Security Testing

Identify vulnerabilities, security weaknesses, and potential threats in applications and infrastructure.

When to use me

Use this skill when:

• Developing applications handling sensitive data
• Complying with security standards (ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA)
• Preparing for security audits or penetration tests
• Testing authentication and authorization systems
• Checking for common vulnerabilities (OWASP Top 10)
• Validating input validation and sanitization
• Ensuring secure configuration and deployment

What I do

• Vulnerability scanning for known security issues
• Penetration testing to simulate real attacks
• Authentication and authorization testing
• Input validation and injection testing
• Security configuration review
• Data protection and encryption testing
• Session management and cookie security testing
• API security testing and rate limiting checks

Examples

# Security scanning tools
npm audit                         # Node.js dependency vulnerabilities
snyk test                        # Snyk vulnerability scanning
trivy image myapp:latest         # Container vulnerability scanning
bandit -r src/                   # Python security scanner
gosec ./...                     # Go security checker

# SAST (Static Application Security Testing)
semgrep scan --config auto       # Semgrep SAST
brakeman -A -w1                  # Ruby on Rails security scanner
sonarqube scan                  # Comprehensive code analysis

# DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)
zap-baseline.py -t https://app.example.com  # OWASP ZAP
nikto -h https://app.example.com             # Web server scanner

# Dependency checking
npm audit fix                   # Fix Node.js vulnerabilities
bundler-audit check             # Ruby gem vulnerabilities
pip-audit                      # Python package vulnerabilities

Output format

Security Test Results:
──────────────────────────────
Critical Vulnerabilities (3):
  ❌ SQL Injection in user search endpoint
    Risk: High | CVE-2023-12345
    Fix: Use parameterized queries
    
  ❌ Hard-coded API key in config file
    Risk: Critical | CWE-798
    Fix: Move to environment variables
    
  ❌ Missing rate limiting on login endpoint
    Risk: Medium | CWE-770
    Fix: Implement rate limiting

Medium Vulnerabilities (7):
  ⚠️ Missing security headers (CSP, HSTS)
  ⚠️ Verbose error messages expose system info
  ⚠️ Session timeout too long (24 hours)

Dependency Vulnerabilities:
  ⚠️ lodash 4.17.15: Prototype pollution (CVE-2020-8203)
  ✅ All other dependencies up to date

Summary: 3 critical, 7 medium issues found
Recommendation: Fix critical issues before release

Notes

• Follow OWASP Top 10 for web application security
• Test both authenticated and unauthenticated access
• Check for business logic vulnerabilities
• Consider threat modeling during design phase
• Implement security in CI/CD pipeline
• Regular security scanning and penetration testing
• Keep dependencies updated with security patches
• Educate developers on secure coding practices