Software Cyber Security and Quality Assurance – 4 Reasons They Work Better Together

They say, cyber security and quality assurance (QA) are two different software testing disciplines.

While quality assurance is all about ensuring there are no bugs, defects, or faults in the software, cyber security deals with the software’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

However, in the end, they both share the same purpose—to reduce and manage the risks associated with the software.

Hence, the testing teams should combine the activities and leverage the mutual benefits.

Before we give you the reasons, here’s what you should know:

●     The total number of data breaches in 2021 has increased by 17% from 2020.

●     77% of the organizations don’t have a response plan handy for a cyber security incident.

●     Quality assurance and testing accounted for organizations’ 23% annual IT budget as of 2019.

4 reasons why you should integrate cyber security with quality assurance

Software cyber security and quality assurance should work together because:

Reason #1: Security teams simplify the job of QA teams and vice versa

When security teams identify threats and loopholes in an application’s software, they eliminate risks affecting its overall quality. They monitor every action on the software that can leave it vulnerable to threats and attacks. This risk management approach helps QA teams focus on improving the performance of a secure system.

Eventually, when the quality improves, it’s easy to look for cyber security threats that are impossible to spot until the software functions correctly.

It means the intersection of quality assurance and cyber security is mutually beneficial for both teams—reducing workload and making jobs more manageable.

Reason #2: It saves time and money

When you integrate cyber security and quality assurance practices with the software development life cycle (SDLC) from the beginning, you can reduce the time and costs associated with them.

The collaboration between the teams—right from the beginning of SDLC—will help them address weaknesses and defects in the software early. It prevents the issues from developing into something more problematic and unmanageable when the software is ready to use.

Such an approach does two things:

●     identifies and manages risks throughout the SDLC, leaving a little or no room for work when software undergoes security and QA testing, and

●     saves time, money, and resources that you would otherwise spend in testing the software from scratch.

Reason #3: It results in a reliable software

A security risk is also a QA issue because the software with bugs is more likely to be vulnerable and prone to cyber attacks. It’s simple—poor code quality is a clear indication of the software’s unpredictable behavior.

The behavior can be due to a possible weakness in the code or an error affecting the software’s performance. Hence, it becomes easy for the attackers to exploit the software by capturing its vulnerabilities.

A study, though older, found that quality-focused software development code had fewer vulnerabilities. Hence, if quality assurance and cyber security work together, the reliability of the software will increase automatically.

Reason #4: Intersecting cyber security and quality assurance gives a more secure software

Development teams often focus on delivering the software within the set deadlines and budget constraints. While this is a good trait of development teams, they sometimes ignore the recommendations of security teams.

The budget and schedules are so tight that listening to the security requirements after a QA check seems impossible and unnecessary to the development teams. However, it undoubtedly impacts the security of the software.

However, incorporating cyber security practices with QA testing ensures that development teams consider security risks a part of software defects. This way, they will prioritize threat prevention just like quality improvements.

The final argument

Cyber security and quality assurance should be an integral part of the SDLC process. You can always run security and quality checks on developed software.

However, making these tests a part of the entire development cycle makes the software genuinely secure and reliable.