Week 7 - Security Testing

What is the goal of software testing?

verifying that software meets its functional and non-functional requirements

What is security testing?

Evaluating software against security requirements to identify vulnerabilities and verify security mechanisms.

Define Connectivity

e.g., cloud computing, location-based services

What is a vulnerability (ISO 27001)?

A weakness in assets that can be exploited by threats.

What are the two main types of security testing?

1.      Static Testing – review without execution

a.      Examples: code reviews, design reviews, static code analysis tools

2.      Dynamic Testing – Execution-based validation

a.      Run the software and compare actual vs expected outputs

What are the two main types of security testing purposes?

1. Security functional testing – validating security features work as intended.

2. Security vulnerability testing – identifying unintended system vulnerabilities.

Describe a test case execution

How would you describe testing dimensions diagram?

What is Model-Based Testing (MBT)?

A method where test cases are automatically generated from models representing expected system behaviour.

Why is security testing hard?

• Traditional “librarian” approach = rerun known exploits (test cases from a database)

• Problems:

  Doesn’t find new vulnerabilities

  Only catches known patterns

• However, this works because developers repeat mistakes

What are the three key tasks in MBT?

1. Design a functional test model

2. Determine test generation criteria

3. Generate the tests

What is Model-Based Security Testing (MBST)?

MBT that incorporates attacker models, vulnerability models, and properties models (e.g., CIA goals).

What’s the difference between Exploitation and Attack?

• Exploitation: Using malicious input to exploit a vulnerability.

• Attack: Executing an exploitation to violate a security property.

• Security Testers play the role of a hacker to exploit system’s vulnerabilities.

State the 4 security testing techniques in SDLC

what is an attack tree?

-          A tree where:

o   Nodes = attack goals or actions

o   Edges = dependencies (AND, OR, SAND)

What is an Abstract Test Case (ATC)?

-          A sequence of attack actions

-          ATC succeeds if all steps succeed —> vulnerability confirmed

-          ATC fails if attack is blocked —> protection works

Benefits of MBT:

-          Early and explicit review of system behaviours

-          Better documentation of test cases

-          The ability to automatically generate useful tests and measure and optimize test coverage

what input models can we use for MBST?

-          Attacker models – capabilities and attack goals

-          Vulnerability models – known weaknesses encoded

-          Security property models – what must not be violated