🧰 Testers Toolkit – Making Security Testing Less Scary

Hi testers,

Let’s be honest—security testing can feel like stepping into a world of arcane tools, command-line gymnastics, and terms like “man-in-the-middle” that make your head spin.

We'd love to hear from you!

• How do you approach security testing in your projects?
• What tools do you currently use?
• Do you find security testing to be a hard and complex area, or have you found ways to make it more accessible?

Share your thoughts and experiences with us – your insights are invaluable to the community!

Do I just start to practice on live sites?

One reason that i have always found it hard to even start with security testing was the question: Where do I practice?

I mean one cannot really go ahead and "hack" a sites without permission. That is why I looked for some free, safe to try and allowed resources.

Check this video to see a few such sites

Share in the comments any others

The Tester's Security Toolkit: Accessible Tools

While professional penetration testers use advanced suites, many powerful and user-friendly tools are available to QA testers, often for free. Here are a few to get you started:

1. OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy): This is a cornerstone for any QA tester venturing into security. ZAP is a free, open-source dynamic application security testing (DAST) tool designed to find vulnerabilities in web applications. It offers:
2. Burp Suite Community Edition: Another industry-standard for web application security testing. While the professional edition offers more advanced features, the free Community Edition provides a robust intercepting proxy, repeater (to re-send requests), and sequencer (for analyzing randomness), which are excellent for manual testing and understanding web vulnerabilities.
3. Browser Developer Tools: Your browser's built-in developer tools (F12 in most browsers) are a mini-toolkit in themselves.

Any tools that you would like to add?

Practical Tips for QAs

Beyond the tools, adopting a pragmatic approach is key:

1. Start Small: Don't try to become a penetration testing expert overnight. Begin by focusing on the OWASP Top 10 and using beginner-friendly tools like OWASP ZAP for basic vulnerability scanning on your web applications.
2. Integrate Early: Push for security considerations to be part of requirements and design discussions. The earlier security is addressed, the less "scary" it becomes.
3. Collaborate with Developers: Share your findings in a constructive manner. Explain the potential impact of vulnerabilities and work together on remediation. Security is a shared responsibility.

Short but useful. Have any better? Comment

Ready for a Hands-On Approach?

If you're keen to get started with ZAP and see it in action, especially its intuitive Heads Up Display (HUD), we highly recommend checking out this insightful article:

Making Security Testing More User Friendly

It provides a practical guide to setting up and using ZAP HUD to make your security testing journey smoother and more effective.