Crucial Cyber Security Mistakes To Avoid While Testing Software

Cyber Security has no longer remained a debatable topic. Every software company has to stay vigilant and embrace the safety measures to safeguard them against the burgeoning threats. 

However, despite many proactive measures and steps, cyber thefts are steeply rising. These hackers are orchestrating many brazen steps to delineate the developers’ efforts and create a chaotic environment for them that puts the organization’s reputation at stake.

Here in this post, we have compiled a list of cyber security mistakes that you should avoid while testing the software.

Vital Cyber Security Mistakes to Avoid While Testing Software

Restraining penetration tests

One of the highest cyber security mistakes to avoid while testing software is not to do penetration tests. These tests vanguard you against cyber security loopholes. 

To conduct this test, the testers stimulate the hacking scenarios that would lead to real-world losses. They remove the doubt element by discovering the security or gap issues that might be difficult to predict using manual analysis and lead to massive data breaches.

Without it, your software will become vulnerable to malicious attacks, crucial data might get corrupted, and servers might crash, thus leading to a cyber security blow. 

Infrequent Detection

In the passive computing era, where frauds were not massive, once-a-year testing was enough, but now, with the evolution of the technologies and their easy implementation, frequent detection has become necessary. 

Not keeping up with it can lead to data breaches and jeopardize your confidential information. The early check-up or scanning will diminish the cybercriminal attempts, and you will better gain a foothold in the market.

Not enough training is given to the employees

The mass exodus of dollars might protect the company from data breaches. However, as said, “to err is human,” so nothing can overcomplicate cyber security concerns other than humans. 

For example, your employees sometimes bypass the threats by passing confidential information to identity thieves. This can lead to compromisеd cyber security, phishing attacks, and many other concerns.

Hеncе, thе employees should bе trainеd to protеct thе data, rеcognizе thе attack, and fight back against it. Don’t nеglеct this crucial stеp during softwarе tеsting. Employees should be trained in and provided with website security software and tools to have a proper track of the activities as well as identify the threats in time.

Inadequate Third-Party Testing 

It might be surprising, but software developers rarely create software from scratch. They instead take the existing codes or use open-source software to build the same. 

However, the third-party code should be secured; otherwise, it might impact the final build. To thwart these vulnerabilities, the developers should get those codes audited; otherwise, hackers might exploit them. Hence, third-party testing is necessary.

Lack of Encryption

Encryption adds a cyber security layer to the sensitive data. If your software is not tested with encryption or lacks it, it is susceptible to boundless cyber attacks. The data could be anything; it could be the user’s passwords, financial credentials, webcam access, etc. It could dismantle your reputation and cause a wave of distrust among the employees. 

However, data encryption is not the only factor to stop cyber attacks. The tests should be conducted using encryption tools to ensure it can withstand any cyber attack. Proper industry experts recommended tools should be brought into use for secure & result-oriented encryption.

Buying the wrong tools for software testing

Automated tools and technology can simplify and overhaul your software testing abilities, but these tools should be chosen carefully; otherwise, it would lead to a loss of productive hours. There are several testing tools in the market for use but each has some Pros and cons so to overcome this mistake, irrespective of available Free or Paid, one must opt for the best which is recommended by industry experts.

Software Testing tools help in streamlining your testing process and with each update they bring in more functionalities to test your software based on more cyber security factors. 

Trusted & highly recommended Software Testing tools will always have advanced features, ready to bring out error-free reports for tests. So, before testing software, ensure that the tools you use are user-friendly, responsive, and provided by dedicated vendors.

Using backdoor accounts before testing

The biggest and enormous cyber security mistake that software developers confront is they use a backdoor account for software, and then they forget it. Though nobody can easily find it, if the hackers do, they will end up snatching all your private information, thus causing a cyber attack. 

For example, if CISCO discovers that they had left their backdoor accounts open, it gives attackers access to vulnerable information. Also, attackers can hijack the backdoor accounts if the password is not strong enough or if it does not have special characters. 

In a nutshell, for any software that you are planning to launch in the market or have launched, it is necessary to conduct a backdoor account check and ensure that you remove the login credentials after the checking is complete so that the hackers do not have a chance to attack your information.

‘Nothing can happen to me’ mentality

Many businesses consider they are taking proactive steps to mitigate the risk, and they are deploying the strongest protocols to safeguard themselves from the risk. And they keep thinking that nothing can affect them, and suddenly, a cyber criminal enters and dissociates your organization.

So, the remedy is don’t fixate on your thinking because these criminals do not breed apathy, which might put your critical business information, profits, and reputation at risk. In essence, the organization should conduct regular cyber security risk assessments, do penetration testing, and strengthen its measures to stay safe from the attack. 

Best Practices for Cyber Security & Data Protection to Overcome the Common Mistakes

Password Security

Password is a critical factor for businesses as all their accounts, data, and files are safeguarded with a mixture of textual, numbers, and symbols. 

Having a weak password can be a great threat to Businesses as it is open for hackers to hack the system and get access to confidential data.

Software Updates & Backups

Regular Software and backups help Businesses to have a fully secure system for use, free from any threats or cyber-attacks. Regular Software updates can provide you with advanced cyber security features as well as patterns to safeguard your internal data. 

With Regular Backups, even in any circumstances your system gets hacked or corrupted, you will have a copy of it secure & ready to implement it for immediate outcomes.   

Avoid visiting Unknown Sites 

While surfing the internet, in most cases users end up visiting risky sites that in some cases redirect them to some ad sites or sometimes automatically download a file on your system. 

These visits or downloads help hackers gain access to your system and if you don’t close the site in a particular time, your system will get into the hacker’s control. Try not to visit any unknown sites for assured cyber security.

Make use of Antivirus Software

Trusted Antivirus Software & tools prevent you from visiting or downloading unauthorized sites or files respectively. Having a renowned Antivirus installed on your system is a good cyber security measure that safeguards you from upcoming threats as well as attacks and also helps you scan for virus files that can be harmful in the future. So make use of Trusted Antivirus software and avoid using any free software for scanning your files. 

Stay cautious of Unknown Links

Clicking unknown Links in emails as well as other Messaging Portals is an easy method to invite threats or attacks to your system. 

Whenever a user clicks on one of such links, they are diverted to some temporarily built fake sites which at a later stage ask for some private information or login credentials which ultimately helps hackers to have open access to your data and even in some cases direct control over your Payments.

Set up Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor Authentication(MFA) is an effective approach in recent times to make your verification process much more safe, secure & robust to stop hackers from having complete access to your data. Normal users generally have very simplified IDs as well as passwords as their login credentials so this MFA approach acts as an extra security layer for authenticating the user trying to login into the account. 

A one-time password, a temporary password generated is an excellent MFA approach. This approach sends the temporary numerical password to your secondary or recovery Email ID as well as the Contact Number set while creating the account, so through this, your account is secure at a better level.

Avoid Redundant Downloads

Generally, users surf the internet to download movies, songs, APK files, game installation files, or any informative files and sometimes along with these files they get in contact with some corrupt files. Users download these unnecessary files and fall prey to cyber-attacks. 

These unnecessary files are a type of virus that hackers use to gain access to your network and ultimately to your data. So, it is advised to be careful and precise about your downloads.

Bottom Line

The world of software is gaining a terrible stance due to cyber security fraud. However, mistakes can be avoided and the organization’s reputation can be saved, with the right software testing tools and proactive security measures, penetration testing, etc. 

These measures go the extra mile to help you launch software that is user-friendly, safe, and trustworthy. So, whether you are an established software developer or just dived into this field; acquainting yourself with these dark secrets and how to confront them would always help.

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