The Direct And Indirect Benefits Of Automated Testing Of Your Applications.

Productivity.

Unsurprisingly, the gain in productivity is the direct benefit of automating your non-regression tests. This allows you to test faster and, therefore, more, and frees your teams from time-consuming and demotivating tasks. 

All the time spent by your teams performing tasks for manual or even “semi-automated” testing is time regained to continue improving the quality of your deliverables, for example, by increasing the inventory of tests. 

Quality Improvement.

You should never lose sight of the objective of non-regression testing: to improve the quality of your deliverables. And automation is a giant step in this direction. First lever on quality: it eliminates “human” errors. Second lever: by testing faster, you test more, and you get a wider test coverage of your application. More “human” errors and wider coverage: direct quality improvement.

Awareness, Service, And Customer Satisfaction.

This is the consequence of points 1. and 2. Increased productivity allows almost continuous improvement of features to meet user demands and help improve the quality of deliverables. 

More features with an almost zero malfunction rate are the Holy Grail to achieve to obtain satisfied, even very satisfied, customers. And when you know that retaining a customer costs ten times less than acquiring a new one, the equation is easy to understand. A loyal customer buys more than the others, becomes an ambassador for your company, and participates in improving your offer… how can you do without it? How not to do everything possible to satisfy him? The essential step which, when we are customers, ask by default: is quality software and service. Nothing is worse than having a new version available, often imposed, which works worse than the previous version. 

Serenity For The Marketing And Development Teams.

The quality of deliverables is often a sticking point between marketing teams and developers. For some, the deadlines are always too long; for others, it is always too short, and when there is a “bug,” it is nobody’s fault. Beyond this caricatural presentation, the relationships between the teams involved in a software testing project are often the key to success. This will be all the more so for the implementation of automated tests. 

Increase In Turnover.

The four previous points necessarily have a positive impact on your company’s turnover: reduction of the costs related to the tests, improvement of the quality of the deliverables, increase of the notoriety of your brand, and reduction of the development costs. On this last point, the cost is rarely estimated following the regressions that arrive in production. This time spent by your teams is the most expensive and always urgent. 

The picture is idyllic; looking at it, there is no reason not to automate your non-regression tests. But make no mistake, test automation is still perceived as a “pain” and a difficult hurdle to overcome. Rare are the companies that industrialize the automation of their non-regression tests. To succeed, you need a team, a testing strategy, and, above all, expertise. And this is one of the major disadvantages of automated testing.

Also Read: How To Kick Your Productivity

The Direct And Indirect Disadvantages Of Automated Testing Of Your Applications.

Complex Implementation (time/delay).

To succeed in automating your non-regression tests, you have to be ready! The challenge is daunting, but the reward is great. If you want to do everything, it will take time, a lot of time, and human resources. 

The project cannot be carried out alone and must result from a common desire to improve the quality of your company’s deliverables. Otherwise, all the obstacles you will have to overcome will slow you down, discourage you and abandon your automation project to return to the imperatives (emergencies) of the moment.

Only Test Some Things.

We must not believe in this illusion of “testing everything.” Manually or automatically, you can only test some things, or the ROI of such an ambition will be catastrophic. On the one hand, certain functions cannot be automated (e.g., facial recognition); on the other hand, automating the interoperability of different software (ERP, Supply Chain, etc.) is tedious.

You will keep a percentage of manual testing to respond to two logics: the possibility of automating and the time required for automation Vs. Manual testing.

Maintenance in Operational Conditions.

More than a drawback, it is the main difficulty once the automation is in place: maintaining the infrastructure and the test assets in-house in operational conditions. These are all hidden costs that must be anticipated to choose the organization that will best suit you, considering the skills within your teams.

With the best industrialization of automated non-regression tests, our experience proves we can reach 80% of our test assets. In your case, it is more or less. Achieving such a score requires a great mastery of the processes and especially reliable partners to rely on the skills of each.

When a company achieves such high automation and success rates, it becomes a leader in its market with faster and more frequent deliverables, with far less regression while having shortened the release or release cycle. And let’s always remember these improvements translate into tangible business results.

The post What Are The Pros And Cons Of Automated Testing? appeared first on TechReviewsCorner.

It is the reason why cross-browser testing appears to be a great idea. It is going to help you ensure that your website looks and works the same way in all sorts of web browsers.  You can check out the browser testing solutions at pCloudy and ensure you put them on use right away for your business. Anyhow, you must be scratching your head and still thinking what really does cross-browser testing stand for, and what is the significance of it for your business? Keep on walking through this post for a better idea.

Expanding Importance of cross-browser testing

In the present time, cross-browser testing has a more important role to play than before, as earlier this procedure was used only for the most challenging projects and gained more popularity that of as time passed by. As more and more websites look day by day, the only way to stand out of the crowded pack is to form up a truly professional website.
Now, just imagine a situation where your next client or customer is using Internet Explorer? What should you actually do? Refuse such an offer and lose the client because the website is not getting displayed in it? And with the presence of responsive web design, maintaining cross-browser compatibility has turned out to be much difficult.

