QASource Blog

In a recent report, Juniper Research states that more than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023. Hence, effective cybersecurity testing becomes even more important than ever. It protects all categories of data like sensitive data, personally identifiable information, and protected health information, from theft and damage.

According to a new report by Juniper Research, more than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023, which is an increase of 175% from 2018. The role of effective cybersecurity testing, hence, becomes even more important than ever. It protects all categories of data like sensitive data, personally identifiable information, protected health information, personal financial information, and intellectual property from theft and damage. Cyber threats can come from any level of your organization, so it becomes a must to educate your people about some common cyber threats like social engineering scams, phishing, ransomware attacks, and other attack vectors designed to steal intellectual property or personal data.

Security is one of the first things to invest in when managing your networks and applications. Just like the evolution of technology, the nature of ransomware and online threats have also evolved, and it has become extremely important to employ the latest best practices of cybersecurity to secure our devices and networks. However, despite our efforts to maintain the integrity of our cybersecurity systems, cybercriminals are insistent on finding new ways to penetrate our networks for malicious purposes.

The cybersecurity landscape has seen remarkable changes in 2020 with the surge in remote work. Organizations have clambered to set up remote work environments, and implement two-step authentication to ensure network security. The rapid surge in digital footprint has also resulted in a sharp rise in cybersecurity threats. According to International Data Corporation, barring major breaches, average small to medium size businesses are now likely to face costs amounting to almost 1.3 million dollars per year for cyber security-related incidents.

Organizations today are more concerned today than ever before about their data being stolen, which can cause them and their constituents financial and business consequence. Companies are aware that they need to identify any security vulnerabilities present in their products early on in the process, which is why static application security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST) are quickly becoming an integral part of software development processes.

Using only a username and password to access an application can result in compromised credentials and cause a huge loss to the organization. While users can, and will, be blocked from accessing an application after a certain number of failed login attempts,  hackers still have a variety of other methods available to them to gain access to an application, which is why multi-factor authentication is so important. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security technology that allows a user to log in or perform other transactions only when they complete multiple authentication steps. MFA creates multiple layers of protection that make it harder for any unauthorized user to access an application. If one layer breaks, the attacker still has to break through one or more barriers to get access, which is not an easy task.

UEBA (User and Entity Behavior Analytics) is a cyber security process that analyzes users’ behavior. Machine learning, statistical analysis, and algorithms are used to analyze deviations from the usual users’ patterns. UEBA also analyzes logs, report data, file, flow, and packet information.

Before you test a cybersecurity product, you must understand its integration capabilities, the environment it supports, and the best testing methodologies. QASource engineers have put together a 9-step checklist that will prepare you to test a product in the security domain.

What you don’t know about your software product or your company’s infrastructure should scare you. Every minute that you turn a blind eye to an issue is a minute gained by cybercriminals intent on gaining access to your sensitive data and confidential information. And with more employees working from home, hackers have discovered more ways to infiltrate software and applications.