Codenomicon Whitepaper
Black Box Testing and Codenomicon DEFENSICS
by Jon Oltsik, Enterprise Strategy Group
ESG white paper, April 2008.
Executive summary:
Ten years ago, testing software for security vulnerabilities was an afterthought. Few companies bothered to put their code through any security testing at all while others tested as little as they possibly could. Even firms with more pronounced security needs often lacked the tools and skills to really expose security bugs and discover vulnerabilities.
Those days seem like another era. This white paper discusses four main theories:
- Security threats demand improved testing. A combination of
sophisticated threats, cyber-crime, publicly disclosed breaches, and
open access to networked applications make security protection an
essential requirement for network devices and applications. This
reality has actually changed the way many technology firms design,
develop, and test their software.
- Black box testing is catching on. Many software test engineers have
embraced black box testing as a way to test system behavior by
exercising protocols and interfaces with tools that are external to
the actual software being tested. Firms often start their black box
testing processes by using open source and freeware tools.
- The road often leads to commercial black box systems. As users gain
experience with black box testing tools, they often find that open
source and freeware can?t meet their needs for testing network and
application protocols as well as assorted interfaces. Rather than
customize open source and freeware, test engineers often purchase
commercial black box testing tools.
- Implementing Codenomicon black box tools can result in numerous
benefits. In preparation for writing this white paper, ESG spoke with
several customers of Codenomicon, one of the industry leaders in the
black box testing tools market. ESG found that adoption of
Codenomicon?s DEFENSICS preemptive testing and robustness testing
solutions produced a series of positive benefits including improved
software quality, accelerated testing cycles, and lower overall costs
associated with finding and fixing software bugs.
> Contact Codenomicon to know more about DEFENSICS
A Complimentary Webcast: "How to Test for Software Vulnerabilities"
Sponsored by Codenomicon, presented by Computer Security Institute.
Date: April 16, 2008
Time: 9:00 am PT/Noon ET
Duration: 60 minutes