The same goes for that of the mobile version of the website. If before, web developers required only to check how the website appears and works on desktop computers (Mac or PC), so now everything has completely changed a lot. Day by day more and more consumers do make purchases and order services making use of the mobile devices, so it is significant for you to make sure that the website works and shows correctly on these devices as well. But the issue is that there are so many varied types of browsers for desktop computers, that of mobile devices and even tablets on the market, as well as there are variety of devices, for instance, iPhone, Android, Windows Phones, iPad, and more. Here, to test them all is physically not possible at all. And here it is not being taken into account that you need thousands of dollars to spend to buy all of these diverse types of devices. But fortunately, in the present time there are many services for cross-browser testing that can actually facilitate your overall work.

Conclusion

To sum up, this cross-browser testing is of massive importance in modern web development. With its assistance, you can easily determine if your site and all its components are shown and acting correctly, relying on the browser as well as operating system, as contemporary websites require cross-browser compatibility. So, it is time that you focus on providing a positive viewing experience for your users, clients and consumers with proper testing browser solutions.

Also Read: What Type Of Mobile Application To Develop And Why?

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In this post, we will discuss the basics of network penetration testing and everything you need to know about it.

How Is Network Penetration Testing Different From Regular Penetration Testing?

Network penetration testing is different from regular penetration testing because it specifically targets networks and systems rather than individual devices while trying to gain access to the computer network system. 

In general terms, there are two types of tests: black box (blind) and white-hat hacker’s attacks which are very similar in concept but differ greatly in execution due to differences between them such as black box testers have no access whatsoever to your environment while white hats will typically be given credentials for some level of access – typically only administrator privileges on servers that they need to test against. The goal of every pentest team should always be finding vulnerabilities before someone else does!

Why Is Network Penetration Testing Important?

Network penetration testing is an important part of your security plan because it can help in the identification of loopholes or vulnerabilities before any potential data breach. By doing so, you can help protect your organization from any potential attacks from hackers. Additionally, network penetration testing can also help you assess your risk posture and understand the potential impact of a cyberattack.

What Are The Common Types Of Network Penetration Tests?

There are several different types of network penetration tests available: internal audits, external assessments, and web application security scanning (WAS). Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Internal Audits provide a complete picture but only focus on your organization; External Assessments are more comprehensive than Internal Audits because they look at other companies too! WAS Scans give an overview of what might be happening with third-party code that could potentially expose sensitive information about customers or employees – which means there’s no way for you to know beforehand exactly where all the risks lie without running these tests.

What Are The Basic Features Of Network Penetration Testing?

There are several basic features that are included in most network penetration tests:

• Identification of systems and services on the network
• Enumeration of users and groups
• Identification of open ports and services
• Scanning for vulnerable applications
• Exploitation of known vulnerabilities
• Report writing
• Recommendations on how to fix the problems found during testing.

Steps For Network Penetration Testing

• Step 1 –

The first step is to identify all assets (including computers and networks) that could be compromised if an attacker were wanting to gain access.

• Step 2 –

Next, enumerate users on the system with their roles so they can be properly assessed during testing. This may include administrators or other high-level personnel who might have more privileges than others such as being able to create new accounts for themselves without needing approval from anyone else! It also includes regular employees who may not know much about security but could still pose a risk because of their access level within your organization’s network – for example by having administrative rights over servers which would enable them to install malware onto these machines remotely from home or elsewhere outside of work hours when there aren’t any employees around anymore.

• Step 3 –

Once all assets have been identified and their roles enumerated, you should then create a list of vulnerabilities that could exist for each asset type (e.g., servers, etc). This includes software packages such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat Reader which may not be up-to-date with security patches from the manufacturer – making it easier for hackers to exploit known flaws within these applications in order to gain access over time if left unchecked!

• Step 4 – 

Finally, run an external assessment on your organization’s network to identify potential security threats outside its boundaries; this will allow you to get more detailed information about what kinds of things are happening externally without having access inside where they might be occurring internally too (e.g., servers, etc). You may also want to consider running an internal audit if possible since this will give you a clearer picture of what potential risks exist within your organization’s network boundaries as well!

• Step 5 –

The last step is to run some basic penetration tests or a software penetration test on any systems or networks identified by the external assessment that could pose a risk for your company – such as servers hosting sensitive information like credit card numbers (e.g., web applications), databases containing customer data  (e.g., databases), etc.) If you don’t have access inside these systems/networks then consider doing some basic testing externally instead – this will allow us to identify potential vulnerabilities without needing any credentials from within them first!

• Step 6 –

It is also recommended that after completing all of these steps, an internal audit be performed on your organization’s network to ensure there are no other security threats lurking undetected – such as outdated software packages or misconfigured firewalls which could leave it open for easy exploitation by hackers looking at exploiting known flaws within those applications in order gain access over time if left unchecked! This type of test may involve running multiple scans against different assets across your company; however, they should only ever be performed by authorized individuals who have been properly trained in how to use these tools and understand the potential risks involved!

