Cigniti Ensures a Secure Online Existence

“You’re in Hackerville here on the Internet. Period. … All of this stuff lacks formal discipline.” ~ Randy Bush, a computer scientist who specializes in routing security.

Internet today offers unlimited growth options and opportunities for increasing efficiency at reduced cost – whichever industry you may be a part of. To say we are all living in a digital world would be stating a fact. To say that we are living in a digital world that may put our existence in jeopardy, is a reality.

That said, Internet can also pose serious business-critical risks. For example, businesses today need to be available online 24*7*365 so as to be able to offer better services and opportunities to customers that eventually increases ROI.

On the flip-side, an insecure connection opens the gates to sensitive personal data – of organizations and people – 24*7*365 with the access allowed not only to authorized users, but also to cribbing employees, hackers, criminals, and even corporate spies! Sensitive databases of employees and customers, when attacked, expose business systems to great risks and security vulnerabilities.

Data theft is always very harmful – whether the data is related to tangible (financial, sensitive data) or intangible (branding) assets of an organization. Even though there are legal bodies like the Data Protection Registrar that have been established to take legal action or file civil damage suits against organizations/hackers that breach this obligation, a damage once done can hardly be ever reversed.

When a security breach happens, some common losses faced by organizations and individuals alike can take the form of:

• Direct Financial Loss
• Loss of Reputation
• Legal Repercussions

It has thus become critical to examine the actual business risks, understand the basic difficulties in implementing “secure systems”, and adequately test internet applications for security, as well as for functionality and load performance, before they are exposed to the net.

URL filtering, Firewalls and Antivirus products seem to be no match against the sheer frequency of malicious attacks. To ward off these attacks, and provide security against these modern attacks, better means such as inline, real-time defences and contemporary data loss prevention (DLP) technologies are needed. In addition, continuous monitoring and analysis of infrastructure and applications is required to identify potential threats, especially those that can negatively impact an organization’s compliance status.

With Hackers always on the prowl to exploit the vulnerabilities of information on the Web – whether internal (for the consumption of the organization) or external (for public consumption) – Security too has to be managed that encompasses both the areas.

The Solution – Testing

Testing internet security is a very high priority activity and testing applications for internet security vulnerabilities should be part of the overall internet security strategy.

The only means to overcome most – if not all – attacks is to perform Continuous Testing and ensure that no changes are made to the site code/application that may otherwise open loopholes to erode the carefully established security layers.

Security testing of internet solutions needs to provide two fundamental services:

• Ensure that Security controls at all stages of the project cycle are cost effective.
• Implement infrastructural design to allow secure operation.

Security Testing Solutions from Cigniti Technologies

Cigniti Technologies provides cost-effective solutions to test online applications as a part of the internet security strategy.

Over the last decade, Cigniti has built capabilities, knowledge repositories, and test accelerators leveraging the experience of working on over 100 engagements using latest industry standards and proprietary testing methodologies. The team uses passive security testing techniques (Social Engineering, Data Privacy, Architectural Risk Analysis, etc.) and active security testing methods (Ethical Hacking, Threat Modelling, etc.) using a combination of open source, commercial, and proprietary security testing tools. These methodologies equip the team in tackling complex security issues with a variety of existing and upgraded security tests.

Cigniti also offers an in-depth security analysis supported by comprehensive reports and dashboards, along with remedial measures for any issues found. Cigniti has deep expertise in Security Testing of web applications, mobile applications, software products, and web services, both on the premise and over the cloud.

Cigniti Security Testing Practice and Offerings include the following:

• Web Application Penetration Testing
• Mobile Application Security Testing
• Product Security Testing
• Cloud Application Security Testing
• Web Services Security Testing
• Security Code Review
• Network Security Assessment

To know more about how Cigniti can help you take advantage of Security Testing, write to contact@cigniti.com.