to acquire end-to-end solutions that can help them deal with less trusted parties.

In the long run, these applications become possible sources that exaggerate security threat to sensitive data connected through web and mobile. This situation calls for a holistic approach to security covering multiple layers that include host, network, and application, to achieve hack-proof web/mobile applications.

However, when hackers are leaving no stone unturned to exploit the vulnerabilities in the applications, security testing is the only solution that can help in keeping the application’s security intact. Though, past years have experienced cyber-attacks that have resulted in the loss of various company’s brand value and also having them lose millions of dollars. Let us discuss the common forms of cyber-attacks and how security testing is proving to be a savior.

Related: Significance of Application Security Testing in Preventing Cyber-Attacks

Common Forms of Cyber Attacks

The most common forms of cyber-attacks are as follows:

Malware

It is an all-encompassing form of cyber threat that includes viruses, Trojans, and worms. It is defined as a code with a malicious attempt that typically steals or destroys the data. You must have noticed antivirus alert pop-up, or if you have mistakenly clicked on a malicious link, then you have had an introduction with malware. One such virus that recently shook the world on May 12, 2017, a ransomware (a type of malware) named WannaCry was programmed to encrypt the data on a system. 150 countries and a total of 300,000 machines were affected by this cyber-attack. (https://goo.gl/JIvnhd)

Phishing

This is another common type of cyber-attack. There are chances that you would not know a random attachment or click on a link that comes to your email unless there is a compelling reason for you to do that. Now, the hackers know this. When a hacker makes an attempt to make you install a particular malware, or let you disclose sensitive information, they turn to phishing strategies. They pretend to be someone or something else to get you to take an action you would avoid.

SQL Injection Attack

SQL is a programming language that is used to communicate with databases. An SQL injection attack particularly targets this kind of server, using malicious code to get the server to reveal information it would not normally disclose. This gets problematic when the server is storing private customer information from the website such as credit card numbers, passwords, usernames, and other private credentials.

Denial of Service (DoS)

DoS happens when you flood a website with more traffic than it is built to handle, the server gets overloaded. In this situation, it becomes highly impossible for the website to supply its content to the users who are trying to access it. There can be countless reasons for it to happen, for example, if huge story breaks and a news website gets overloaded with traffic from various people trying to explore more. This kind of overload, becomes malicious at times, resulting in an overwhelming amount of traffic to shut it down for all users.

Session Hijacking and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

The session between your system and the remote web server is provided with a unique session ID, which is supposed to stay private between two parties. However, in session hijacking, the attacker hijacks the session by capturing the session ID and behaving as the computer giving commands, allowing the users to log in as an unsuspecting user and finally gaining access to unauthorized information on the web server.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

After an SQL injection attack, the attacker goes after a vulnerable website to aim at its stored data, such as sensitive financial data or user credentials. However, if the attacker directly targets a website’s users, they might opt for an XSS attack. This attack also includes injecting malicious code into a website, but in this case, the malicious code that has been injected by the hacker starts running.

Security Testing: The ultimate solution for preventing cyber-attacks

Web application security should be tested to develop secure applications, especially when the application deals with critical information. Web application security testing is the process< that helps in verifying that the information system is able to protect and maintain the data and its intended functionality. A vigorous investigation of application is involved in this process to identify any technical flaw, weakness, or vulnerability. The primary aim of security testing is to identify vulnerability and consequently repair them.

Given below is the list of few critical security testing techniques that must be executed in organizations to defend critical data and information:

1. Vulnerability Scanning: System is scanned with the help of automated software to identify any weakness.

Conclusion

Organizations lack in performing a complete security check of the websites and applications. Various websites/applications launched in the market suffer huge downfall due to security issues. This has led to specialist software testing and QA organizations that provide a unique independent approach to fulfilling all your testing needs. TestingXperts’ security testing services include an in-depth security analysis supported by dashboards and reports. TestingXperts’ also has remarkable industry experience in security testing for web applications, mobile applications, software products, and web services.

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In today’s connected IT world, cyber security is rapidly turning out to be more than just a technical issue. It has become explicitly essential for organizations to make sure that they have the right strategy in place to preempt any security attacks. A security breach when arises, cannot be undone completely and may leave you with the loss of data, damaged the reputation and legal consequence. Hence it is important that the subject is managed proactively by ensuring the robustness of your IT systems.

Contents 1. Cyber Security Testing 2. Measures employed by enterprises to ensure data security 3. Preventive Measures for Data Security 4. Role of Security Testing 5. Conclusion

Cyber Security Testing

Measures employed by enterprises to ensure data security:

– Using the correct security methods to detect and prevent security breaches at all levels – Using firewalls as an attempt to limit all kinds of unauthorized access – Using Analytics to detect any abnormal data usage activities which can also be used as a signal for an attack to occur – Using a developed infrastructure for supervision, training, and technical support for teams with the responsibility of data management and data collection – Using encryption for your sensitive data

No one is safe – Data security issues have affected organizations of all sizes and technical caliber

Preventive Measures for Data Security

This old adage is as true for human health as for the IT systems of your organization. Humans take the time to recover from infections, and still they may not be able to recover fully, therefore it is important to prevent infections. Likewise, it is as important for an organization to keep its IT systems secure rather than just relying on a robust recovery process. The best method to avoid any issue is to make security the utmost priority for your organization.

The best practice to achieve this objective is to educate teams to be aware of data security best practices and trends. The technical teams should specifically focus on the new happenings and threats in the world of security and use the right set of tools to prevent various cyber attacks or threats. For example – Static Code Analyzers can help automate the process of detecting all kinds of vulnerabilities in the source code. It can further assist in identifying where open source code is used in the software using which vulnerabilities can be tracked and avoided.

Role of Security Testing

Security testing ensures that all IT systems in the organization are free from all kinds of vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Security testing process involves the evaluation of security risks within the systems under test and to highlight the security threats using various tools and techniques.

The security testing process consists of security scanning, vulnerability scanning, security review, security auditing, penetration testing, etc. In particular, security testing helps enterprises to ensure that their data is not exposed to any breach.

[BLOG] The Inevitable Need for #DataSecurity and How #Security #Testing Can Help?https://t.co/wWpz7t0WCW

— TestingXperts (@TestingXperts) January 2, 2017

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