Major Challenges That Hamper Penetration Testing

Penetration testing is a part of the software testing process that helps identify how the application responds to various breaches and attacks. However, with technologies advancing rapidly, the threats are becoming more complex and even harder to avert.

This makes penetration testing an ongoing process, not one that is to be done merely on an annual basis.

However, just like everything else, experts conducting pen tests often face a variety of challenges that hinder their progress.

Here are some of the most common challenges we, as a leading penetration testing company, face when working with clients:

Logical Flow

Penetration testing on websites comes with its own set of challenges. Websites act differently. This often leads to dramatic changes in the penetration testing process.

For example, some websites might require visitors to go through a verification process before they can be redirected to the main page while others might require no authentication at all. This obviously impacts the testing process.

Session State Management

One of the most common problems for professionals conducting tests is to stay logged into a particular system while testing it.

Developers use a wide array of tracking systems to monitor traffic inflow into different software. Therefore, testers are required to manually define limitations according to the specific software testing parameters. More than often, attacking the software to check vulnerability will result in invalidation of the current session.

Custom URLs

Another challenge faced during the penetration testing of web applications is the presence of different URLs that act in varying ways when implemented.

While some of them are quite straightforward and can be tested in simpler methods, others expose testers to a dramatic number of possibilities in the types of attacks that should be tested.

False Positives or Negatives

It often becomes close to impossible to pinpoint the vulnerability that is associated with a specific software.

In addition to that, there is always the possibility of creating an attack for the test process that leads to a false positive or negative signal. Therefore, working further becomes difficult as the results are merely real. This often leads to overlooking underlying key problems.

These are some of the most important challenges faced by testers when performing penetrations tests on websites, web applications and software.

If you are looking for penetration testing services, work with a company that knows its way around all of these challenges and more. Get in touch with us to find out how we provide world class web security audits and penetration testing.

Boost Customer Satisfaction By Maintaining Web Security

There are many elements on the internet, who would like nothing more than to deface your website and place inappropriate content on it.

If a single one of those individuals (competitors or otherwise) has the resources, they can possibly take over your website and chase away customers.

Sometimes these individuals are your competitors but most of the times, they are just hackers trying to make a bit of money in the process.

Being a victim to one of these attacks could leave your brand name tarnished.

How Do Hackers Do It?

There is no one way to do it. In fact, there are hundreds of different tools and strategies hackers use to gain control of your website.

From security lapses in the operating system to unprotected web applications and even server security flaws, anything can be potentially used to gain access to your website. Regardless of the strategies, you should have adequate security protocols in place to protect your website.

Averting Website Defacement With Security

To prevent defacement, you will need to make sure that your data is adequately secured across your servers. Especially when looking for hosting provider, make sure that you keep security on top of the checklist. Don’t forget to inquire about degree of protection offered against website defacement.

At the same time, if you host a private server, consider using additional security measures. You can also go for co-location hosting options to avoid maintaining your own sever warehouse.

Avoiding Defacement With Securer Applications

If you avoid giving attention to your web application security, your servers are left vulnerable to exploitation. This is the reason why you should only use applications that are verified for security. You may also consider having your web applications designed by a team of professionals who are aware of your specific security needs.

Web Security and Customer Satisfaction

Web security is directly proportional to customer satisfaction. Only when customers are aware that your website implements top-notch security measures will they buy from you.

On the other hand, even in cases where a single security mishap surfaces, you may lose potential customers. The loss in revenue may take years to cover; not to mention the PR disaster you will need to fix.

Why not act proactively and keep your website and web applications protected? Give us a call to find out how our website security testing services boost customer satisfaction and interest in your business.

Why Choose Lean Security For Your Web Security Testing Needs?

At Lean Security, we are dedicated to protecting you, your business and your clients from hacks and data breaches. We provide proactive managed IT security solutions that are reliable, effective and hands down the best in the market.

According to a research study conducted by Kasperky, Australia accounted for 10% of attacked users and ranked 4th on the list followed by New Zealand and Brazil.

Even though hacks and attacks have decreased in number, thanks to business owners realising the importance of web application security, the threat remains.

To ensure that you stay on top of your game without having to worry about security, it is imperative that you conduct penetration tests, web vulnerability scans, and security testing on a regular basis. Doing so will not just help you surface the vulnerabilities in your web systems but it will also boost customer satisfaction and retention.

Particularly if you operate an ecommerce store, or provide a service that requires customers to pay online, you should consider beefing up security for your website and applications.

At Lean Security, we provide penetration testing and conduct rigorous web vulnerability scans, ensuring no gaps are left for hackers to come through. Our services are also aimed at highlighting the weaknesses of your IT infrastructure and applications so that you keep improving.

