The document provides an introduction and overview of the OWASP Testing Guide 3.0. It discusses who should use the guide, including software developers, testers, and security specialists. It describes the different OWASP guides that work together, including the Testing Guide, Developer's Guide, Code Review Guide, and Application Security Desk Reference. It emphasizes that security testing is important but not sufficient on its own, and that prioritization and choosing the right techniques is important to provide effective security coverage. Automated tools have limitations and manual techniques may be more effective for finding serious flaws. Developers are encouraged to get familiar with the guidance to help build more secure software.
In Agile’s fast-paced environment with frequent releases,
security reviews and testing can sound like an impediment to success. How can you keep up with Agile development's demands of continuous integration and deployment without
abandoning security best practices? These 10 steps will help you get the best of both worlds.
In Agile’s fast-paced environment with frequent releases,
security reviews and testing can sound like an impediment to success. How can you keep up with Agile development's demands of continuous integration and deployment without
abandoning security best practices? These 10 steps will help you get the best of both worlds.
Agile software development is probably the most common methodology used by organizations today, as such; many people have started to ask more and more questions about this methodology that sometimes based on wrong assumptions.
In this presentation, I will review the most common Myths and Misconceptions that I encounter during agile training courses, hopefully, to help people to divide the truth from the assumptions.
resume graham (2006) book FUNDAMENTALS OF TESTING
resume of Graham et al Foundationf of Software Testing (2006)
created by Fadhilla Elita information system class
How to build app sec team & culture in your organization the hack summi...kunwaratul hax0r
This talk is completely dedicated to how to build application security culture and team in your organization. I have presented this talk at The Hack Summit Poland.
Innovating Faster with Continuous Application Security Jeff Williams
DevSecOps tutorial and demonstration. Build your pipeline with IAST, RASP, and OSS. Try Contrast community edition full strength DevSecOps platform for testing, protecting, and open source analysis -- all for free. https://www.contrastsecurity.com/contrast-community-edition
Testing may show the defects are present, but cannot prove that there are no defects. After testing the system or product thoroughly we cannot say that the product is complete defect free. Testing always reduces the no of undiscovered defects remaining in the software.
Overcoming The Challenges Faced in Exploratory TestingSarah Elson
It is pretty evident from the name ‘Exploratory Testing’, that, it is the continuous process of learning through a cycle of trial and error. Unlike scripted testing, exploratory testing does not have test cases which can be executed and compared with the results. Rather, it is an intelligent way of testing which calls for innovation and individual thought process of the tester. This is also a reason why despite automation being the big word in the modern day, exploratory testing is a hot topic.
Application Security at DevOps Speed and Portfolio ScaleJeff Williams
Published on Nov 26, 2013
AppSec at DevOps Speed and Portfolio Scale - Jeff Williams
Watch this talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvOth0fxmI
Software development is moving much faster than application security with new platforms, languages, frameworks, paradigms, and methodologies like Agile and Devops.
Unfortunately, software assurance hasn't kept up with the times. For the most part, our security techniques were built to work with the way software was built in 2002. Here are some of the technologies and practices that today's best software assurance techniques *can't*handle: JavaScript, Ajax, inversion of control, aspect-oriented programming, frameworks, libraries, SOAP, REST, web services, XML, JSON, raw sockets, HTML5, Agile, DevOps, WebSocket, Cloud, and more. All of these rest pretty much at the core of modern software development.
Although we're making progress in application security, the gains are much slower than the stunning advances in software development. After 10 years of getting further behind every day, software *assurance* is now largely incompatible with modern software *development*. It's not just security tools -- application security processes are largely incompatible as well. And the result is that security has very little influence on the software trajectory at all.
Unless the application security community figures out how to be a relevant part of software development, we will continue to lag behind and effect minimal change. In this talk, I will explore a radically different approach based on instrumenting an entire IT organization with passive sensors to collect realtime data that can be used to identify vulnerabilities, enhance security architecture, and (most importantly) enable application security to generate value. The goal is unprecedented real-time visibility into application security across an organization's entire application portfolio, allowing all the stakeholders in security to collaborate and finally become proactive.
