If the
world of the internet has brought about immense benefits for mankind in terms
of facilitating business, commerce and myriad other things, it also has spawned
concerns about cybersecurity as well. In fact, the online environment is beset
with a host of malware, viruses, trojans, and ransomware that are let loose on
vulnerable websites. And even if you come up with robust cybersecurity measures
like installing firewalls, antivirus software, and encryption among others, the
hackers or cyber criminals find out newer ways of penetrating a network or
device by using phishing, malware, viruses, trojans etc. The staggering
statistics concerning cybercrime involves a figure of $1.5 trillion (source:
Web of Profit) as proceeds of crime in 2018.
Cybersecurity:
Everyone’s responsibility
Cybercrime
has indeed become one of the biggest threats to entities, governments, and
individuals. It has ruined corporations and individuals by defrauding them of
confidential data, money, IP or trade secrets. The spectre of cybercrime has
grown in its intensity and sweep thanks to the proliferation of newer
technologies. These include the Internet of Things (IoT,) Artificial
Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data and Predictive Analysis among others.
The modus operandi of cyber criminals in exploiting a system or network to
steal data and information has meant cybersecurity has not remained the domain
of the IT department or a dedicated cybersecurity team alone. In fact, it has
become the responsibility of each and every stakeholder who uses or has access
to a computer system or network.
The
imperative of conducting security testing
With so
much at stake for individuals and organizations, preventing cybercrime has
become a priority area. This involves carrying out security testing of all the
assets, be it the legacy systems, cloud systems, applications, databases or
networks. A proper Risk and Compliance mechanism should be drawn by sensitizing
each and every stakeholder of an organization. This is important, for with
networked and distributed computers underpinning the IT infrastructure in most
organizations, a single vulnerability or weakness can cause havoc. The cyber-criminal
has to find only one vulnerable area or a compromised/careless individual to
bring an organization down to its knees. Also, with global cybersecurity
protocols and regulations (IEC 27001 and 27002, BS7779 and PCI etc) being part
of the IT security architecture, an organization has to comply with the same or
risk censure, penalties or litigation. The security testing strategy should be
comprehensive in its reach and involve all aspects of an organization. Let us
discuss the five factors that ought to be considered while building a security testing strategy.
Five
factors to strengthen cybersecurity measures
#1
Take a backup: Even
if this aspect is not directly connected to the setting up of cybersecurity
measures in your organization, it can act as a safety net. In other words,
should the system or network in your organization suffers a cyber-attack, a
robust backup mechanism (on-site and off-site) can help you return to work
quickly. So, before you carry out security testing, make sure to take the
backup of all the critical data.
#2
Implement DevSecOps:
Instead of implementing cybersecurity measures as an afterthought, make it a
part of the application development process. Thus, while developing and
deploying an application in the Agile and DevOps ecosystem, application
security testing should be made part of the SDLC. This way, should a
vulnerability or glitch gets detected during the development cum testing phase,
it can be plugged immediately.
#3
Periodic security assessment: Cybersecurity
threats are evolving and spreading with each passing day. This has necessitated
the conduct of periodic security assessments like penetrating testing,
vulnerability assessment, perimeter edge assessment, and security gap
assessment among others. The software security testing should not be a one-time
affair but a continuous process (read periodically or as and when needed.)
#4
Real time detection: Notwithstanding
the presence of anti-virus software, firewalls and VPNs, a software security
testing framework should employ real time detection of cyber threats. These
include implementing deep learning modules and heuristic algorithms to identify
deviant behaviours of processes by comparing them to normal ones.
#5
Communication: Every
stakeholder in the organization should be made aware of the potential risks of
ignoring the red flags around cybersecurity. This involves instilling a
cultural change in the organization as a part of risk management. There should
be a free flow of communication across hierarchies and departments as far as
strengthening cybersecurity measures is concerned.
Conclusion
With
cybercrime rearing its head every now and then, organizations and individuals
have no other way but to remain vigilant at all times. And establishing an
application security testing methodology will go a long way in generating trust
and confidence in the IT architecture besides mitigating any cybersecurity
risks.
