Discover how software testing & security testing protect applications from cyber threats. Learn about penetration testing, API security, mobile security, and more with Abstracta.
Every time you deploy an application, update a feature, or integrate a third-party API, you introduce potential security risks that attackers are eager to exploit.
Cyber threats evolve daily, with new security vulnerabilities emerging as hackers refine their techniques. Organizations often prioritize functionality, performance, and user experience—but security cannot be an afterthought. A single security flaw can expose sensitive data, cause security breaches, disrupt operations, and result in financial and reputational damage.
But security testing isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Each application has unique security concerns, requiring different methods such as penetration testing (or pen testing), API security testing, network security testing, and mobile application security testing.
How can businesses integrate comprehensive testing into their development process to minimize security risks? In this guide, we explore how to build a strong security posture for modern applications.
Explore our Security Testing Services, and stay ahead of security threats!
Security Testing: A Fundamental Pillar
Security testing is the process of evaluating an application’s defenses against cyberattacks. It focuses on identifying security weaknesses, potential vulnerabilities, and security flaws before they can be exploited.
These tests range from evaluating source code’s security to validating applications’ robustness in real-world operational environments.
Unlike functional testing, which checks if an application meets business requirements, security testing determines if it can withstand malicious attacks while protecting sensitive data.
The Importance of Security Tests
Implementing security tests is essential to enable applications to be resilient against potential threats. The increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, often enhanced by artificial intelligence, has made traditional security measures insufficient.
For instance, in 2024, the use of AI in cyberattacks led to more precise and personalized attacks. According to a recent article that features a 2024 survey by SoSafe, 87% of surveyed security professionals reported experiencing AI-driven cyberattacks, highlighting how artificial intelligence is making cyber threats more sophisticated and harder to detect.
Common Security Risks in Software
Software applications face numerous risks, including:
- Injection attacks: Cybercriminals exploit weaknesses in input validation to manipulate databases (SQL injection) or execute malicious scripts (cross-site scripting, XSS).
- Authentication failures: Weak or improperly implemented authentication mechanisms allow attackers to hijack accounts and gain unauthorized access.
- Insecure APIs: Poorly protected APIs expose sensitive data to unauthorized users.
- Weak encryption: Failure to properly encrypt stored or transmitted data leaves information vulnerable to interception and theft.
By integrating security tests into the software development lifecycle, powered by AI, organizations can build secure applications while reducing risks and boosting compliance with industry standards.
Don’t miss this article! Testing Applications Powered by Generative Artificial Intelligence
Security Testing Approaches: SAST, DAST, and IAST
Security testing is not a one-size-fits-all process. Different methods address different risks:
- SAST (Static Application Security Testing): Detects vulnerabilities in source code before deployment, ensuring security from the start.
- DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing): Analyzes running applications from an attacker’s perspective, uncovering runtime vulnerabilities.
- IAST (Interactive Application Security Testing): Embeds security tools within the application, combining the strengths of SAST and DAST for real-time insights with fewer false positives.
By combining these approaches, security teams can identify vulnerabilities at different stages of the development process, reducing security risks before attackers can exploit them.
1. Static Application Security Testing (SAST): Detecting Vulnerabilities Early in Development
How SAST Works
Unlike DAST, which requires a running application, SAST operates at the code level, allowing developers to detect potential security vulnerabilities before deployment. This makes SAST one of the most effective methods for shifting security left in the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Key steps in SAST:
- Code Analysis – SAST tools scan an application’s source code, searching for hardcoded credentials, weak encryption, SQL injection risks, and other vulnerabilities.
- Pattern Matching & Rule-Based Detection – SAST tools use predefined security rules to flag potential security threats, ensuring that secure coding practices are followed.
- Integration with CI/CD Pipelines – Modern security tools integrate seamlessly with DevOps workflows, allowing teams to identify vulnerabilities as developers write code.
Benefits of SAST:
✅ Early Detection of Security Issues – By identifying vulnerabilities before the application is built, teams can reduce security risks and remediation costs.
✅ Faster Fixing of Security Flaws – Since developers receive immediate feedback, they can address issues without delaying deployment.
✅ Comprehensive Code Coverage – SAST analyzes all possible execution paths in an application, including unused code, ensuring maximum security visibility.
Limitations of SAST:
❌ Higher False Positives – Because SAST operates without executing the code, it may flag potential vulnerabilities that are not actually exploitable.
❌ Limited Context Awareness – SAST does not evaluate runtime behavior, meaning it cannot detect vulnerabilities that depend on application logic or external dependencies.
❌ Challenging to Analyze Dynamic Code – Applications using heavy runtime dependencies, such as JavaScript-based frontends, may require complementary security testing methods.
Because of these limitations, SAST is most effective when combined with Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), which assesses security risks while the application is running.
2. Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): Identifying Vulnerabilities in Runtime
How DAST Works
In contrast with static analysis, which reviews source code before deployment, DAST operates from an attacker’s perspective, testing how an application responds to various attack scenarios.
