Web Application Penetration Testing

2Software Penetration Testing

Web application penetration test involves the evaluation of the security system of your network by posing an attack in the disguise of a malicious user. The test carried out is an effective tool, which can evaluate the ability of your application to withstand a hacker attack. After the tests are completed, any loophole in the application is detected and reported. Thus, you can get the latest security position of your server, network and applications. However, the tests must be carefully and correctly executed, since a poorly executed test can possibly cause significant damage, including system outages. Moreover, if the wrong tests are applied or the right tests are incorrectly executed, it will reveal very little about the existing faults in the system and the erroneous results might even create a false sense of security.

Web applications are increasingly turning more sophisticated with time, and thus, they are becoming more critical for every online business. Even though the requisite sophistication is embedded in these web applications, their constant utilization and public accessibility expose them to hacker attacks. The traditional anti-virus and firewall protection, at times, fail to protect the web applications from such attacks, resulting in mass damage. The web application penetration test ‘penetrates’ into your security system just the way a hacker will enter and thus, revealing the weak sections of the application.

The entire process of the Web Application Penetration Testing incorporates examining a running application with the most up-to-date tools. The testing is usually done remotely without any knowledge of the intrinsic details of the application. However, the best possible time to carry out the test is when the application is not busy or no maintenance work is going on. To get the most accurate results, the testing must be done with concrete planning and by adopting a series of systematic and repeatable tests.

The Web Application Penetration Testing is a pretty elaborate one, since the penetration process incorporates a number of tests and repeated tests to spot the existing faults and any  vulnerability that can be exploited.

A web application penetration test is concerned with evaluating the security of various web applications. A malicious user called Black Hat Hacker or Cracker is used for bringing about a false attack on the system. This helps in determining the possible threats to the computer system, thus facilitating the penetration test. It is a comprehensive process that analyzes the system for any potential vulnerability. The vulnerabilities may be caused due to a number of reasons;

Improper or poor system configuration, various types of known or unknown hardware or software flaws may cause the vulnerabilities. Technical countermeasures or operational weaknesses may also lead to various threats to the computer network or system. A Web Application Penetration Testing is carried out from the position of a potential attacker. This might result in active exploitation of the existing security vulnerabilities. The security issues discovered through this process are presented to the system owner. This analysis also consists of a thorough assessment of its impacts and a proposal or technical solution for mitigation or elimination of the problem.

A web application penetration test is mainly concerned with detecting the security threats posed to the web applications. Companies and enterprises all over the world are increasingly using the internet for carrying out their operations. But, professional testing, on a regular basis, for vulnerabilities or possible threats, is carried out on a meager percentage of websites. This increases the chance of website attacks, eventually affecting the web applications to a large extent.

Web application penetration tests help in identifying various security issues. The threats and risks in the web applications, known, as well as unknown, can be detected allowing effective combating of the risks. Various technical vulnerabilities like SQL injection, session hijacking, URL manipulation, web server configuration etc. are also identified through the test. The business risks involved in day to day internet usage is also detected by this process. Risks such as unauthorized logins, pricelist modification, unauthorized transfer of funds, modification of personal information etc. can be checked by penetration tests. Therefore, penetration tests help in safeguarding the computer system as well as the network, ensuring safety of an enterprise.