Why is security testing needed?

Security testing supports both risk management and quality assurance. It is also frequently required by external factors such as regulations, standards, or customer contracts.

The goal of testing is to make sure that a system is ready for release and resilient against hostile interference, disruptions, and misuse. Testing provides a practical way to uncover vulnerabilities and potential abuse cases.

To be effective, testing should be part of the development process and included in test automation. This allows weaknesses in fast-changing systems to be detected early so that fixing them is a normal part of development rather than a separate effort.

However, not every vulnerability or misuse case can be found automatically. Expert work is always needed.

In agile development, regular testing is especially important to ensure security keeps pace with constant changes. Current regulations also underline the need for ongoing security practices.

While the main purpose of testing is to find weaknesses, it also shows how well potential exploits or misuse attempts can be detected.