DAST tools interact with applications by:
- Sending malicious inputs: To expose injection vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL injection, command injection).
- Analyzing responses: For indicators of security weaknesses.
- Detecting security misconfigurations: That could be leveraged by attackers.
- Assessing authentication mechanisms: For vulnerabilities.
Use Cases for DAST
DAST is particularly useful for:
- Web applications: Testing authentication, cross-site scripting, and data exposure risks.
- APIs: Identifying potential vulnerabilities in API endpoints.
- Cloud environments: Analyzing misconfigurations that expose security risks.
However, while DAST provides invaluable insights, it is most effective when combined with Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST).
3. Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST): Closing the Gaps in Traditional Security Testing
IAST takes DAST a step further by embedding security monitoring tools directly into an application’s runtime environment.
Why is IAST more effective than DAST alone?
While DAST provides an external view of an application’s security, IAST works internally, analyzing vulnerabilities in real time as the application executes.
IAST works from within by embedding security agents into an application’s runtime environment. This hybrid approach combines the strengths of static and dynamic analysis, providing real-time security insights that are more precise than traditional methods.
Why does IAST matter? It allows teams to:
- Pinpoint security flaws in real-time, rather than after an attack occurs.
- Reduce false positives, distinguishing real security risks from irrelevant alerts.
- Identify vulnerabilities in third-party components and API security testing.
- Analyze the source code, offering developers actionable remediation steps.
By leveraging IAST, you can enhance app security testing, strengthening defenses while minimizing disruptions to the development process.
The Challenge of False Positives in Security Testing
One of the biggest challenges in security testing is false positives—alerts that indicate a vulnerability when none exists. False positives:
- Waste security teams’ time, leading to unnecessary investigations.
- Slow down development, creating friction between security and engineering teams.
- Reduce trust in security tools, causing teams to ignore alerts.
How to Reduce False Positives
- Combine automated and manual testing – Automated tools detect common issues, while manual validation confirms real threats.
- Use AI-powered security tools – Machine learning reduces false alarms by recognizing patterns in historical data.
- Tune security scanning configurations – Customize security testing tools based on the specific risk profile of your application.
- Leverage observability – Correlate security alerts with real-time logs, and prioritize actual threats.
Don’t miss this episode about observability on Quality Sense Podcast, with Federico Toledo and Lisa Crispin.
How Data Observability Helps Reduce False Positives
Data observability is a practice that allows teams to monitor, analyze, and validate data in real-time to validate its accuracy and integrity. When applied to security testing, it enables teams to:
✅ Correlate security events with application behavior – Instead of treating alerts in isolation, data observability platforms analyze security data alongside infrastructure logs, telemetry, and system performance metrics. This helps identify whether a flagged vulnerability is a real security issue or a false alarm triggered by normal system behavior.
✅ Detect patterns instead of static rules – Traditional security scanning tools rely on predefined rules to detect vulnerabilities, which often results in false positives when encountering edge cases. Machine learning-powered observability tools can analyze historical data to identify patterns of real threats, improving accuracy.
✅ Provide contextual intelligence – False positives often arise due to a lack of context. Data observability platforms enrich security alerts with metadata from logs, network traffic, database activity, and user behavior, helping security teams differentiate between actual attacks and harmless anomalies.
✅ Prioritize real security threats – By automatically filtering out irrelevant alerts, data observability allows security teams to focus on genuine security vulnerabilities that require immediate attention.
Reducing false positives enables development teams to focus on real security threats, improving overall application security.
Accelerate your cloud journey with confidence! We joined forces with Datadog to leverage real-time infrastructure monitoring services and security analysis solutions. Explore our joint services!
Mobile Application Security Testing: Addressing Unique Mobile Risks
By refining security testing techniques and incorporating data observability, organizations can reduce noise and prioritize critical vulnerabilities. However, security testing becomes even more complex when dealing with mobile applications.
Unlike traditional web applications, mobile apps introduce new security challenges. Mobile applications process vast amounts of data, making them a prime target for malicious attacks.
Key Threats Unique to Mobile Applications
- Insecure Data Storage – Mobile devices often store sensitive data, such as personal identifiers, payment details, and authentication tokens. Attackers can exploit poorly secured storage mechanisms, gaining unauthorized access to this data.
- Weak or Broken Authentication – Many mobile apps fail to enforce strong authentication mechanisms, allowing attackers to bypass login security through brute force attacks or credential stuffing.
- Unprotected APIs – Mobile applications communicate extensively with back-end services through APIs. Improper API security (e.g., lack of authentication, improper rate limiting) leaves sensitive data exposed.
- Device and OS Vulnerabilities – Unlike web applications, mobile security depends on operating system security and device-specific configurations. Jailbroken or rooted devices increase attack surfaces, allowing attackers to override app security controls.
Best Practices for Mobile Application Security Testing
- Encrypt data at rest and in transit to prevent unauthorized access.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of credential theft.
- Use secure API authentication protocols, such as OAuth 2.0 and JWT, to protect data exchanges.
