What Are Your Resolutions For Web Application’s Pen Testing?

New Years has come and gone but the air is still filled with expectations that this year will be the best. If you are an online business owner and have suffered security hacks, liabilities and losses last year – 2017 is the time to redeem yourself in the eyes of customers. Keeping with tradition, did you write down a list of New Year’s resolutions that you intend to follow to the letter? Did those resolutions include web application pentesting? More importantly – isn’t it time to resolve and code review your business’s IT infrastructure and web applications via manual/automatic penetration testing?

Understanding the Real Value of a Penetration Test

Very few businesses with an online presence realize the importance and value of penetration testing, for their web/mobile applications and software security. There are a lot of misconceptions about this, like:

• My IT infrastructure will be safe after pentesting
• All vulnerabilities within application will be found

Penetration testing conducted due to the above mentioned reasons don’t explore the full capacity of the security testing service. There are actually other benefits of pentesting that you can enjoy!

Pentesting Reveals a Set of Vulnerabilities

Not all of them though! In fact, number of found vulnerabilities is connected to certain factors namely:

• Time length of the test
• Skills, experience, credentials, certifications of testers
• Network connectivity
• Active web application firewalls
• System changes during testing
• Application instability

Moreover, high risk vulnerabilities are focused first then medium-low risk ones (if none found). This is why for maximum results; a combination of automatic and manual pentesting should be performed. Some additional benefits of pentesting from a certified and experienced vendor are:

• Shows ‘real risk’ of vulnerabilities
• Offers third party’s expert opinion
• Tests cyber-defence capability of your IT infrastructure
• Helps comply with industry certifications and regulations

Businesses often question the best way to conduct pentesting of software, web applications and the rest of their IT infrastructure. What they forget is penetration testing should accomplish placed business goals and objectives, not merely check for random holes in security.

Here Is How to Conduct a Successful Security Evaluation Test

Choosing a good or right pentesting vendor is only half of the battle. Make sure the security assessment is conducted properly by:

• Establishing security baseline through annual tests
• Spell out your company’s security objectives and requirements
• Choose auditors that have ‘real’ security experience
• Involve business unity managers early on
• Make sure reliance is on experience, not just prepared checklists
• Ensure finished report reflects all organization’s security risks

Now that you know the importance of penetration testing for your web application’s or IT infrastructure’s security evaluation, are you going to scour the market for a pentesting software that doesn’t offer accurate results or are you choosing Lean Security?

Security Compliance And Audits – What You Should Know

When was the last time your company’s IT department conducted a security compliance and audit on infrastructure, web applications and software? Why is this necessary? Explained in simple terms – a security audit is usually carried out to ensure full working capability of your security systems and IT infrastructure.

A compliance audit on the other hand is a comprehensive review detailing adherence to regulatory guidelines of a company. Independent security or IT consultants offer compliance audits to clients, who then fix the gap holes in their security with the help of finished report. These professionals review user access controls, risk management procedures, and security policies over the course of the audit.

There are a few points that you should know about choosing security compliance and audits for your IT infrastructure for better results. Keep the following in mind:  

An Audit Isn’t a Design Session  

Does your security program’s design rely heavily on initial audit gap report? If yes, the programs might not be sustainable. In the end your auditor will try and target a specific requirement first which means compliance and security audits don’t deal with sustainability, holistic approaches, and existing business requirements integration.

Don’t Conduct Audit If Not 100% Ready

An audit is strictly conducted in accordance with independent review of your existent security program. There is no need to go through if you feel your organization doesn’t meet all aspects of the security audit. In fact, discrepancies and vulnerabilities within the IT framework should be fixed first! Remember, security and compliance audit results shouldn’t be measured but this evaluation does help fix issues.    

Always Aim Higher Than What Compliance Requirements Prefer

Going above and beyond when it comes to IT security can be a good thing. Requirements are placed at a minimum standard, by which businesses with an online presence can operate and work to exceed in. When making the budget for security and compliance audit, don’t just focus on meeting the standard requirement but try to provide everything that is needed by your organization to effectively mitigate risk.