Speaker
Jeff Williams
CEO, Aspect Security
Jeff is a founder and CEO of Aspect Security and recently launched Contrast Security, a new approach to application security analysis. Jeff was an OWASP Founder and served as Global Chairman from 2004 to 2012, contributing many projects including the OWASP Top Ten, WebGoat, ESAPI, ASVS, and more. Jeff is passionate about making it possible for anyone to do their own continuous application security in real time.
Do you know security flaws persist in java 7u10 update !Andolasoft Inc
Oracle has released new updates for Java with security enhancements for better performance. This new release of Java SE 7 update 10 is now certified for both Windows 8 and Mac OS X operating systems.
These are the results from our 2015 State of Selenium survey. Please feel free to use the information to produce your own original content. We only ask that you provide links to Tellurium (www.te52.com) and the Test Test Blog (www.testtalkblog.com).
Agile software development is probably the most common methodology used by organizations today, as such; many people have started to ask more and more questions about this methodology that sometimes based on wrong assumptions.
In this presentation, I will review the most common Myths and Misconceptions that I encounter during agile training courses, hopefully, to help people to divide the truth from the assumptions.
resume graham (2006) book FUNDAMENTALS OF TESTING
resume of Graham et al Foundationf of Software Testing (2006)
created by Fadhilla Elita information system class
How to build app sec team & culture in your organization the hack summi...kunwaratul hax0r
This talk is completely dedicated to how to build application security culture and team in your organization. I have presented this talk at The Hack Summit Poland.
Innovating Faster with Continuous Application Security Jeff Williams
DevSecOps tutorial and demonstration. Build your pipeline with IAST, RASP, and OSS. Try Contrast community edition full strength DevSecOps platform for testing, protecting, and open source analysis -- all for free. https://www.contrastsecurity.com/contrast-community-edition
Testing may show the defects are present, but cannot prove that there are no defects. After testing the system or product thoroughly we cannot say that the product is complete defect free. Testing always reduces the no of undiscovered defects remaining in the software.
Overcoming The Challenges Faced in Exploratory TestingSarah Elson
It is pretty evident from the name ‘Exploratory Testing’, that, it is the continuous process of learning through a cycle of trial and error. Unlike scripted testing, exploratory testing does not have test cases which can be executed and compared with the results. Rather, it is an intelligent way of testing which calls for innovation and individual thought process of the tester. This is also a reason why despite automation being the big word in the modern day, exploratory testing is a hot topic.
Application Security at DevOps Speed and Portfolio ScaleJeff Williams
Published on Nov 26, 2013
AppSec at DevOps Speed and Portfolio Scale - Jeff Williams
Watch this talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvOth0fxmI
Software development is moving much faster than application security with new platforms, languages, frameworks, paradigms, and methodologies like Agile and Devops.
Unfortunately, software assurance hasn't kept up with the times. For the most part, our security techniques were built to work with the way software was built in 2002. Here are some of the technologies and practices that today's best software assurance techniques *can't*handle: JavaScript, Ajax, inversion of control, aspect-oriented programming, frameworks, libraries, SOAP, REST, web services, XML, JSON, raw sockets, HTML5, Agile, DevOps, WebSocket, Cloud, and more. All of these rest pretty much at the core of modern software development.
Although we're making progress in application security, the gains are much slower than the stunning advances in software development. After 10 years of getting further behind every day, software *assurance* is now largely incompatible with modern software *development*. It's not just security tools -- application security processes are largely incompatible as well. And the result is that security has very little influence on the software trajectory at all.
Unless the application security community figures out how to be a relevant part of software development, we will continue to lag behind and effect minimal change. In this talk, I will explore a radically different approach based on instrumenting an entire IT organization with passive sensors to collect realtime data that can be used to identify vulnerabilities, enhance security architecture, and (most importantly) enable application security to generate value. The goal is unprecedented real-time visibility into application security across an organization's entire application portfolio, allowing all the stakeholders in security to collaborate and finally become proactive.