Here are a few more reasons why you should choose our services:

Completely Managed Services

We offer completely managed penetration testing services and vulnerability scanning services. Here is what’s in it for you:

· No need to hire additional IT technicians; we have all the professionals you need.

· You don’t need to install any software or hardware.

· Our services are priced around a pay-as-you-go model. This means you can start off small and eventually scale our services along as your business grows.

The Best In Tech

Our penetration testing technicians use modern techniques and open source tools that are guaranteed to give you the best results. Here are a few tools we use:

· Burp Suite – a highly reliable platforms to test application security.

· Metasploit – the leading penetration testing software in the market.

· Nessus Vulnerability Scanner – the most advanced and widely deployed vulnerability scanner.

· Netsparker – a false positive web security scanner

·  Qualys Vulnerability Scanner – Qualys provides cloud security for medium to large scale businesses.

·  SQLMap – Automatic SQL injection and database takeover tool

With online threats constantly evolving and breaches becoming more technical, it is important to invest in penetration testing service and web security to safeguard your business, boost profits and expand to new markets!

Call us at +61 (0) 2 8231 6635 or drop an email at info@leansecurity.com.au to learn more about our services.

Simple Tips For Security Testing Web Applications

Web applications offer a wide range of benefits for developers. One of the best parts about web applications is that they don’t need to be installed, therefore, there is no burden regarding patches or updates on users.

However, it goes without saying that native applications give developers tighter control over user experience, and are far simpler to secure.

This is also the reason why hybrid applications that combine the pros of both web and native applications are growing in popularity.

If you maintain an  ecommerce website, or one that requires users to fill out forms with personal information, you should take measures to ensure that the data doesn’t fall in the wrong hands.

To be effective at this, you need to take a different approach with application testing.

Here are a few simple tips that will allow you to make your web application securer:

Get In The Attacker’s Shoes

Try to make your way into the shoes of the attacker. Just like you try to become the user when testing web applications for security, it is time to become the attacker. It is quite possible that the attacker will try to make his way through the least secure path.

Begin with the common attack scenarios and techniques. Don’t forget that the attacker will try everything to gain access. Therefore, test out everything.

Application Assessment

Assess your application just like an attacker. What technologies does your application use? What are the degrees of access given to users? How is the data stored? More importantly, what type of data is stored?

Safe Passwords

The simplest way an attacker will gain access to your application controls is through password cracking. Is there any chance of a user guessing your password and username? Does your web application enforce stronger passwords? Don’t forget that passwords need to be encrypted at all times.

SQL Injections

Do you think attackers can input harmful SQL statements into text fields and gain access to your database? At times, they are also able to make it into your database through error codes in the browser. If you don’t take the right precautions, they can download, modify or even delete key data.

At Lean Security, we help clients boost their web application security through modern techniques and systems. We also offer comprehensive penetration testing services to uncover all vulnerabilities in your websites and suggest remedial measures. Get in touch with us to learn more about our services.

How Important Is Penetration Testing?

According to leading insurance company, Lloyd’s Australia was vulnerable to a $16 billion cyber attack risk last year. While many companies averted the risk, the need to keep developing even better security systems is ever growing.

This is why company owners are constantly investing in vulnerability scans and penetration tests to ensure they can deal with any sort of attack.

Penetration testing works by examining the risks web application, servers and networks are exposed to. It exploits the threats, allowing developers to create security measures or even better controls that work around those threats. The testing is typically stopped when the objective is achieved.

In the modern online environment, companies need to conduct rigorous web application penetration testing due to the following reasons:

· To make sure effective controls have been implemented

· To identify the weaknesses in web applications, hardware and management to ultimately develop better controls

· To test applications that are often breached or attacked

· To discover vulnerabilities, bugs and risks caused by updates or patches

If websites are attacked through social engineering, this circumvents, the stringent security protocols and highlights least protected assets. Perhaps the worst possible situation is to have a risky vulnerability within the infrastructure and not be aware of it while the attackers keep stealing information.

As the leading penetration testing service in Australia, we have hundreds of cases where the attackers went undetected for months before the clients reached out to us.

Apart from highlighting potential risks within web applications and websites, penetration testing also helps examine an organisation’s ability to avert those risks. At the same time, business owners should also focus on protecting themselves from external risks along with identifying compromised individuals within their organisations. Internal testing should also include controls between different security zones to make sure they are appropriately configured.

As experts in the field, we advise you to conduct regular penetration tests. Doing so will protect you against recent threats. The frequency should be based on the type of testing conducted and the test targets. There are variety of standards like the PCI DSS that recommend preferable intervals for different scan types.

Whether you are deploying new infrastructure or need to test web application security, our penetration testing services can help. Get in touch with us to learn more about our web application security services and how we help hundreds of companies safeguard themselves and their customers.