Before the next release, regression testing involves checking apps for flaws already fixed in previous iterations. The main goal is to ensure that faults repaired in earlier versions are detected and fixed as soon as possible by the development team. It’s also done to ensure that your recent changes perform as expected and that they didn’t inadvertently break functions that were working fine before the changes.
On the other hand, regression testing has traditionally been limited to the functional and performance elements of a programme. On the other hand, changes in source code have an impact on the application’s security posture and functionality.
Why hasn’t regression testing been used to apply security yet, if it’s so good?
Companies are hesitant to do security regression testing for a variety of reasons. Here are three of the most important:
Safety was not regarded as a top priority
Security issues are usually more apparent and measurable than functional faults. Let’s face it: how many firms would genuinely stop a big release if a Medium severity flaw was discovered during a security audit?
If there are problems with the functionality, the expenses are measurable, and you can address it as a crucial aspect of the programme. On the other side, the risk is used to assess security. If there is a problem in the programme, the first question you should ask is, “What are the chances that someone would discover it and seek to subvert it?”
The erroneous belief that “only professionals can undertake security testing”
Security testing used to be reserved for professionals alone until a few years ago. During development, developers lacked the tools and techniques to integrate security.
However, things have changed since then. Automation technologies (such as Robot frameworks) may now be utilized to execute security regression tests. You may also use your existing CI/CD testing system to develop scripts that automate test cases.
Even better, the complete stack of functional automation scripts might possibly be reused in a DAST automation pipeline. By utilizing these web automation tools and automation frameworks, you’ll not only improve the security of your application, but you’ll also relieve the load on your security teams with minimum additional effort.
Narrow the gap between quality assurance and security
QA Engineering teams still require a certain amount of awareness (knowledge and expertise) of how application security works to be able to do security regression, despite the availability of web automation tools and technologies. While they can use their functional regression expertise for some security automation situations, they still need to understand threat modeling, exploit scenarios, and how to incorporate security tools into a CI/CD pipeline.
To build security regression test cases, quality assurance engineers must first understand threat modeling and apply it to test cases. This knowledge may be used to create security test cases integrated into a CI/CD pipeline. QA engineers must also grasp how security testing scenarios function on a conceptual level. This will assist them in comprehending how security exploits scripts and walk-through scripts can be used to do security regression testing.
They also demand an awareness of how the CI/CD pipeline’s technology works. Even though your security providers are eager to assist you in incorporating regression testing into your testing framework so that you can plug and play, it isn’t always dependable. Even a simple problem may necessitate frequent contact with your vendor. Your QA engineers may adjust and adapt security regression testing as needed based on your application development strategy if they understand tools and how to incorporate them into the CI system.