Every day brings new security threats to the computer systems of online businesses. The companies that handle online credit card information are hot targets of cyber criminals or disgruntled employees. Protecting credit card information of customers is crucial to maintaining revenue and earning trust.
In case of data breach, loss is high, not only in terms of dollars, but also in terms of company reputation. Additionally, companies need to comply with established standards by the payment card company.
Security testing services of systems can help these companies to deliver and maintain databases and applications that resist network hacking, mitigate the risk of card data exposure and demonstrate compliance with the standards.
In order to build secure applications, mobile app developers should be well-aware of various types of security attacks, and whenever possible, add effective defenses to their computer systems. System or information security companies during the development phase can help identify possible areas of data exposure so that they can be addressed effectively in the initial stages. Further, it is also less expensive to build application security from the start.
A standard tool used in the security testing of system is called penetration testing. Penetration testing tools mimic the attack methods that a cyber-criminal might use. The testing tools of penetration testing automate some of these processes, which results in more effective tests. This testing can disable a computer system, therefore, it should be conducted with proper care when targeting production systems.
Even when penetration testing services are used, still there can be value in conducting a source code review. In the review process, various security loopholes can be identified across the entire code base and quickly mitigating faulty lines of code. Because of the complexity and size of most web/mobile applications, source code reviews use automated tools in order to identify common vulnerabilities.
Databases, important information storehouses, such as credit card numbers and customer names, should also undergo stringent security testing. Databases can be configured to take advantage of various information security layers, such as authentication, access control and encryption.
Real-time monitoring is an important piece in database security. Host-based intrusion detection systems can warn and identify of suspicious traffic. The final results can be analyzed for known exploits and policy breaches. In addition to this, monitoring can establish baselines of normal patterns of use, which can be compared to potentially suspicious activity. After that all the suspicious users can be “quarantined.”