Speaker
Jeff Williams
CEO, Aspect Security
Jeff is a founder and CEO of Aspect Security and recently launched Contrast Security, a new approach to application security analysis. Jeff was an OWASP Founder and served as Global Chairman from 2004 to 2012, contributing many projects including the OWASP Top Ten, WebGoat, ESAPI, ASVS, and more. Jeff is passionate about making it possible for anyone to do their own continuous application security in real time.
Do you know security flaws persist in java 7u10 update !Andolasoft Inc
Oracle has released new updates for Java with security enhancements for better performance. This new release of Java SE 7 update 10 is now certified for both Windows 8 and Mac OS X operating systems.
These are the results from our 2015 State of Selenium survey. Please feel free to use the information to produce your own original content. We only ask that you provide links to Tellurium (www.te52.com) and the Test Test Blog (www.testtalkblog.com).
_Best practices towards a well-polished DevSecOps environment (1).pdfEnov8
DevSecOps is a software development approach that encourages the adoption of security throughout the whole software development lifecycle. It favors security automation, communication, and scalability in the entire IT environments. DevSecOps infuses security practices in the DevOps process.
Matteo Meucci Software Security in practice - Aiea torino - 30-10-2015Minded Security
Matteo Meucci did a talk on software security in practice, describing the actual scenario and the roadmap for the enterprise to improve their maturity in the SDLC.
DevOps and Devsecops- Everything you need to know.Techugo
DevOps is a software development approach that emphasizes collaboration and communication between developers and IT operations teams to streamline the development and deployment of software. DevSecOps extends DevOps by integrating security into every stage of the software development lifecycle, from planning to deployment, to ensure that security risks are identified and addressed early on.
DevOps and Devsecops- What are the Differences.Techugo
Pharmaceutical manufacturing software is a tool that streamlines the manufacturing process of pharmaceutical products. The difference between different pharmaceutical manufacturing software lies in their features and capabilities. Some software may focus on specific areas of manufacturing, such as quality control, while others may provide end-to-end solutions for the entire manufacturing process. Factors such as scalability, customization, and regulatory compliance are also important considerations when choosing pharmaceutical manufacturing software. Ultimately, the right software should meet the unique needs of a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and improve their operational efficiency.
DevSecOps is an idea that is relatively new and is based on the principles of DevOps. While DevOps integrates operations and development in a continuous, harmonized process, DevSecOps incorporates a security component in the SDLC. Visit the post to know more.
DevOps and Devsecops What are the Differences.pdfTechugo
DevSecOps is the methodology that integrates security techniques into the DevOps process. It fosters and encourages collaboration with release engineers and security groups based on a ‘Security As Code’ concept. DevSecOps has gained recognition and importance due to the increasing security risks associated with software applications.
DevSecOps is an increasingly popular approach to software development that emphasizes collaboration between development, security, and operations teams to ensure the security of applications throughout the entire software development lifecycle. In this post, we will explore what DevSecOps is and how it can benefit enterprises. We will also discuss the challenges of implementing DevSecOps and strategies for overcoming them. Finally, we will look at some best practices for enterprise DevSecOps and some tools to consider.
How To Implement DevSecOps In Your Existing DevOps WorkflowEnov8
Prioritizing DevOps without considering security can be dangerous. So how can security be implemented within a DevOps team? Adapt to DevSecOps and see how it assists you in developing your implementation technique. This blog will provide a comprehensive understanding of the DevSecOps methodology.
White Paper: 7 Security Gaps in the Neglected 90% of your ApplicationsSonatype
The combination of growing component usage, coupled with lack of security, requires us to urgently re-evaluate traditional application security approaches and identify practical next steps for closing these security gaps.
