A Comprehensive Guide On Dynamic Application Security Testing

"No man can walk through life without things happening to him.", quotes the legendary Vikings hero, Ragnar Lothbrok. However, you can still combat the 'things'. For instance, you can always protect your systems, devices and application from the things such as cyber threats, malicious attacks and breaches. You can also seek the help of multiple tools, software and approaches to prevent such attacks from your systems. In fact, how about having a warrior solely determined to protect your applications from malicious attacks? 

Let's talk about a warrior but the only difference is this warrior doesn't fight in a battleground but it fights for your applications. A warrior, so ingenious that it imitates the approach followed by attackers (read hackers) and shows you how they can risk your applications. It’s a warrior that protects you by making necessary repairs to prevent malicious attacks. Surprising, right? 

We are talking about Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)! It's an approach (alias a warrior) that imitates malicious user behavior and shows businesses how their applications behave in a live environment. DAST identifies risks early so an enterprise can make necessary repairs to counteract attacks. It also helps uncover problems that a development team should have thought of or considered challenging to meet.

Curious to know about this warrior in detail? Well, head on and figure out all about Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).
 

What Is Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

“You do not think like other men. You're unpredictable and that will serve you well.”, says Ragnor Lothbrok. It's high time you think differently and learns more about DAST; that will help you with many benefits.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a type of testing that is used to detect vulnerabilities in web applications. It works by simulating attacks on the application from the outside, as a malicious user would. The goal of DAST is to identify security vulnerability that attackers could exploit.

DAST is essential because developers don't have to rely solely on their own knowledge when building applications. By conducting DAST during the software development lifecycle (SDLC), you can detect potential vulnerability, in an application before it is deployed to the public. If these vulnerabilities are unchecked, they can be a gateway to a data breach, leading to significant financial loss and damage to your brand reputation.

Let's take a quick look at the flashback of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).
 

What Is The History Of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

Ragnar quotes - don't waste your time looking back. You're not going that way. However, going into the past is sometimes essential to discovering how certain things evolve. 

It all began in 1999 when Mark Fewster and Dorothy Graham introduced a book on Software Automation. In this book, the authors comprehensively treated automation issues, strategies and tactics related to software testing. Later, in 2003, Cem Kaner came to the history of software testing – credit goes to his article The Power of What If and Nine Ways to Fuel Your Imagination. In his book, Cem defined software testing with a hypothetical story.

Slowly enterprises realized the importance of various approaches to security testing. Cyber threats, breaches and malicious attacks were at their peak and developers realized that the world needs a warrior to conduct testing from the attacker's perspective. Before the introduction of Dynamic Application Security Testing - developers, testers and project managers have always relied on several scan technologies during the SDLC (software development lifecycle). Hence, it took a lot of work for teams to incorporate scan results into the development cycle.

DAST was introduced to the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to offer developers an opportunity to evaluate vulnerabilities in an application before hackers exploit it. Soon, organizations realized that integrating DAST into their SDLC processes has a competitive advantage. DAST emerged as a critical component of a comprehensive application security program to detect and prevent vulnerabilities that can enter into software applications and detect existing vulnerabilities – and the rest is history!

Pretty interesting history there, right? Let's get back to the present and see how Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) works.

How Does Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Work?

Just like for Ragnar, all the roads lead to the throne; for you, all the roads lead to this section. So, let's head on and figure out how DAST works for the organizations. 
 

• Automating Scans

  DAST executes automated scans that simulate malicious external attacks on an application to evaluate outcomes that are not part of an expected result set. Since DAST cannot access an application's source code, it detects security vulnerabilities by attacking it externally. Security experts often have to write tests or fine-tune the tool. #ScanningSavvy

• Simulating Automated Attacks

  These tools work by simulating automated attacks on an application, replicating a malicious attacker. The objective of DAST is to find outcomes or results that were not expected and could therefore be used by attackers to compromise an application. As DAST doesn't have internal information about the application or the source code, it attacks just as an external hacker would with the same limited knowledge about the respective application. #ThreatBuster

• Providing Systematic Testing

  DAST and penetration testing sound similar but they are pretty different. Penetration testing refers to using standard hacking techniques, whilst DAST provides systematic, automated testing focused on the application in a running state. A DAST scanner hunts for vulnerabilities in a running application and sends automated alerts. It is equipped to function in a dynamic environment and detect runtimes flaws that penetration testing or SAST (systematic application security testing) can't identify. #DebuggingDaredevil

Now let's step ahead and understand the benefits of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).

What Are The Benefits Of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

Ragnar believes that - when your time comes, you must lead with your head, not your heart. Now it's time to show with DAST. Here's how it can benefit your organization!
 

• Helps You With Memory Usage

  DAST helps businesses detect the different portions of RAM (Random Access Memory), which can easily be exploited. While using the DAST methodology of testing and implementing other payloads in a database or website, loads are directly executed into the memory. This way, DAST directly helps test whether memory usage is exploited. #MemoryMaverick

• Flawless Encryption Mechanism

  Many federal regulations and standards require you to use an encryption algorithm in your application to safeguard confidential or sensitive user data. DAST checks the powerful encryption algorithms in use and tries to break through the encryption technique used.#EncryptionEmpire

• ​Testing Live Web Applications

  DAST helps you test if the user has the authority to access different allowed resources or is using some malicious code interacting with the application. Besides, DAST also assists you with detecting a vulnerable plugin in a web application and testing the live web applications. #WebTestWarrior

 

What Are The Future Trends Of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)? 

As Ragnar puts it - the world is changing and we must change with it. Likewise, technology is changing and so is DAST!

Artificial Intelligence integrated with automation will help in equipping software testers with augmented efficiencies. It will be increasingly deployed in detecting flaws in testing as well as in reducing human intervention. This will be extremely helpful in establishing the functionality and performance of a product at the data server along with the machine level. Besides, it will contribute a lot towards the processes of analytics and the generation of reports on software testing.

Agile will continue to be one of the fastest-adopted trends within the domain of Dynamic Application Security Testing. Thus, it will play an essential role in shaping the future of DSAT. Agile will be combined with DevOps to shorten the SDLC from system development to operations.

Summing It Up!

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a critical component of any organization's security strategy. It helps to identify vulnerabilities in web applications and provides a comprehensive understanding of the security risks that may impact the business. By automating the testing process and providing real-time results, DAST allows organizations to identify and remediate security issues quickly and effectively.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, DAST will become even more important for businesses looking to protect their assets and maintain the trust of their customers. By regularly conducting DAST, organizations can stay ahead of potential security threats and continue to provide a secure environment for their customers.