Application Security Testing

Android DAST is almost here. Here's what it took to build it. After a year of development, we're weeks away from releasing our Android Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) scanner. Why this matters: - Automatic exploit generation, for SAST findings too - 0% false positives - No root access required - No app configurations needed Here's how we solved the biggest challenges: 1. The migration challenge: Problem: 175+ existing vulnerability categories built for static analysis - do we start from scratch? Our approach: Built an abstraction layer so the same logic works for both static code and runtime checks. Result: 6 weeks to migrate instead of 6+ months to duplicate. 2. The performance challenge: Problem: With 175+ migrated security rules now running in dynamic mode, we faced a massive volume of runtime events. Most DAST tools use third-party frameworks like Frida, but these have limitations: require root access, struggle with the latest Android versions, and create performance bottlenecks. Our approach: Built our own solution using Java Debug Interface (JDI) with custom optimizations to filter only security-relevant method calls, avoiding the overhead of processing every single runtime event. Result: Transformed what would be unusably slow testing into sub-hour analysis without requiring root access or third-party dependencies. 3. The scale challenge: Problem: Cloud emulation creates massive slowdowns when testing ARM-based Android apps. Our approach: Purpose-built ARM-to-ARM cloud infrastructure. Result: Testing speed that rivals physical devices. The result → Android DAST analysis in under an hour with zero false positives and working exploits for every finding. While other tools tell you "this might be vulnerable," we show you exactly how an attacker would exploit it. P.S. Ready to be among the first to test our Android DAST? We're selecting several companies for early access in exchange for feedback. Drop a "+" below if you want to be considered.

Authorization vulnerabilities (IDOR, Vertical Privilege Escalation, Horizontal Privilege Escalation, Forced Browsing, etc.) are generally very impactful, but can be challenging for DAST scanners to find in a fully automated fashion. This is because traditional DAST scanners don't have any "context" of the business logic of applications and so they don't know what authorization checks to test for in the first place. And, since each application is unique, building a generic DAST scanner that can find authorization vulnerabilities at scale has been a very difficult problem to solve! Most struggle to even get the authenticated scanning working in heterogeneous environments. Forget about authorization. Some might argue that thats what API testing tools do. I agree but my counter to that point is that API testing tools can test for BOLAs or IDORs per API request, but they would not be able to chain multiple such authorization vulnerabilities to form a full kill chain of an escalation attack. For that, they'd have to know the threat model of the application being tested and I doubt there is any DAST scanner that takes in a threat model as an input to test for authorization vulnerabilities. But, I am happy to be proven wrong here! The coolest thing I've discovered over the past few days of using Claude Agent Skills with a DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) agent is that we can now harness the capabilities of a powerful coding agent (like Claude Code) to dynamically generate test scripts to test whether a vulnerability is exploitable or not against a live running application. In other words, it is possible to perform a live DAST test by creating test scripts on the fly depending upon the business logic of the application. These dynamically generated test scripts are based off of reference scripts that can be provided along with the SKILL definition and some examples to the agent. An example is provided in the comments below. This is going to be super useful to validate exploitability of vulnerability classes like Improper Authorization that are snowflakes (for lack of a better word). All this to say that - I believe we are at a point where we can provide a threat model of an application, along with its source code, sprinkled with some testing skills for specific vulnerability classes to a coding agent and we can have a web reasoning system (like the cyber reasoning systems built for AIxCC) that can discover, triage, validate and fix web application vulnerabilities in an autonomous manner. So far, I've been able to validate my hypothesis for the first 3 phases. Next up is the fixing phase and then finally the holy grail would be to bring it all together! If you're curious about how these skills could be built/leveraged, take a look at this "authorization-testing" skill that I built for the dast agent in SecureVibes leveraging Claude Agent Skills. Link in comments! #AppSec #Vibecoding #SecureVibes #OpenSource #BuildingInPublic #Agents

