Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking, is a cyber security practice of paramount importance in the digital age. It involves the authorized simulation of cyber-attacks on an organization’s systems, applications, or networks by skilled professionals, referred to as ethical hackers.
In today’s broad digital landscape, penetration testing is considered as one of the most important parts of any organization’s vulnerability management program. Conducting a web app penetration is time consuming process so it requires only expertise. In this age of it is essential to have a solid understanding of the web app penetration testing procedure to prevent the cyber-attacks.
In this post, I’ll explain it in detail about the major aspects one need to keep in mind if they’re going for a web app penetration test for the first time.
What is web app penetration testing?
This process refers of detecting an application’s security vulnerabilities by evaluating the website and its associated services with different types of malicious techniques. The purpose of web app pen testing is to secure sensitive data from cybercriminals who get the unauthorized access to the application.
Penetration testing typically made up of two stages: reconnaissance and attack. During the reconnaissance stage, testers collect information about its architecture, technologies used, and user accounts. This information is used to create an attack plan tailored to the specific system. In the attack stage, testers use various tools and techniques to attempt to exploit any discovered vulnerabilities. Successful attempts are documented and reported back to the organization so they can take steps to rectify them.
Web application security testing is a process in which an app or website is examined during the development process where testers identify and rectify the potential vulnerable points. The application is tested, and security is checked on multiple’s levels of the development process.
Types of web app penetration testing:
There’re two major ways to perform web app penetration testing. Let’s have a look at them.
External penetration testing: In this scenario, cyber-attacks are from outside the company and targets those testing web applications which are hosted on the internet. Testers are only given the IP of the target system to simulate these attacks.
Internal penetration testing: In this scenario, testing is performed within the company using its LAN and it involves testing of web applications that are hosted on the intranet. This helps testers to find out if there’re vulnerabilities that exist within the corporate firewall.
There’s no single “best” tool for web application penetration testing as it depends on various factors like your specific needs, budget, experience level, and the target application itself. However, listing some popular tools and their strengths for different scenarios:
Open-source and free tools:
- Head Spin
- Burp Suite
- OWASP ZAP
- Nikto
- SQL Map
Remember, the best approach involves combining different tools to leverage individual strengths. Research thoroughly, consider your specific requirements, and try out different tools to find the best fit for your web application penetration testing needs.
Why Crucial to perform web application penetration testing:
- To ensure users private information like bank card details and address is protected
- To ensure your sensitive data is protected
- To ensure confidentiality of sensitive data that should be accessible only to authorized users
- Identify Security Vulnerabilities: Penetration testing allows security professionals to identify potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers to compromise the application or the underlying systems. Once testers identify these vulnerabilities, businesses can take steps to mitigate them and reduce the risk of security breach.
- Protect Sensitive Data: Web applications often store and process sensitive data such as personal information, financial data, and other confidential data. Penetration testing helps identify security weaknesses that could result in data breaches, and businesses can take steps to protect sensitive data by remedying the vulnerabilities.
- Comply with Regulations: Various industry-specific regulations and compliance standards require organizations to perform regular penetration testing to ensure that their web applications are secure. Penetration testing can help businesses to avoid legal and financial penalties.
- Maintain Customer Trust: Customers trust businesses to keep their personal information safe and secure. Unaddressed vulnerabilities of a security breach into web application can significantly damage a business’s reputation and erode customer trust. If one performs regular pen testing, businesses can illustrate their commitment to security and maintain customer trust.
- Improve Security Posture: Penetration testing can help businesses identify and remediate security vulnerabilities, which can help to improve their overall security posture. By taking proactive measures to protect their web applications, businesses can reduce the risk of a security breach and ensure the safety of their sensitive data.
With the above information, you should get a good understanding of how to conduct a web app penetration testing and you can start testing. Once you’ve done your first testing, you must remember to log and collect all vulnerabilities in the system. Any scenario shouldn’t be ignored assuming that it won’t be executed by the end users.
