Security leaders point out that every industry on the earth has been a victim to cyber-attacks during the pandemic; it begs for the implementation of budget-friendly Security Testing Programs
Every industry has faced some level of cyber threat that has undermined the existing security profiles. In addition to losing millions in damages, the IT budget has also been drastically reduced in most enterprises. CISOs are left with cost-cuttings and compromise with the risk management programs.
Application security testing is a critical yet expensive part of the test process. CIOs say that security testing is vital for vulnerability identification at an early stage in the application development process. Compromise at this stage can have a significant negative impact on the enterprise’s security profile.
The biggest disadvantage that most enterprises face is that security testing is introduced quite late in the development cycle. At this stage, changes have a major impact on the project timelines and are expensive. Delaying testing to stages close to the launch phase will result in potential risk acceptance and extended deadlines.
If a project timeline shifts testing to the initial stages, enterprises may not sufficiently transfer the testers’ security knowledge to the developers. As a result, similar or the same problems will occur multiple times during the development cycle.
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Security testing results end up being futile as testers become too used to the code and it increases the possibility of liabilities being overlooked. Contrary to popular understanding, app security testing doesn’t need to be a massive commitment in terms of time or money. There exist ways to implement security testing without a burning hole in the budget or resource pool.
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Ensuring that security experts are involved right from the initial stages of software development
Software defects fixing cost is reduced with a proactive testing process. Detecting architectural flaws later in the testing phase allows the project manager with very few and expensive choices. These include risk acceptance, redesign, or mitigation. When security experts are available right from the initial stages of development, they can easily detect flaws and resolve them.
The application security program is built on the threat modeling concept. When considering a monetary standpoint, threat modeling exercises are known to be inexpensive and can be deployed internally with open-source software.
Such measures are not restricted to new applications; they can be implemented on existing software as well. If existing software is being launched as web services or repurposed, the structured risk and scenario assessment regarding the weak spots for breach will help create efficient use cases.
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Feasible testing options with reduced budgets
Budget constraints are the biggest hurdles for security testing. CIOs will enjoy significant advantages from open-source and affordable choices. The only drawback is that such alternative solutions often lack the complete set of functionality and vulnerability coverage.
Enterprise leaders believe that an effective application security program can be created with minimum resources with relevant plug-ins and personalization. Internal security experts can help reduce the gap left in open-source solutions by creating customized scripts and opting for manual tools operation wherever required.
