It's a (testing) trap! - Common testing pitfalls and how to solve them
What if your end-to-end tests could find security holes before a hacker does? Learn to write tests that simulate common attacks and secure your application from the inside.
#1about 5 minutes
Using automated tests as a line of defense
The "Plants vs. Zombies" game is used as an analogy to frame automated tests as a protective measure against security threats.
#2about 4 minutes
Focusing on the top three OWASP security threats
The OWASP Top 10 project is introduced, focusing on broken access control, cryptographic failures, and injection as key vulnerabilities to test for.
#3about 3 minutes
Writing test cases for various injection attacks
Practical code examples demonstrate how to write automated tests to detect cross-site scripting (XSS), CSRF, and SQL injection vulnerabilities.
#4about 2 minutes
Testing for Content Security Policy (CSP) headers
Configure Cypress to check for the presence and correctness of Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent certain types of injection attacks.
#5about 1 minute
How to test for broken access control issues
Cover authentication flows with dedicated tests, including negative test cases for invalid credentials, to prevent unauthorized access.
#6about 1 minute
Verifying encryption and cryptographic standards in tests
Cypress automatically fails tests on non-HTTPS sites, providing a built-in check for basic cryptographic failures like missing SSL/TLS certificates.
#7about 1 minute
Complementing tests with automated security scanning tools
Beyond writing test cases, use tools for static analysis (SAST), dynamic analysis (DAST), and dependency scanning to find vulnerabilities you might not know about.
#8about 4 minutes
Implementing a strategic workflow for security testing
Adopt a repeatable process that involves learning your app's vulnerabilities, creating a test plan, writing targeted tests, and integrating them into your CI/CD pipeline.
#9about 2 minutes
Key takeaways for effective security test automation
Test automation is a powerful complement to other security measures, simple test cases are highly effective, and all testing types can be utilized.
#10about 1 minute
Q&A: How to increase team awareness for security tests
Frame security tests as a "messenger" that automates vigilance, saving developers cognitive load and protecting user trust by catching issues early.
Related jobs
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.
Dev Digest 216: CyberSec + Mythos, Stack Overflow for Agents & DOOM in TTFInside last week’s Dev Digest 216 .
🧠 Prompts are now tools in Chrome
📜 The AI Coding Agent Manifesto
🔐 How Claude Mythos changes Cyber Security
🧱 GitHub Stacked PRs to battle AI slop
⚙️ Git commands to run before reading code
🐍 A Python framework f...
Dev Digest 138 - Are you secure about this?Hello there! This is the 2nd "out of the can" edition of 3 as I am on vacation in Greece eating lovely things on the beach. So, fewer news, but lots of great resources. Many around the topic of security. Enjoy! News and ArticlesGoogle Pixel phones t...