Cybersecurity: Test automation and its benefits

Author: Nibras Muhsin, MBA | Test automation industry expert

There are two distinct types of testing: manual testing and automated testing. In manual testing, human beings perform different testing practices to test the functionality of software that requires a great amount of effort and is repetitive and time consuming.

To enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of testing, test automation came into being as the main goal of test automation is to save effort, time, and money.

Test automation in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity breaches have been increasing day by day. We often hear about cybersecurity breach incidents. Even the well-renowned companies that have powerful cybersecurity measures fell prey to cyber breaches. In 2018, Google was involved in the scandal of a cybersecurity breach in which the personal data of 50,000 users were leaked and it paid $7.5 million to resolve the class-action lawsuit.  Thus, with such increased cybersecurity incidents, there is a die need to enhance the cybersecurity measures in order to protect one’s data against cybersecurity breaches. With the advanced AI technologies, cyber offenses are becoming automated. To combat automated cyber offenses, many firms are adopting cybersecurity automation.

Reasons for adopting test automation

• Increased number of Cybersecurity breach incidents

One of the major causes of cybersecurity breach is the exploitation of vulnerabilities which are often not detected in manual testing. 90 out of 100 platforms have exploitable vulnerabilities, increasing the risk of cybersecurity breaches. To detect the maximum number of vulnerabilities in a system, automated testing is used as it repetitively tests the systems and detects even the slight vulnerability which is often missed in manual testing.

• Compliance

Any company that possesses the personal information of its users must comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws to ensure the security and privacy of the data of their users. If a company violates any of these laws and regulations, it faces its consequences. In 2019, Google was fined 50 million euros by the French data regulator CNIL for violating the GDPR law.

Benefits of test automation in Cybersecurity

Performing test automation instead of manual testing in cybersecurity tends to provide various benefits; some of these are given as follows:

• Enhanced Efficiency:

In manual testing, the testers have to do repetitive tasks which can be very tiresome. Test automation performs repetitive tasks within less time and with great effectiveness. The time saved from manual testing can be utilized in some valuable thing, increasing the productivity of your business.

• Better Vulnerability Assessment:

Test automation allows you to better identify the vulnerabilities of your system. It can not only help you to test your existing security system but also, allow you to detect the most probable path taken by the cyberattack to breach your system. As compared to manual testing, automated testing provides better reporting and vulnerabilities assessment, decreasing the chances of security breaches.

• Cost-effectiveness:

Automated testing doesn’t need training for consistent and better results. Also, a great number of team is also not needed to perform the testing process rather you need few experts to maintain and supervise the automated testing. The cost of training and hiring of a great number of testing team is saved without even compromising on the output.

Security experts usually perform penetration testing that costs a lot of money. However, automated penetration testing can effectively find the vulnerabilities of the system in a cost-effective manner.