In this holiday break, I've spent time exploring LLMs and their potential application in application security testing. What started as curiosity evolved into an interesting project aimed at solving a persistent problem I've encountered throughout my career: the flood of false positives from traditional SAST tools. We've all been there - staring at security reports filled with generic warnings like "dangerous eval function" that lack context about actual exploitability. These tools flag issues without understanding execution paths or data flows, leaving teams drowning in false positives until they eventually start ignoring alerts altogether. In this project, I built a Multi-LLM Judge system that approaches security analysis differently: • Claude Code analyzes the entire codebase and traces data flows across components • DeepSeek and OpenAI models independently assess potential vulnerabilities • Claude API acts as judge to synthesize findings and eliminate false positives Instead of vague alerts, the system produces detailed tickets with exploitation paths, constructed HTTP requests for verification, and specific remediation steps. When tested against OWASP NodeGoat and Juice Shop, it identified sophisticated vulnerabilities while filtering out the noise. (You can adjust the judge scoring threshold for a balance in detail/noise). While this started as a personal project, I'm excited about the possibilities it opens up for more context-aware security testing approaches. For anyone interested in the technical details: Benchmarking and Results: https://lnkd.in/gh3N9HzM

Most product founders (or aspiring founders) think cybersecurity is something that can be added on as we go. In 2024, 68 % of breaches involved a non‑malicious human element, like misconfigurations or coding oversights. Security isn’t a checkbox at launch; it’s a mindset woven into every sprint, every pull request, every architectural decision. Here’s a playbook we, at GrayCyan, have developed: 1️⃣. Threat Model Upfront Before you write a single line of code, map out your attack surface. What data are you storing? Who could target it, and how? A lightweight threat model (even a few whiteboard sketches) helps you prioritize controls around your riskiest assets. 2️⃣. Secure Design Patterns Adopt proven patterns—like input validation, output encoding, and the principle of least privilege—right in your prototypes. Whether it’s microservices or monolithic apps, enforcing separation of concerns and privilege boundaries early means fewer surprises down the road. 3️⃣. Shift‑Left Testing Integrate static analysis (SAST), dependency scanning, and secret‑detection tools into your CI/CD pipeline. Automate these checks so that every pull request tells you if you’ve introduced a risky dependency or an insecure configuration—before it ever reaches production. 4️⃣. Continuous Code Reviews Encourage a culture of peer review focused on security. Build short checklists (e.g., avoid hard‑coded credentials, enforce secure defaults) and run them in review sessions. Rotate reviewers so everyone gets exposure to security pitfalls across the codebase. 5️⃣. Dynamic & Pen‑Test Cycles Complement static checks with dynamic application security testing (DAST) and periodic penetration tests. Even a quarterly or biannual pen‑test will surface issues you can’t catch with automated scans—like business‑logic flaws or subtle authentication gaps. 6️⃣. Educate & Empower Your Team Run regular “lunch‑and‑learn” workshops on topics like OWASP Top 10, secure cloud configurations, or incident response drills. When developers think like attackers, they write more resilient code—and spot risks early. 7️⃣. Plan for the Inevitable No system is 100 % immune. Build an incident response plan, practice it with tabletop exercises, and establish clear escalation paths. That way, when something does go wrong, you move from panic to precision—minimizing impact and restoring trust. At GrayCyan, we partner with founders (and upcoming founders that have amazing product ideas) to embed these practices as we build apps. If you’re ready to turn security from an afterthought into your competitive advantage, let’s connect. Drop a comment or send us a DM, and let’s bake trust into your next release. #DevSecOps #SecureByDesign #SecureDevelopment #DataProtection #TechStartups GrayCyan AI Consultants & Developers

