Application Security Testing: A Comprehensive Guide to SAST and DAST

In an era of rapid technological evolution and increasing digitization, the security landscape has become increasingly complex and vulnerable. This puts cybersecurity, and especially application security at forefront to bear the burnt of cyberattacks. Within EC-Council’s latest whitepaper, “Application Security Testing: A Comprehensive Guide to SAST and DAST” authored by Vanessa Padua, Director, Cybersecurity for Latin America & Caribbean, Microsoft, we embark on a journey to understand the know-hows of application security testing and risk mitigation.

This comprehensive whitepaper serves as a guide for readers and security developers to understand the fundamental application security process which includes examination, detection, assessment, remediation, and enhancement. Leveraging Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) methodologies, security specialist can assess the security state of the application while analyzing it for vulnerabilities through Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP’s) checklist and risk assessment procedures.

Best practices for securing application gaps is to adopt automation tools to check for vulnerabilities including but not limited to app DOS, access control, authentication, configuration, error handling, data protection, input validation, buffer overflow, etc. Also, the application security checklist by OWASP acts as guide for security engineers in their testing efforts, ensuring a uniform and coherent approach for internal and external testers. Moreover, the checklist also outlines the components that necessitate security testing.

Apart from describing the functionality and benefits of the listed testing processes the whitepaper also delves into standardizing a risk rating approach between security testers and security tools and process developers that transforms the results from test outcomes into metrics that could be utilized by developers and security engineers to make informed decisions along the development process.

Moreover, the whitepaper stresses the importance of source code review that plays a vital role in software or applications’ reengineering and reverse engineering, as it unveils their underlying implementations. The results of this analysis are organized and prioritized as alerts based on their significance. From which the contemporary automated source code analysis model can be broken down into integral components such as model, patterns knowledge, pattern recognition, and analysis results.

In conclusion, “Application Security Testing: A Comprehensive Guide to SAST and DAST” is an indispensable resource for security leaders that illuminates the intricacies of securing applications through testing in an increasingly vulnerable landscape. Embracing these insights and adopting a proactive approach to application security is paramount in safeguarding critical infrastructure and ensuring the continued success of industries in the digital age.

To gain in-depth insights into security best practices for application security testing, download the full whitepaper by submitting your details in the form below. Stay ahead of cyber threats and ensure the security of your applications across all environments.