Security automation can help IT teams limit cyberattack risks ... Automation tools can significant boost IT teams' efficiency and decrease risks.. Read this guide to know how automation can help in boosting your organisation security and increasing efficiency.
6 Best Practices to Ensure Secure Web_Mobile Apps.pptx.pdfExpert App Devs
Is your app secure? Use this guide to quickly identify potential web and mobile app security risks and address them with the security best practices, tools and checklist included.
The term "DevSecOps" has recently gained popularity among software developers as a means of internal application security. In DevSecOps, security is incorporated from the very beginning of the Software Development Life Cycle. The question is, why should you adopt it? Explore!
Mike Spaulding - Building an Application Security Programcentralohioissa
Application Security in many organizations is a simply a 'wish list' item, but with some staff and some training, AppSec can be a reality, even for a small organization. This talk will discuss the best practices, strategies and tactics, and resource planning to build an internal AppSec function - enterprise to 'mom & pop' operations will all benefit from this talk.
Overcoming Challenges in Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)Dev Software
As organizations continue to adopt web applications and digital technologies, cybersecurity threats are becoming more sophisticated, making it more challenging to protect against them. One of the ways organizations can secure their web applications is through Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), a technique used to identify vulnerabilities in real-time.
We will discuss the challenges that organizations face when implementing DAST and how to overcome them. We will also explore the best practices for DAST implementation and recommend tools that can make the process easier.
With that in mind, here are 10 best DevSecOps tools for 2023 so you can get started on the right foot with the latest and greatest techniques. https://bit.ly/3Fd295g
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Embracing GenAI - A Strategic ImperativePeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...
Texto de Ayuda Un2_Taller de ingles
1. OWASP TESTING GUIDE 3.0 Release
FOREWORD
The problem of insecure software is perhaps the most important technical challenge of our time.
Security is now the key limiting factor on what we are able to create with information technology. At
The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), we're trying to make the world a place where
insecure software is the anomaly, not the norm, and the OWASP Testing Guide is an important piece
of the puzzle.
It goes without saying that you can't build a secure application without performing security testing on it.
Yet many software development organizations do not include security testing as part of their standard
software development process. Still, security testing, by itself, isn't a particularly good measure of how
secure an application is, because there are an infinite number of ways that an attacker might be able
to make an application break, and it simply isn't possible to test them all. However, security testing has
the unique power to absolutely convince naysayers that there is a problem. So security testing has
proven itself as a key ingredient in any organization that needs to trust the software it produces or
uses.
WHO?
Software developers – you need to use this guide to make sure the code you deliver is not
vulnerable to attack. You cannot rely on downstream testers or security groups to do this for you.
Those groups will never understand your software as well as you do, and therefore will never be able
to test your software as effectively as you can. The responsibility for the security of your code is
emphatically yours!
Software testers – you should use this guide to enhance your testing abilities. While security testing
has been a dark art for a long time, OWASP is working hard to making this knowledge free and open
for everyone. Many of the tests described in this guide are not that complicated, and don’t require
special skills or tools. You can help your company and enhance your career by learning about security.
Security specialists – you have a special responsibility to ensure that applications do not go live with
vulnerabilities. You can use this guide to help ensure the coverage and rigor of your security testing.
Don’t fall victim to the trap of simply looking for a few holes. Your job is to verify the security of the
entire application. We strongly recommend using the OWASP Application Security Verification
Standard (ASVS) as a guide as well.
THE OWASP GUIDES
OWASP has produced several Guides that work together to capture the application security
knowledgebase:
2. OWASP Application Security Desk Reference – The ASDR contains basic definitions and
descriptions of all the important principles, threat agents, attacks, vulnerabilities, countermeasures,
technical impacts, and business impacts in application security. This is the foundational reference work
for all the other Guides, and is referred to frequently by these other volumes.
OWASP Developer’s Guide – The Developer’s Guide covers all the security controls that software
developers should put in place. These are the ‘positive’ protections that developers must build into
their applications. While there are hundreds of types of software vulnerabilities, they can all be
prevented with a handful of strong security controls.
