Security Testing
Table of Contents
Overview
Security testing identifies vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and threats in applications to ensure data protection, prevent unauthorized access, and maintain system integrity. It combines automated scanning (SAST, DAST) with manual penetration testing and code review.
When to Use
- Testing for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities
- Scanning dependencies for known vulnerabilities
- Testing authentication and authorization
- Validating input sanitization
- Testing API security
- Checking for sensitive data exposure
- Validating security headers
- Testing session management
Quick Start
Minimal working example:
# security_scan.py
from zapv2 import ZAPv2
import time
class SecurityScanner:
def __init__(self, target_url, api_key=None):
self.zap = ZAPv2(apikey=api_key, proxies={
'http': 'http://localhost:8080',
'https': 'http://localhost:8080'
})
self.target = target_url
def scan(self):
"""Run full security scan."""
print(f"Scanning {self.target}...")
# Spider the application
print("Spidering...")
scan_id = self.zap.spider.scan(self.target)
while int(self.zap.spider.status(scan_id)) < 100:
time.sleep(2)
print(f"Spider progress: {self.zap.spider.status(scan_id)}%")
# Active scan
print("Running active scan...")
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)Reference Guides
Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:
| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| OWASP ZAP (DAST) | OWASP ZAP (DAST) |
| SQL Injection Testing | SQL Injection Testing |
| XSS Testing | XSS Testing |
| Authentication & Authorization Testing | Authentication & Authorization Testing |
| CSRF Protection Testing | CSRF Protection Testing |
| Dependency Vulnerability Scanning | Dependency Vulnerability Scanning |
| Security Headers Testing | Security Headers Testing |
| Secrets Detection | Secrets Detection |
Best Practices
✅ DO
- Run security scans in CI/CD
- Test with real attack vectors
- Scan dependencies regularly
- Use security headers
- Implement rate limiting
- Validate and sanitize all input
- Use parameterized queries
- Test authentication/authorization thoroughly
❌ DON'T
- Store secrets in code
- Trust user input
- Expose detailed error messages
- Skip dependency updates
- Use default credentials
- Ignore security warnings
- Test only happy paths
- Commit sensitive data