Identify vulnerabilities and fix your web application’s security by effective assessment of IT infrastructure with the help of advance web security testing. Security and compliance will follow automatically afterwards. Lean on Lean Security for your entire web and mobile application’s security needs.   

How To Choose The Right Penetration Testing Vendor

When it comes to IT infrastructure’s and web application’s security, there are two ways businesses and companies with an online presence can establish thorough security. The good and bad way, i.e. you can either wait for your organization’s web application and IT infrastructure to get hacked or work with a professional penetration testing service before disaster strikes. The latter is the better option.

Penetration Testing Will Safeguard Your IT Infrastructure against Vulnerabilities

Contrary to belief, penetration testing is utilized to scan and find existing vulnerabilities within the framework of a web application. This vulnerability is then addressed and duly removed. Evaluation and penetration scanning is carried out by pentesting companies or individuals. The exact same techniques as ones used by hackers and cyber criminals are used by these professionals, to safely exploit vulnerabilities and highlight issues within infrastructure’s security. With pentest vendors operating in Australia (Lean Security is of them) how will you know you have partnered with the right one?

Look For Technical Capabilities

Extensive training and experience are two important factors all the best pentesters have in common. Your chosen penetration testing vendor must have the following certifications that promise both training and experience. There are:

• CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professional
• CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker
• GWAPT – GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester
• OSCE – Offensive Security Certified Expert
• OSCP – Offensive Security Certified Professional

Additional credentials to look out for are pentest’s background in network, systems management or developing applications before moving into this field.

Pricing Of Penetration Testing

You must get at least three quotes or recommendations for pentest vendors or companies, with complete information about services. This will help determine if the asked price package is worth the service. In any case, knowing what you are paying for will help.

Not all pentest companies are equal, either with services or certification. Don’t forget, you will get what you pay for which means choosing a low priced service will offer nothing but under qualified or inexperienced pentesting professionals.

Ask a Potential Pentesting Vendor These Questions

Choosing the right pentesting vendor has been made easy with the following summation of important questions to ask:

• How many pentesters do you employ? What are their qualifications?
• What assistance can you provide in scoping the tests?
• Do you offer phishing testing and social engineering?
• How is the pentest carried out and to what time scale?
• What steps are taken to minimize possible effects on the business?
• Will there be any reports and security recommendations provided after the test?
• Can you provide references or testimonials for other existing customers?

With help from the above, finding the right pentesting vendor for your online business or web application will become easier. Just know what you want done i.e. security assessment and evaluation only or something concrete. Look at what Lean Security has to offer when it comes to Penetration testing services.

Ask Us – Difference Between Penetration Testing, Security Audit And Vulnerability Assessment

Companies and businesses with online presences are more vulnerable than ever, to exploitation and hacking. Today’s rapid explosion of internet-based commerce guarantees it. Besides various aspects of a corporate network that are vulnerable to attack, web application servers and their managed transitions are especially open to criminal hackers. Web application security has become even more important than ever however traditional testing of security controls (firewalls) are no longer sufficient or efficient in protecting organizations and companies doing business on the internet.

Yes – it goes without saying that businesses today need something extra when it comes to managing their web application security. Now the mantra for effective web application for companies has changed. Now the e-commerce sector believes simply ‘avoid being hacked’ isn’t enough especially when failure to properly manage security is linked to serious liabilities such as: 

• Cross-site request forgery
• Un-validated redirects and forwards
• Sensitive data exposure
• Security misconfiguration
• SQL injection
• Cross-site scripting
• Session management and broken authentication

 What type of security assessment you should look into for you IT infrastructure. There are commonly three types, i.e. penetration test, vulnerability assessment, and security audit.

What Is A Security Audit?