OWASP Testing Guide – The Testing Guide you are reading covers the procedures and tools for
testing the security of applications. The best use of this guide is as part of a comprehensive
application security verification.
OWASP Code Review Guide – The Code Review Guide is best used alongside the Testing Guide.
Verifying applications with code review is often far more cost-effective than testing, and you can
choose the most effective approach for the application you are working on.
Taken together, OWASP's guides are a great start towards building and maintaining secure
applications. I highly recommend using these guides as part of your application security initiatives.
WHY OWASP?
Creating a guide like this is a massive undertaking, representing the expertise of hundreds of people
around the world. There are many different ways to test for security flaws and this guide captures the
consensus of the leading experts on how to perform this testing quickly, accurately, and efficiently.
It's impossible to underestimate the importance of having this guide available in a completely free and
open way. Security should not be a black art that only a few can practice. Much of the available
security guidance is only detailed enough to get people worried about a problem, without providing
enough information to find, diagnose, and solve security problems. The project to build this guide
keeps this expertise in the hands of the people who need it.
This guide must make its way into the hands of developers and software testers. There are not nearly
enough application security experts in the world to make any significant dent in the overall
problem.The initial responsibility for application security must fall on the shoulders of the developers. It
shouldn't be a surprise that developers aren't producing secure code if they're not testing for it.
Keeping this information up to date is a critical aspect of this guide project. By adopting the wiki
approach, the OWASP community can evolve and expand the information in this guide to keep pace
with the fast moving application security threat landscape.
3. PRIORITIZING
This guide is best viewed as a set of techniques that you can use to find different types of security
holes. But not all the techniques are equally important. Try to avoid using the guide as a checklist.
Probably the most important aspect of application security testing to keep in mind is that you will have
limited time and you need to provide as much coverage as possible. I strongly recommend that you do
not just flip open this book and start testing. Ideally, you would do some threat modeling to determine
what the most important security concerns to your enterprise. You should end up with a prioritized list
of security requirements to verify.
The next step is to decide how to verify these requirements. There are a number of different options.
You can use manual security testing or manual code review. You can also use automated vulnerability
scanning or automated code scanning (static analysis). You might even use security architecture
review or discussions with developers and architects to verify these requirements. The important thing
is to decide which of these techniques will be the most accurate and efficient for your particular
application.
THE ROLE OF AUTOMATED TOOLS
The automated approaches are seductive. It seems like they will provide reasonable coverage in a
relatively short time period. Unfortunately, these assumptions are far less true for application security
than they are for network security.
First, the coverage isn’t very good because these tools are generic - meaning that they are not
designed for your custom code. That means that while they can find some generic problems, they do
not have enough knowledge of your application to allow them to detect most flaws. Also, in my
experience, the most serious security issues are the ones that are not generic, but deeply intertwined
in your business logic and custom application design.
Second, the automated tools aren’t even necessarily faster than manual methods. Actually running the
tools doesn't take much time, but the time before and after can be significant. To setup, you have to
teach the tools about all the ins and outs of the application – possibly thousands of fields. Then
afterwards, it can take a significant amount of time to diagnose each of the sometimes thousands of
reported issues, which are frequently non-issues.
If the goal is to find and eliminate the most serious flaws as quickly as possible, choose the most
effective technique for different types of vulnerabilities. Automated tools can be quite effective on
certain issues. Used wisely, they can support your overall processes to produce more secure code.
4. CALL TO ACTION
If you're building software, I strongly encourage you to get familiar with the security testing guidance in
this document. If you find errors, please add a note to the discussion page or make the change
yourself. You'll be helping thousands of others who use this guide.
Please consider joining us as an individual or corporate member so that we can continue to produce
materials like this testing guide and all the other great projects at OWASP. Thank you to all the past
and future contributors to this guide, your work will help to make applications worldwide more secure.
Jeff Williams
OWASP Chair
January 18, 2009