Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Reading time:

5 minutes

What is dynamic application security testing (DAST)?

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is an advanced testing method that tests the production environment and analyzes application security at runtime. This type of black box testing identifies real-world vulnerabilities externally without much need for insights into the product provenance of any single component.

By simulating real-world attacks in your system, DAST identifies critical security gaps that other vulnerability assessments and static methods might miss. This miss is the difference between a secure application and a leaky bucket, which can result in:

Data breaches,
Unauthorized access, and
Severe reputational damage.

Without testing your application in run time, you can only understand its partial security posture. This will blind you to specific vulnerabilities apparent only during interactions between various system components in the live environment, leading to a false sense of security.

So, dynamic application security testing is more operational and behavioral, which helps identify problems during use and traces them back to their software design origins.

DAST implementation in Secure SDLC

Furthermore, DAST is technology, language, and platform-agnostic.

By closely monitoring the application’s behavior under attack, DAST helps identify security vulnerabilities that hackers might exploit, such as:

Why should developers know about DAST?

The best practices for automated dynamic application security testing (DAST) ensure that the testing process is thorough, efficient, and effective in identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities.

Three phases of automated DAST

Developers assess vulnerabilities identified in scans, validate findings to minimize false positives and collaborate with security teams to ensure effective resolution and ongoing security improvements.

Pros and cons of DAST

Advantages of dynamic application security testing (DAST)

While static application security testing (SAST) examines the source code, DAST simulates real-world attacks to uncover vulnerabilities that malicious actors could exploit.

There are five key advantages to DAST:

It identifies runtime vulnerabilities.
DAST finds vulnerabilities during runtime, such as server configuration errors, authentication flaws, session management issues, and cross-site request forgery.
It mimics hacker behavior.
DAST tools act like real-world hackers, interacting with applications from the outside to identify weaknesses that could be exploited. This allows you to secure your applications before actual attackers target them.
DAST complements SAST.
By combining DAST and SAST, your developer and security teams can access a broader range of detected vulnerabilities and get more detailed remediation guidance.
It helps identify compliance issues.
DAST can help ensure applications meet regulatory and industry compliance requirements by identifying issues that could lead to data breaches or other security incidents.
It uncovers issues that other tests miss out on.
DAST can find problems other testing methods may miss, such as authentication or server configuration issues, because it operates at the black box level without relying on source code access.

To maintain the efficiency of these benefits, DAST demands ongoing monitoring, which can become time-intensive.

Appknox addresses this by offering automated DAST, which simulates real-time user interactions to test applications efficiently.

A screenshot of the Appknox dashboard showing the detected vulnerabilities and their severity of a financial app

The tool helps detect and mitigate security vulnerabilities early, making it the most effective automated dynamic application testing tool in the application security domain.

Limitations of traditional DAST tools

Traditional DAST tools have helped identify applications' vulnerabilities but have notable limitations.

Since they haven’t incorporated new technologies like AI, machine learning, and automation, they fall short in improving DAST tools' accuracy, efficiency, and contextual awareness. This renders the traditional tools ineffective in identifying vulnerabilities in modern, complex applications.

Limited crawling and mapping
Traditional DAST tools rely on crawling through applications by following links and forms. This means they may miss vulnerabilities in hidden or restricted areas of the application that are not accessible through these navigational paths.
Accuracy issues
DAST tools can sometimes produce false positives (reporting non-vulnerabilities) or false negatives (missing actual vulnerabilities). This leads to inefficiencies as security teams must manually verify and filter the results.
Lack of context awareness
Traditional DAST tools may not understand the application's business logic or user roles, resulting in less relevant and actionable findings.
Challenges with complex applications
As applications have become more complex and use a broader range of technologies, traditional DAST tools have struggled to keep up with newer vulnerabilities.
Need for automation
The growing need for automation in security testing is particularly relevant for DAST, which can be time-consuming and manual. Automating DAST drastically reduces the time and effort required.
Evolving threat landscape
The threat landscape is constantly changing, with new attack vectors and techniques emerging. Traditional DAST needs to adapt and incorporate new capabilities to keep up with these evolving threats.
Authentication and session management challenges
Traditional DAST tools struggle to effectively test applications that require user authentication and complex session handling. This is a significant limitation, as many modern applications rely on these security mechanisms.
Strain on application resources and lack of data flow analysis
Traditional DAST is where runtime testing can significantly strain the application and its associated resources. DAST tools are also typically unable to analyze the flow of data within the organization, which can lead to security lapses in data silos.
Inadequate API security testing and timing of DAST
Traditional DAST fails to provide comprehensive security testing for APIs, which are increasingly common in modern applications. DAST is typically conducted in the later stages of the software development lifecycle, so vulnerabilities are identified and fixed less efficiently than if found earlier.

n infographic showing the flow of requests in code. While requests are blocked at the validation layer, application testing will help.

Limitations of open-source dynamic testing

Sure, open-source security frameworks can help you get started with the security analysis of your first application, but they lack:

Ease of use,
Comprehensive testing support for iOS,
Deep code analysis,
Detection of runtime exploits,
Specialized API testing module,
Seamless integration with workflows and many more.

Given the time and effort required to test multiple applications, the quality of open-source application security tools still lacks commercial value.

Check out why you should opt for a MobSF alternative for comprehensive security coverage of your portfolio of applications.

Why opt for a MoBSF alternative?

Why are DAST runtime analyses better with SDLC?

DAST runs your application and analyzes it for vulnerabilities, ensuring it is secure even before deployment.

Different testing methods can be implemented at various stages of your SDLC to ensure security is at the forefront

When integrated into DevSecOps, DAST prioritizes security equally, ensuring that applications are functional and safe from potential threats.

It identifies vulnerabilities by testing the application in its running environment.
It is the only security testing method, not programming language agnostic, because it doesn’t examine the source code.
DAST uses regression testing and makes it easy to check a previous vulnerability if a vulnerability is reproduced.
DAST interacts with the application through its user interface, APIs, and web services, comprehensively assessing its behavior under various conditions.
DAST can be integrated into continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
It allows for continuous security monitoring, ensuring vulnerabilities are identified and addressed promptly as the application evolves.
It can be used post-deployment to validate the security of applications in production or staging environments.
By identifying and fixing vulnerabilities, DAST helps reduce the risk of security breaches, data leaks, and other cyber threats.
DAST helps in meeting regulatory and industry compliance requirements.
DAST helps detect and fix vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle, which is more cost-effective than addressing them after deployment.

Best practices for implementing DAST in your organization

How can an automated DAST tool help in application security?

The advantage of automated DAST is that your testing team can control the results and ensure a lower false positive rate when testing your applications on real devices in a regulated environment. This will also lead to identifying more application configuration issues than other vulnerability assessment methods.

An automated DAST solution like Appknox simulates real-time user interactions and tests the app to analyze and detect security vulnerabilities early on. It helps fix business issues and protects your application from network and runtime threats, such as man-in-the-middle attacks. Eliminating security threats reduces development-to-release time.

Why choose Appknox for automated DAST?

As one of the best dynamic application security tools, Appknox’s automated DAST platform cleared security testing 75% faster than the average release time. It is a comprehensive solution that integrates with developers’ existing tools and processes—enabling security teams to work in parallel with development teams.

The key features of Appknox’s automated dynamic analysis solution are: