Web Application Penetration Testing

A lot of the secure software development life cycle happens before an application is complete, where developers use tools and services like automated static code analysis to find and remove vulnerabilities and security flaws from their code.

However, it's equally important to continue monitoring for and mitigating security flaws after an application's release. The threat landscape is constantly changing as attackers discover new ways to exploit code and network setups. Additionally, some vulnerabilities just aren’t discoverable by analyzing the code alone.

Enter manual penetration testing.

automated testing vs manual testing

Find More Flaws with Manual Web Application Penetration Testing

In a penetration test, or "pen test," an expert tries to attack your application to discover how secure it is. Combined with logging and other mitigation management techniques, pen tests are an essential part of maintaining your software's security.

Automated penetration testing tools are a good place to start, but no matter how effective they are, they won't be able to find every flaw. To ensure that your application is as secure as possible, you'll want a skilled tester familiar with current attacks and vulnerabilities to run manual tests.

Of course, manual testing can be expensive. Even expert testers will need weeks to run a comprehensive manual web penetration testing routine. Just like how it's important to check for security flaws before and after an application is live on the web, the safest option is to find a service that offers automated and manual testing.

Veracode's application security service offers a full complement of web app penetration testing solutions. Our testing takes advantage of our state-of-the-art cloud-based platform, helping your organization's developers more comprehensively and quickly identify and fix security flaws and reducing the chance of data leaks and other attacks. Read our Guide to Application Security Solutions to learn more.

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Web Application Penetration Testing from Veracode

Our proven testing process helps us achieve consistently high results and reduce customer costs.

Our Process

  1. Automated testing - Our automated scan checks for common problems in your application.
  2. Manual testing - Our expert testers run manual attack simulations to find other serious security flaws.
  3. Analysis - Get detailed results from automated and manual tests, along with mitigation techniques.

The Veracode Application Security Platform

Due to our highly skilled manual testers and our sophisticated automated scans, Veracode's penetration testing is comprehensive and cost-effective.

Our cloud-based Veracode Application Security Platform makes it an efficient process too; results from our automated scanning and manual web penetration testing are all delivered to the platform. Developers can then check vulnerabilities we find against their corporate security policies and easily perform follow-up tests after measures have been put in place to fix the issue.

Many penetration test services provide results in a PDF or spreadsheet. These can be difficult to use for remediation, especially if you are performing other tests at the same time. The Veracode Application Security Platform solves this problem by providing easy integration of penetration testing results with results from other tests, including gray box testing and shellshock vulnerability test procedures. This is accomplished by using our Policy Manager and Analytics tool, making test results more comprehensive and ensuring that your application passes muster across all types of tests at the same time.

Improving Compliance with Veracode’s Web Application Penetration Testing

While our solutions find the top OWASP and SANS vulnerabilities as part of minimum requirements for regulations, many regulatory and security frameworks require penetration testing too:

  • PCI DSS - Penetration testing required after any significant change
  • HIPAA - Penetration testing helps meet HIPAA 164.308, which covers administrative safeguards required by the law
  • NERC CIP - Penetration testing helps meet Requirement R1, the identification and documentation of risks in information systems

Veracode's penetration testing process and cloud-based security platform can make it easier for your organization to comply with these and other security guidelines. Our experienced consultants can find security flaws in mobile, desktop, back-end, and IoT (Internet of Things) applications as well as provide developers with guidance for mitigation and remediation techniques.

Veracode: Your Path to Secure Applications

Manual and automated penetration testing both play important roles in the secure software development life cycle, but they aren't the only steps developers need to take to reduce the likelihood of attacks against their applications. Download our Ultimate Guide to Getting Started With Application Security to learn more about application security, or contact us for a demo of our Veracode solution today.

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