Security Testing - Architecture Insights

Testing Methodologies

No single testing approach finds all vulnerabilities—comprehensive security requires layering SAST, DAST, and IAST throughout the development lifecycle.

SAST (Static Analysis)

Approach: Source code analysis without execution
Benefits: Early detection, comprehensive coverage
Limitations: False positives, no runtime context
Tools: SonarQube, Checkmarx, Veracode

When: During development, in IDE and CI/CD

DAST (Dynamic Analysis)

Approach: Black-box testing of running applications
Benefits: Runtime vulnerability detection
Limitations: Limited code coverage, requires running app
Tools: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, Rapid7

When: During testing, staging, and pre-production

IAST and RASP

Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) uses instrumentation-based testing during runtime, offering low false positives and accurate results with some performance impact. Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) provides real-time protection within applications, offering zero-day protection and contextual analysis but with performance overhead and deployment changes.

Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP)

Approach: Real-time protection within applications
Benefits: Zero-day protection, contextual analysis
Limitations: Performance overhead, deployment changes
Evolution: Moving toward cloud-native implementations

Penetration Testing

Testing Phases

Reconnaissance: Information gathering
Scanning: Vulnerability identification
Enumeration: Service and system detailed analysis
Exploitation: Vulnerability confirmation
Post-Exploitation: Impact assessment
Reporting: Findings and recommendations

Testing Types

Purple Team for Maximum Learning

Purple team exercises combine red team attacks with blue team defense in a collaborative format. This approach maximizes learning and improvement by sharing tactics, techniques, and defensive gaps in real time rather than only reporting findings after the fact.

Black Box: No prior knowledge
White Box: Full system knowledge
Gray Box: Limited knowledge
Red Team: Adversarial simulation
Purple Team: Collaborative red/blue team exercise

Vulnerability Assessment

Automated Scanning

Automation Finds Known Issues, Not Novel Vulnerabilities

Automated scanners excel at finding known vulnerability patterns and misconfigurations, but they miss business logic flaws, novel attack vectors, and context-specific issues. Always complement automated scanning with manual testing.

Network Scanners: Nessus, Rapid7, Qualys
Web Application Scanners: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite
Infrastructure Scanners: OpenVAS, Nmap
Container Scanners: Twistlock, Aqua, Clair

Manual Testing

Configuration Review: Security hardening verification
Code Review: Manual source code analysis
Architecture Review: Design security assessment
Business Logic Testing: Application workflow security