Top 10 Security Testing Interview Questions(2023)

It has become quite essential for organizations to find and assess vulnerabilities in their system. The system’s security has become a big deal in modern application development. Business logic has become more complicated than ever, and many web applications are incorporating new things. In such a scenario, incorporating security testing has become quite important.

Security testing is a procedure where testing is done to find any weaknesses in the security mechanism that protects the data and keeps functionality as intended. The main components of security are authentication, authorization, availability, confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation.

A list of the most frequently asked Selenium interview questions, and their answers are given below.

#1) What are the top ten OWASP vulnerabilities?

The top 10 OWASP vulnerabilities are:

• Broken Authentication and Session Management
• Cross-site scripting
• Failure to restrict
• Failure to restrict URL access
• Information leakage and improper error handling
• Injection
• Insecure communications
• Insecure cryptographic storage
• Insecure direct object reference
• Malicious file execution

#2) How do OWASP WebGoat and WebScarab differ?

WebGoat: It serves as a benchmark for testing security technologies against known problems and is an education tool for application security. It is a J2EE web-based application built using Tomcat and JDK 1.5 and is divided into “Security Lessons”.

WebScarab: A framework for assessing HTTP/HTTPS traffic is called WebScarab. As part of its functionality, it analyzes fragments, observes browser and server traffic, analyzes session IDs, intercepts manually, and locates new URLs on each page.

#3) How to diminish SQL Injection risks?

SQL injection mitigation: When using prepared statements with parameterized queries, be sure your SQL interpreter can distinguish between code and data. Dynamic searches should never be used if they cannot distinguish between them. Instead, use a static SQL query and pass the external input as a query parameter. When using prepared statements (with parameterized queries), the developer is forced to first describe all the SQL code before passing each query parameter.

Implementing stored processes: A stored process is similar to a C function that a database administrator can contact whenever required. Although SQL injection threats are not entirely eliminated, they are significantly diminished by preventing dynamic SQL generation inside.

White List Input Validation: Only let input that has been pre-approved by the developer and always employ white list input validation. Never utilize the blacklist technique since it offers less security than a whitelist strategy. Using the smallest privilege and removing all user input.

#4) Are Authentication and Authorization Different?

An entity, user, or website’s identity is verified by authentication. It 100% ensures that a person is who they claim to be. In contrast, the regulations controlling the authority delivered to certain parties are referred to as authorization. It can also be referred to as the process of figuring out whether a client is authorized to employ a particular resource or access a specific file. Therefore, verification is the main principle of authentication, whereas permissions are the main principle of authorization. For authentication, you must log in and input your password, whereas, for authorization, you require to have the required clearance.

#5) What is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)?  

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is an attack that happens when an attacker utilizes a web application to send malicious code, normally in the form of a browser-side script, to a different end user.

The page provided by the server when someone asks for it is unaltered. Instead, an XSS attack uses a weakness in a carrier that contains a variable submitted in a request to show up in the raw form in the response. The page is only reflecting back what was presented in that request.

#6) What is Intrusion Detection System (IDS)?  

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a device or software application that observes a network or systems for malicious activity or policy breaches.

Intrusion detection checks the following:

• Possible attacks
• Any abnormal activity
• Auditing the system data
• Analysis of different collected data etc.

#7) What is Session Hijacking?  

Session Hijacking contains the exploitation of the web session control mechanism. The attacker essentially uses vulnerable connections and steals HTTP cookies to acquire unauthorized access to sensitive information/data held in web servers.

The most effective countermeasure for network-level session hijacking is to choose encrypted transport protocols that allow secure connections.

#8) Define SQL injection.

When employing code injection to target data-driven systems, SQL injection inserts malicious SQL statements into the entry field for implementation. It is mainly recognized as a website attack vector, although it may also be utilized to attack any type of SQL database. Attackers can become administrators of the database server, spoof identities, alter already-existing data, generate repudiation problems like compensating transactions or changing balances, let full disclosure of all data on the system, destroy data or otherwise make it unavailable, and cause repudiation problems.

#9) What is file enumeration?

This kind of attack employs forceful browsing with the URL manipulation attack. Hackers can exploit the parameters in URL strings and can get the necessary data that normally does not open to the public such as acquired data, old versions, or data that is under development.

#10) List the seven primary security testing categories according to the Open Source Security Testing methodology guide.

According to the Open Source Security Testing methodology document, there are seven primary types of security testing:

• Vulnerability Scanning: Automated software reviews a system for known defects during vulnerability scanning.
• Security Scanning: Network and system vulnerabilities can be discovered by employing security scanning, a manual or automated process.
• Penetration testing: Security testing that helps to recognize flaws in a system is known as penetration testing.
• Risk Assessment: It is the method of analyzing potential dangers in a system. There are three levels of risk in the order of– Low, Medium, and High.
• Security Auditing: A detailed examination of systems and applications to discover flaws.
• Ethical hacking: Hacking for purposes other than acquiring personal gain is known as ethical hacking.
• Posture Assessment: An organization’s total security posture is indicated by a posture assessment, which contains security scanning, ethical hacking, and risk assessments.

Also Read: Top 10 Selenium Interview Questions(2023)

The most crucial kind of testing for any application is security testing. In this kind of testing, the tester assumes the position of an attacker and manipulates the system to discover faults that affect security. Understanding its core importance in software engineering, we all know the true value of a test engineer. This job is something which requires a deep understanding of the diverse range of security testing, vital data, and types of flaws that could be possible. We wish you the best in cracking your interview! We hope that this series has helped you get an idea of what the questions look like and how to answer them appropriately. 

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