The Importance of Security Testing in IT Development
Integrating robust security systems into your IT infrastructure should ideally happen during the initial production stage, and not after.
As our world becomes increasingly digitized, the threat and occurrence of cyber attacks grows with it.
The more digitally-present your company is, the greater the likelihood it will be the victim of a cyber attack. What this means is that as your company grows and becomes more successful, it can also become more vulnerable. That is, unless you have integrated robust cyber-security processes into your IT infrastructure from the get-go.
This article is going to outline the rationale and importance of planning and employing cyber-security practices and testing from the beginning of an IT project, as well as the types of requirements you should be asking from your IT development team with regards to cyber-security.
What is Cyber-security?
First, a quick definition will be helpful. Cyber-security is a broad term that can be used to describe a wide range of different processes and systems, from password protections to encryption, data storage and testing.
For the purposes of simplicity, this article is going to discuss cyber-security in its generic sense; a defense against malicious attacks by hackers, and the protection of a company’s data.
We consider these latter two issues to be of particular concern for small to medium sized businesses; the average cost of a data breach to a company has risen to US$ 3.92 million over the last five years, when considering fines and/or the costs of paying off hackers for the return of stolen data.
When should you start caring about Cyber-security?
This is a bit of a rhetorical question. The answer is: “Always!” This applies to whether you are just a casual, individual internet user or the CTO of a multinational firm.
Through our experience, we have found that it always makes more sense to place a serious emphasis on building security into the technical architecture of a software system or product, and not after the latter has already been completed.
This may require additional time and costs at first, but it will be worth the trouble. Integrating robust security in the beginning will allow it to be more effective than if it is applied retroactively, it will reduce the obvious risks of an attack, and it will give you peace of mind to focus your energies on the core of your business.
What Cyber-security practices should you expect from your IT development team?
While the inclusion of current security safeguards in the code of your software product is essential, it is of utmost importance to employ robust security testing protocols both during and after the initial development of any software project.
A professional IT service provider will also be able to present a comprehensive security-testing framework that will be realized throughout the development process of your particular piece of software or digital product(s).
This will include continuous testing for bugs and their resolution, as well the implementation of strong and up-to-date protection measures that can both prevent and detect potential bugs and vulnerabilities in the future.
Some of the types of frameworks that should be used for security testing are:
- Dynamic Application Security Testing,
- Static Application Security Testing,
- Interactive Application Security Testing
- And Penetration Testing.
These can and should be included in the Continuous Integration Approach of your software development team.
At Bocasay, our offshore technical teams in Vietnam, Mauritius and Madagascar are trained in integrating the most current and robust cyber security systems and practices into the software development projects of our clients, giving them the peace of mind to focus on their business.
Get in touch to discuss how we can be your future IT development partner.