It simply refers to evaluating an application or system’s risk level, against certain set standards or baselines. Standards are actually mandatory or compulsory compliance rules while even minimal effort is an acceptable level of security for baselines. What do they do? Both standards and baselines help achieve a certain level of consistency when it comes to security implementation. These set of rules can also be specific to industries, technologies and processes.

Important Note:

Security audits in any cases give businesses a false sense of security as most rules for both standards and baselines are unable to keep up with rapid changes in cyber security, vulnerabilities and threats.

What Is A Vulnerability Assessment?

Also know as vulnerability analysis, it’s a process through which security holes or vulnerabilities are defined, identified and classified in a computer, network, or IT infrastructure. Most people don’t know this but assessment is stopped once vulnerability is found. This means a full-fledged attack against the vulnerability doesn’t follow, to verify if it is a legitimate threat or a false positive.

What Is Penetration Testing?

Pen tests are conducted to simply evaluate an IT infrastructure’s security. This is done by safely or ‘ethically’ exploiting vulnerabilities within a web application, operating system, improper configurations, or even due to risky end-user behavior.

 Important Note:

A popular misconception about pen testing services is that web application security is enhanced since these services are more expensive than others. It is important to remember penetration testing doesn’t make IT networks and applications more secure since existing security is evaluated only.

 Whether you choose pen testing, security audit, or website evaluation and assessment from Lean Security, know this that we will offer the very best in managed security services and advanced web security testing. Try it out today! 

Mobile Security Assessment: Three Points Of Focus

How secure is your business’s mobile application? This question is important for peace of mind of your customers—and to an extent—your IT department as well.

We live in the mobile age of technology, i.e. every service that we can ever hope for can be easily accessed with our mobile devices.

In fact, customers (and employees) today have come to expect the very best in mobile services and applications.

With increasing popularity of BYOD devices and use of mobile services to conduct just about anything, companies should be trying to find out how much secure their mobile applications and related systems really are?

Increasing Need for Mobile Security Assessments

You have a lot to learn about mobile security and why it’s important (including the use of web application penetration testing). Here are some questions you should be asking:

·         What are the potential vulnerabilities in my mobile application that attackers could exploit?

·         Is there any way to project mobile applications from malicious activity?

·         What should be done to protect users from hackers and cyber criminals?

Mobile security assessment is the answer. They are often triggered by the developer’s need to meet compliance requirements. However, you should undergo mobile security assessment of your application in order to identify and remove all security risks.   

Mobile Security Assessment – What Should You Focus On?

Following are three highly important points for mobile application security that you must look into when running the assessment.

1.     The Code

Mobile malware works by exploiting bugs or vulnerabilities that are already found in the code. Since app deployment to specific devices cannot be controlled by mobile app developers, steps must be taken during app development.

Security testing and assessment should be carried regularly of all stages of software development. Ensure everyone in your team (involved in web application development) is given basic security and penetration testing training.

2.     The Data

There has been an increased use of BYOD for work purposes, in recent years. This has increased chances of non-deliberate exposure of company data by employees themselves!

Common sources of data leakage that is exploited by cyber criminals are:

o   Data logging

o   Cookies

o   Caching through HTTP

o   HTML5 local

o   Buffering through copy/paste data

Data encryption is the obvious solution to secure important information.

3.     The Device

A mobile application is only as secure as the smartphone the app is stored on. What this means is: a mobile device poses an increased risk when it comes to malware.

The obvious solution to this security problem is to make the mobile application stored in the mobile, secure and risk-aware. This can be done by implementing risk-based authentication on mobile applications that would prevent access on certain devices. In addition, transactions conducted by the user can be silently flagged (for review and follow-up on any suspicious activity) before the command is executed.

Mobile Security Assessment – What Is The Bottom Line?

All focus levels, i.e. the code, the data, and the device must be met for your mobile applications to be considered secure. Regular and dynamic risk assessment is an important part for the process. What is it? Learn more about dynamic risk assessment and penetration testing from Lean Security. You can even opt for our free website health security check!