Medical device cybersecurity has many layers. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) is one: SAST scans code for security issues before the software runs. It can catch flaws like hardcoded credentials, injection risks, and unsafe memory handling early, when fixes are usually faster and cheaper. It's not meant to be run as a final gate. If you run your first scan during verification, you may create a pile of work nobody planned for. A late critical finding can mean code changes, unit testing, regression testing, risk assessment updates, and revised submission evidence. That is an expensive way to find a buffer overflow or injection flaw. The better approach is simple: ↳ Set up your development environment and CI/CD pipeline for SAST testing ↳ Run SAST in the developer’s local environment. ↳ Run it again in the automated build pipeline. ↳ Set clear triage rules for findings. ↳ Track remediation through your risk management process. ↳ Keep the evidence from each step. FDA recommends security risk management throughout the total product lifecycle. It also asks manufacturers to provide details and evidence for static and dynamic code analysis as part of cybersecurity testing. Doing so will help you find the issues early so you can still fix them in minutes instead of weeks. Here are some resources you might find helpful: ↳ Medical device security testing across the lifecycle: https://lnkd.in/e8jEZuwp ↳ How to perform a security code review: https://lnkd.in/ejP4Cw6t ↳ Security architecture as the foundation of your device: https://lnkd.in/esMsz6cn ↳ Documents FDA requires for software and cybersecurity: https://lnkd.in/e5h_YXYC ↳ IEC 62304 to FDA eSTAR mapping: https://lnkd.in/e8sA-TQM ↳ FDA Cybersecurity in Medical Devices guidance (Feb 2026): https://lnkd.in/eFcC-Bsp ↳ FDA guidance PDF, cybersecurity testing section: https://lnkd.in/eCJ2T_69 ↳ NIST Secure Software Development Framework: https://lnkd.in/esxw5qzJ ↳ OWASP security testing across the SDLC: https://lnkd.in/eejqEPDi ↳ CISA Secure by Design principles: https://lnkd.in/ebmJwnPH What part of cybersecurity do you find confusing? Ask me anything in the comments. Oh, and if you want a PDF quickstart guide, let me know in the comments and I'll DM it to you.

🔐 Two questions matter more than any dashboard: If someone tried to compromise us, would we hold up? And can we hold up against AI-powered attacks moving at machine speed? Most of the industry answers with a vulnerability list and a CVSS score. That's not an answer. That's homework. ⚡ Horizon3.ai's NodeZero® takes a different position: stop hoping you're resilient and go prove it. Autonomous, production-safe pen-testing that finds real exploitable attack paths, ranks them by business impact, then verifies the fix actually closed the hole. Hack, fix, verify — on a loop, not once a year when the auditor calls. 🎯 Today I wanted to do a shoutout for their new web application pentesting capability. Checkout here https://lnkd.in/gYaphzKe Custom web apps are now one of the largest sources of enterprise risk — and most get assessed periodically, or right before release, and then never again. Meanwhile the code ships daily. Traditional web app testing finds vulnerabilities. It rarely shows you how an attacker actually exploits them in production. That gap is where the real risk lives. And attackers don't "hack in" anymore. They log in. Compromised credentials become abused business logic, become privilege escalation, become a pivot from your app straight into your infrastructure. The boundary between app security and identity security collapsed years ago — our testing never caught up. Apps over here, identity over there, infra somewhere else. Attackers chain all three because nobody told them not to. NodeZero extends autonomous validation to custom web applications — internal and external, continuously, safely in production. It chains app weaknesses (XSS, SQLi, broken access control, SSRF, XXE) through credential compromise all the way to host takeover. Testing that matches how attacks actually unfold. Overdue. The real unlock isn't the finding. It's the confidence to ship faster, knowing your apps stay resilient as code, infrastructure, and threats keep moving. This is 🤝 Sponsored post in partnership with Horizon3.ai. As always — I only put my name on things I'd tell a peer about over dinner.  Snehal Antani, is a rare Founder who came up as an operator, built for operators, and never learned to talk like a vendor. #CyberSecurity #OffensiveSecurity #ApplicationSecurity #Identity #AttackPaths #CyberResilience #Horizon3ai #NodeZero #AlchemyCyber