Tools For Network Penetration Testing

• Astra’s Pentest: Astra’s Pentest is another scanning tool with a focus on web applications and IT networks; it has features like vulnerability detection and reporting that make for an easy-to-use interface when dealing with large amounts of data. The company and its pentesting services also provide more test cases for applications while doling out a very comprehensive, detailed vulnerability report. The tools also provide an enhanced vulnerability section so that the issue can be sorted based on the security requirements of each organization.

• Nmap: Nmap is a tool for network mapping and port scanning that can be used to discover hosts on networks as well as what services they offer. It also has a scripting language that allows users to create their own scripts so they do not have repetitive tasks manually done every time they run nmap – this makes it easier than ever before!
• Metasploit Framework: Metasploit is an open-source framework written in Ruby (which means anyone can contribute code) that helps you with penetration testing by providing tools like exploit development kits or payload generators which will make developing exploits much faster, simpler, and more reliable; the goal of metasploitable being “to provide information security professionals with a platform where they can learn about different types of attacks and how to defend against them” (Metasploit’s).
• Wireshark: Wireshark is a packet analyzer which means it allows users to see what data packets are being sent between computers on the network as well any other information about those packets such as source address destination port number etc. It also has filters so you can filter out certain types of sources from showing up in your results if need be! The tool does not require installation since all necessary files come packaged with the program itself, making this portable for use at home too!
• Nessus: Nessus is an automated vulnerability scanner that looks for known issues within systems by running through lists of known vulnerabilities and trying to exploit them. It also provides detailed reports on the findings which can help organizations remediate any issues that are discovered – making this a great tool for improving security posture over time!
• Netsparker: Netsparker is another scanner that focuses more specifically on web applications than Nessus does but still has many of the same features as that product such as reporting capabilities and vulnerability detection. This tool will also find any issues with cross-site scripting attacks (XSS) or other types for those who are looking out for these specific vulnerabilities in their networks!
• Nikto: Nikto is an open-source server information gathering tool that can be used to look up details about servers from a remote location – this includes things like what software they have installed, how old it might be since the last update time etcetera — making this very beneficial when trying figure out potential security holes within company’s infrastructure! It will also check if there are known vulnerabilities in any software packages running on your machine as well which may help you patch up some holes before hackers find them!

There are many other tools that could be mentioned when it comes to Network Penetration Testing, but the ones listed above should give you an idea of some of the more commonly used utilities. It is important to keep in mind that while these can be great resources and aides, they should not be your only line of defense – having a strong security posture starts with having well-configured systems as well as properly trained personnel! And always remember, if in doubt – ASK! There are plenty of people within the information security community who are more than happy to help out those who are looking to learn.

Conclusion

Finally, because network penetration testing is essential in your security plan, by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, you can help protect your organization from potential attacks. Additionally, network penetration testing can also help you assess your risk posture and understand the potential impact of a cyberattack. The above mentioned are just a few examples of some of the most popular network penetration testing tools available today; however, there are many more out there so do your research before selecting the ones that will work best for you and your organization’s specific needs.

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What is Accessibility Testing?

Accessibility testing is exactly what it sounds like: Testing software will scan your website and ensure that it meets the standards of WCAG compliance. According to Audio Eye, WCAG compliance is, “a set of web standards that aim to make the Internet a more inclusive and accessible space for all.” This means that users which adhere to WCAG compliance have websites that can be easily viewed and operated by anyone.

Accessibility testing ensures that a website meets these ever-evolving standards. It is done as a self-check and can be used to guarantee a website’s accessibility.

Why Should Businesses Perform Accessibility Testing?

While there are many reasons why ensuring compliance with WCAG guidelines is important, they can primarily be broken down into two arguments.
The first is simply legal. The Americans With Disabilities Act was written in order to ensure that all people had access to public spaces, regardless of their disability. It was signed into law in 1990, well before the internet was popular, but a variety of court rulings have held that websites are essentially digital public spaces. This means that reasonable accommodations must be made in order to ensure that people with disabilities have access to websites. Failure to do so could result in a business-facing legal liability.
The second argument is an economic one. Individuals who are handicapped are an untapped market, with businesses often forgetting about the extensive purchasing power of this demographic. It goes without saying that these individuals are more likely to spend their time – and money – on websites that cater to their needs. Accessibility testing can be used to ensure that a website can be properly viewed by all. As such, accessibility testing should be viewed as more than just legal protection: It is also a marketing tool.

How Can Accessibility Testing Be Performed?

Businesses often hear the phrase “testing” and get automatically worried, thinking that such testing will be highly time-consuming and expensive. Thankfully, this is not the case. Accessibility testing is usually just a matter of downloading a piece of software, using it, and implementing its recommendations. More often than not, any website changes that need to be made can be done by your in-house website developer. They are usually not expensive and simply a matter of adding or changing some coding.
Fortunately, testing and ensuring compliance is not a tremendously difficult proposition. There is also no doubt about it: From a legal, moral, and marketing perspective, it is well worth it.

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