How can you ensure your security testing program is effective against emerging threats?

1 Assess your current state

Before you can improve your security testing program, you need to know where you stand. You should conduct a thorough assessment of your current security testing practices, tools, and outcomes. You should also evaluate your security testing goals, objectives, and metrics. This will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as any gaps or risks that need to be addressed. You should also benchmark your security testing performance against industry standards and best practices, as well as your competitors and peers.

2 Update your threat model

A threat model is a representation of the possible attacks that could affect your operating system, as well as the assets, actors, and scenarios involved. A threat model helps you prioritize and plan your security testing activities, as well as design and implement effective countermeasures. However, a threat model is not static. It needs to be updated regularly to reflect the changing threat landscape and the new vulnerabilities and exploits that emerge. You should review and revise your threat model at least once a year, or whenever there is a significant change in your operating system environment, functionality, or architecture.

3 Adopt a proactive approach

Security testing is not only about finding and fixing bugs. It is also about preventing and mitigating attacks. You should adopt a proactive approach to security testing, which means anticipating and preparing for the potential threats that could affect your operating system, rather than reacting to them after they occur. A proactive approach involves conducting security testing throughout the operating system development life cycle, from the design and coding stages to the deployment and maintenance stages. It also involves implementing security best practices, such as secure coding standards, code reviews, encryption, authentication, and access control.

4 Use a variety of tools and techniques

Security testing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Different types of threats require different types of testing tools and techniques. You should use a variety of tools and techniques to test your operating system security, such as static analysis, dynamic analysis, penetration testing, fuzz testing, and vulnerability scanning. You should also use different perspectives and methods to test your operating system security, such as black-box testing, white-box testing, gray-box testing, and red teaming. By using a variety of tools and techniques, you can increase your coverage and accuracy, as well as discover new and unknown vulnerabilities.

5 Learn from others

Security testing is not an isolated activity. You can learn a lot from others who are involved in or interested in security testing, such as your colleagues, customers, partners, vendors, researchers, and hackers. You should seek feedback and input from others on your security testing program, as well as share your findings and lessons learned. You should also monitor and analyze the security testing trends, innovations, and incidents that occur in your industry and domain, as well as in other sectors and domains. By learning from others, you can improve your security testing skills, knowledge, and practices, as well as stay ahead of the curve.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?