One client experience that made me realize that not every pentest makes you "absolutely" secure. A fast-growing e-commerce startup invited us in after being hacked. They’d just done a penetration test with another vendor. The report looked professional, 40 pages of findings, but it turned out that the testers had only checked their staging environment. The live site had extra features, including an outdated API, that no one tested. That API became the attacker’s entry point. Lesson- Not all penetration testing is created equal. If you've got a pentest done recently, there are 7 warning signs it doesn’t truly protect you: • Vague results – You’re left guessing what the real issues are.  •No clear remediation steps – Your team doesn’t know where to start.  • Missed business logic vulnerabilities – Real-world attack paths unique to your app go undetected. Example-We once found a shopping cart that allowed discount codes to be applied multiple times by changing the request sequence. Scanners missed it because it wasn’t a code flaw - it was a broken business rule. • Outdated exploits & tools – Testing for yesterday’s threats, not today’s.  • Compliance-only focus – Enough to pass an audit, but not enough to keep you safe.  • No human validation – Automated scans without expert review.  • One-and-done delivery – No follow-up to confirm fixes worked. Pentesting should be more than ticking a box. It should combine speed, depth, and real human expertise so you get results you can act on fast. That’s why we’re building something new: a blend of automated security testing and expert-led VAPT, built to scale with your business and keep you safe from real-world threats. Tulsi Security #TulsiSecurity #ConvergeSouth #Cybersecurity #PenTesting #vapt

🛡️ Web App Pentesting Checklist: OWASP-Based Essentials 🚀 🔍 Information Gathering Perform OSINT, Google Dorks, and fingerprint the web server. Review metafiles (robots.txt, sitemap.xml, etc.) and inspect page source for sensitive info. Map the site structure using tools like Burp Suite or Dirsearch. ⚙️ Configuration & Deployment Testing Check for default credentials, misconfigurations, and sensitive file exposure. Test HTTP methods, HSTS, and subdomain takeover risks. Ensure proper file permissions and cloud storage security. 🔐 Authentication & Authorization Testing Test for weak password policies, insecure authentication mechanisms, and IDOR vulnerabilities. Look for privilege escalation opportunities and bypassable authorization schemas. 🧩 Session Management Test for session fixation, hijacking, and CSRF vulnerabilities. Ensure cookies are secure, HTTPOnly, and properly expired after logout. 📥 Input Validation Hunt for XSS, SQLi, RCE, and other injection vulnerabilities. Test for Local/Remote File Inclusion, SSRF, and Host Header Injection. 🛠️ Business Logic & Client-Side Testing Test for logic flaws like parameter tampering and malicious file uploads. Identify DOM-based XSS, CORS misconfigurations, and clickjacking risks. ⚡ Other Common Issues Ensure rate-limiting is enabled to prevent brute-force attacks. Test for weak 2FA/OTP implementations and broken link hijacking. #pentesting #cybersecurity #infoseclabs #owasp #owasptop10 #infoseclabs #webapplication

