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Organizations are struggling to keep pace with the ever-evolving threat landscape, and web applications are increasingly becoming a target for attackers. In order to protect their web apps, organizations need to implement security measures that can quickly detect and respond to threats.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) ensures that a web application is secure from vulnerabilities and flaws by conducting simulated attacks to evaluate its security robustness. DAST is an essential component of an organization's security planning since breaches in web apps are a significant attack vector.

What is Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) uses the black-box methodology of testing a web app from the application's front-end to look for security flaws. The analysis phase uses simulated attacks or artificial penetration testing techniques to evaluate the app from the outside-in. 

Security teams perform the test without knowing the application's internal structure or source code. The security testers approve an application for release after conducting various simulated attacks on infrastructure, source code, or network. Since DAST covers almost all the security postures of an app, it has the potential to become the future of AppSec by offering comprehensive testing protocols to enhance security and drive faster time to market.

Pros and cons of Dynamic Application Security Testing

Pros:

• This testing procedure is independent of the application.

• DAST can immediately detect exploitable vulnerabilities.

• The testing team does not need access to the source code.

• AppSec testing takes care of all application security aspects, including code flaws, network security, API security, infrastructure security, etc.

Cons:

• Since DAST performs multiple tests, it can be time-consuming.

• Often, it does not provide the details about the pivotal point where the team detected the vulnerability.

Reasons why DAST could be the future of AppSec 

There are a few notable reasons why Dynamic Application Security Testing can be the future of application security. Some are:

Testing at different points or phases of SDLC

Since much of the development has become agile with an automated CI/CD pipeline, application security and testing should also remain a part of this development flow. Earlier, each phase of SDLC required separate security testing tools. But with the advent of automated DAST solutions, each phase of the agile development methodology leverages it for testing and enhancing security.

Full coverage testing

Early vulnerability scanners were simple tools that were tedious to use for penetration testing. However, today's DAST toolkit contains automated systems to render a full-scope application security assessment. So, the app security testing team can test almost everything associated with the web app.

Rapid app deployment

Amid escalating competition, companies are hard pressed to deliver products on time. In this backdrop, organizations prefer to make the app market-ready and deploy it for use. Organizations leverage DAST tools and techniques to deploy apps on time and spend less time on security during production and staging. DAST tools and techniques dominate the AppSec market by reducing the time to market and providing robust security solutions.

Cost-effective app testing

In the application development culture, ideally, no app gets released without going through the AppSec program and testing. Legacy DAST tools and individual security testing tools often offered poor integration tests and low-quality results. Therefore, the development organization had to pay extra in traditional testing to check the code integration and loopholes. But with automated and modern DAST tools and techniques, organizations can save on additional tooling or work.

Conclusion 

With the ever-increasing pace of app development, it is essential to have a comprehensive security solution in place. DAST has become an integral part of the application security strategy for many organizations. It helps save time and money while providing robust security for web applications.

Contact the Packetlabs team to learn about our comprehensive Application Security Penetration Testing.