- Regularly perform mobile pen testing to uncover security vulnerabilities before attackers do.
API Security Testing: Protecting Application Communication
APIs are the backbone of modern applications, enabling data exchange between services. However, they introduce significant security risks if not tested properly.
Common API Security Issues:
🔴 Broken authentication – Attackers exploit weak API authentication mechanisms.
🔴 Excessive data exposure – APIs return more data than necessary, increasing risk.
🔴 Rate limiting flaws – Attackers exploit APIs without proper throttling mechanisms.
How to Strengthen API Security?
✔ Enforce API authentication (OAuth 2.0, JWT).
✔ Limit data exposure to prevent unnecessary leaks.
✔ Perform regular API security testing to detect security vulnerabilities before attackers do.
APIs are frequent targets for cyberattacks because they often handle sensitive data and serve as direct entry points to critical backend services. Poorly secured APIs can be exploited for data theft, account takeovers, and injection attacks. By implementing robust API security testing, organizations can minimize these risks and prevent breaches.
Network Security Testing: Securing Infrastructure
Apart from everything mentioned so far, it’s crucial to understand the following: Your application is only as secure as the network it runs on. Network security testing assesses how well-protected an organization’s infrastructure is against cyber threats.
Key Risks:
⚠ Open ports – Exposed network ports can be exploited.
⚠ Weak firewall rules – Misconfigurations allow unauthorized access.
⚠ Lack of segmentation – Flat networks make it easy for attackers to move laterally.
How to Enhance Network Security?
✅ Perform network penetration testing to uncover weak points.
✅ Use strong encryption for internal communications.
✅ Harden firewall configurations and segment networks.
Comprehensive mobile app security testing enables applications to meet security standards and remain resilient against evolving cyber threats.
To truly assess an application’s resilience, organizations must go beyond conventional testing and adopt penetration testing—a proactive security approach where ethical hackers simulate real-world cyberattacks.
Once APIs and networks are secured, penetration testing simulates real-world attacks to uncover hidden security weaknesses.
Penetration Testing: Simulating Attacks to Strengthen Security
Why automated security testing isn’t enough?
While automated testing detects known vulnerabilities, penetration testing simulates real-world attacks to uncover hidden security flaws. It verifies if applications withstand actual attack scenarios, reinforcing security strategies beyond automated scans.
Common Types of Penetration Testing
- Network Penetration Testing – Identifies weaknesses in network security testing to prevent unauthorized access.
- Web Application Penetration Testing – Tests applications for injection attacks, authentication flaws, and session management issues.
- API Security Testing – Evaluates API endpoints for improper authorization controls and data exposure risks.
Regular penetration testing is essential to maintaining a strong security posture and proactively mitigating security threats.
Keep on learning about pen testing in this article! Penetration Testing: Find Vulnerabilities Before Hackers Do
Conclusion: Security Testing Is a Continuous Process
Cyber threats evolve daily, and so must security testing. Organizations that integrate security testing methods—from dynamic application security testing and penetration testing to network security testing and mobile app security testing—significantly reduce their risk of security breaches.
By adopting a comprehensive testing approach, businesses can secure applications, protect sensitive data, and fortify their overall security posture.
Security is not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing strategy that requires:
- Continuous monitoring for emerging threats.
- Proactive security testing integrated throughout the development process.
- Regular pen testing to identify real-world attack vectors.
Organizations that embrace security-first development not only reduce risk but also gain a competitive edge, demonstrating trust and reliability to customers.
FAQs About Security Testing
What Is Security Testing in Software Testing?
Security testing evaluates applications to detect security flaws, prevent malicious attacks, and improve an organization’s overall security posture.
What Are the Three Types of Security Testing?
The three main types are vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and security auditing.
What Is the Difference Between QA Testing and Security Testing?
QA testing focuses on functionality, while security testing identifies and addresses security vulnerabilities that could lead to security breaches.
What Are the Steps in Security Testing?
Security testing involves risk assessment, security scanning, vulnerability testing, pen testing, and remediation of security issues.
Is Security Testing Part of QA?
Security testing is often handled by security teams and ethical hackers, rather than traditional QA testers, as it requires specialized expertise.
How We Can Help You
With over 16 years of experience and a global presence, Abstracta is a leading technology solutions company with offices in the United States, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay. We specialize in software development, AI-driven innovations & copilots, and end-to-end software testing services.
We believe that actively bonding ties propels us further. That’s why we’ve forged robust partnerships with industry leaders like Microsoft, Datadog, Tricentis, Perforce, and Saucelabs, empowering us to incorporate cutting-edge technologies.
By helping organizations like BBVA, Santander, Bantotal, Shutterfly, EsSalud, Heartflow, GeneXus, CA Technologies, and Singularity University we have created an agile partnership model for seamlessly insourcing, outsourcing, or augmenting pre-existing teams.
🔍 Want to strengthen your security? Explore our Security Testing Services and schedule a consultation today.
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