🔐 Mobile Application Penetration Testing — The Complete Checklist! With mobile apps being a prime target for attackers, a solid pentest can save you from costly breaches and data leaks. Here’s a practical, phase-wise checklist to ensure your mobile apps are secure and compliant. 📱✨ 💢 1️⃣ Pre-Engagement ✅ Define scope (OS versions, devices, APIs, backend) ✅ Get legal permissions & NDA signed ✅ Agree on test accounts / test data ✅ Establish rules of engagement (e.g., no impact on production) ✅ Confirm point of contact for incidents 💢 2️⃣ Static & Code Analysis ✅ Decompile/reverse engineer APK/IPA ✅ Review app permissions ✅ Check for hardcoded secrets & API keys ✅ Analyze code obfuscation and protection ✅ Review 3rd party libraries & dependencies 💢 3️⃣ Dynamic & Runtime Testing ✅ Run the app on rooted/jailbroken devices ✅ Check for debug logs, error messages ✅ Test app behavior under proxy interception (Burp, OWASP ZAP) ✅ Analyze network traffic for sensitive data leaks ✅ Test SSL/TLS implementation & cert pinning 💢 4️⃣ Authentication & Session Management ✅ Check login brute-force resilience ✅ Verify secure token storage (Keychain/Keystore) ✅ Test session timeout and revocation ✅ Test multi-factor authentication (if applicable) 💢 5️⃣ Data Storage & Privacy ✅ Check for sensitive data in local storage (SQLite, SharedPrefs, plist) ✅ Look for data leaks in logs ✅ Test clipboard data handling ✅ Verify secure use of biometric data 💢 6️⃣ Backend & API Security ✅ Test API endpoints for OWASP API Top 10 ✅ Verify proper auth & rate limiting ✅ Test for IDOR, insecure direct access ✅ Check input validation & error handling 💢 7️⃣ Reverse Engineering & Tampering ✅ Try repackaging / re-signing the app ✅ Test anti-emulator, anti-root detection ✅ Check integrity checks & runtime protections 💢 8️⃣ Reporting & Debrief ✅ Document findings with impact & POC screenshots ✅ Rate risks (High/Medium/Low) ✅ Recommend remediation steps ✅ Share a detailed report securely ✅ Conduct a final debrief session with stakeholders 📌 Final Tip: Always test on real devices + emulators to cover edge cases! ✅ Need help securing your mobile app? Let’s connect! #MobileAppSecurity #Pentesting #OWASP #Cybersecurity #ByteCapsuleIT #MobilePentest #ApplicationSecurity #Infosec

🚀Demystifying SAST, DAST, IAST & SCA: The Ultimate Application Security Cheat Sheet🔒   1. SAST (Static Application Security Testing)   - Definition: SAST is a *white-box* testing method that examines source code, bytecode, or binaries for vulnerabilities without executing the application. It analyzes the code from the "inside out," usually during the development phase. - Goal: To catch security flaws as early as possible by examining the code itself, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and insecure de-serialization. - Example: A developer runs a SAST tool, such as SonarQube, on their source code for a web app. The tool flags a potential SQL injection vulnerability in the login code, helping the developer fix it before the code moves further into production.    2. DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)   - Definition: DAST is a *black-box* testing method that tests an application while it's running to identify vulnerabilities in a runtime environment, like a hacker would. - Goal: To find security vulnerabilities that occur only during runtime, like authentication issues, server misconfigurations, and business logic flaws. - Example: A security tester runs a DAST tool like OWASP ZAP against a live staging environment of a web app. The tool scans the application, finds an exposed admin page that lacks authentication, and reports it as a security risk.    3. IAST (Interactive Application Security Testing)   - Definition: IAST combines elements of both SAST and DAST. It works inside the application by instrumenting the code and monitoring the app's behavior during runtime. - Goal: To provide more in-depth, context-aware vulnerability detection by analyzing code as it executes, often integrated with automated testing during CI/CD pipelines. - Example: While running functional tests in a CI/CD pipeline, an IAST tool like Contrast Security identifies an insecure configuration vulnerability. This allows both development and security teams to get real-time alerts with contextual information to fix the issue efficiently.    4. SCA (Software Composition Analysis)   - Definition: SCA focuses on managing risks associated with third-party libraries and dependencies in an application by identifying and tracking open-source components. - Goal: To detect known vulnerabilities in third-party libraries or packages used in the project and ensure compliance with license requirements. - Example: A development team uses an SCA tool like Snyk on a Node.js project to scan its dependencies. The tool flags a critical vulnerability in a popular npm library, allowing the team to update to a secure version before releasing the product.   Each method has its strengths in detecting certain types of vulnerabilities, and together they provide comprehensive coverage for securing applications throughout their lifecycle. Check out the chart below for a full comparison.   #ApplicationSecurity #CyberSecurity #DevSecOps #SAST #DAST #IAST #SCA #AppSec #TechTips