To ensure fail-proof protection of web applications in the emerging cyberspace would be the prime concern for any service provider. Thus, it is highly imperative to duly address the significance of Application Layer Protection. This can be accomplished via two Application Security Audit methodologies: Black-box and White-box Testing. NIC employs both Web Application Audit methodologies in order to ensure complete foolproof protection of web applications.
- White-box Testing(SCA)
The White box methodology is based on application source code scan and can be included as a part of Application Software Development Life Cycle. The Static Code Analysis solution digs and traces complete path of each variable and function string to showcase the existing vulnerabilities. The IDE version of the respective development platform also has Static Code Analysis feature, for finding potential problems and detecting inconsistencies in the source code during development. Advantages yyAssists developers in enforcing security as per the standard industry norms and enhance their secure coding skills; yyMajor vulnerabilities like validation which caters to 70% of web application attacks are fixed. yyThe closing of all major source code vulnerabilities helps in creation of more secure and reliable application. yyThe post development scan time of black-box testing gets reduced.
- Black-box testing(BBA)
This methodology (such as OWASP Standard) looks only at the Web Application Workflow Process and caters to information gathering technique. All available inputs are checked for the expected outputs using various test cases. a) Tool based Scan Tool based audit scans the application based on its inbuilt test cases. Tool based Scan is necessary as it releases regular new updates and variants which can help in countering new application security threats. It is also a time saving technique. b) Manual Scan (MA) Many application vulnerabilities such as session management, broken authentication and access control etc. need manual involvement for getting accurate results. Manual Auditor uses proxy interceptor tools (such as Burp Proxy) for checking the validity of every input. Advantages yyAs testers do not need to concern with the inner working of an application, it is easier to create test cases by information gathering process. yyFor large and complex applications, it helps in simplifying the testing process by focusing on valid and invalid inputs and ensuring that correct outputs are received for various traversed URL links used in an application. yyFor a large enterprise service provider it is not feasible to cover all the applications in the ambit of source code scan, but black-box audit for all web applications can be undertaken more effectively. Conclusion The use of both accomplished Application Security Audit methodologies is necessary for the secured protection of web applications. It is also been observed that by using both Tool based Scan and Manual Audit, the number of vulnerabilities can be minimized.