Out-of-Band Application Security Testing (OAST): Concept and Benefits

Quick Summary: Application security is not optional today, it is pivotal. Out-of-band security testing (OAST) is an outstanding method that you can leverage to detect many vulnerabilities. In this article, we have put together important information about OAST, including its benefits and disadvantages. Read on to get insights into OAST.

$15.63 trillion, this is the predicted cost of cybercrimes worldwide which is expected to become a reality by 2029, as per the report by Statista.

If this data seems concerning, think of 59 out of 100 organizations that have had a ransomware attack in the previous year. These statistics are indeed alarming!

It is enough to understand how significant the security of your software applications is today. Even a minute weakness can put your organization at risk. While you can adopt dozens of measures to protect the applications, security testing is critical to safeguard your applications from the bottom.

Application security testing is essential to identify weak spots in enterprise applications before they cause irreparable damage. While DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) is a solid technique to test and detect vulnerabilities, still a few goes undetected.

There comes the role of OAST (Out-of-Band Application Security Testing) that empowers the DAST model to catch other vulnerabilities. OAST helps to detect vulnerabilities that are not visible to the normal testing model.

Stay tuned to know what’s about OAST, how it benefits in testing applications, and what’s the best way to implement this in your application security testing strategy.

Let’s dig in for complete details!

Scan Your Application from Every Nook and Cranny to Protect from Data Breaches Try Now

What is OAST and How Does It Work?

OAST or Out-of-Band Application Security Testing is a method that helps to detect advanced vulnerabilities in applications that common dynamic testing tools fail to detect like asynchronous, blind, and second-order vulnerabilities.

This technique was devised to improve the DAST model to detect vulnerabilities that remain invisible in the normal testing environment. It provides an alternate method to test applications with DAST using external servers.

In out-of-band application security testing, a simulated attack is performed on the application with the same behavior and activities as a hacker does. The test can either be automated or manual with a human tester.

With a simulated attack, a payload is sent to the target application and a response is returned with the vulnerability. OAST testing improves the results of DAST as it can also see around the corners and track vulnerabilities that are invisible otherwise.

Examples of OAST vulnerabilities:

• Out-of-Band SQL Injection (OOB SQLi)
• Blind XSS
• OS Code Injection
• Server-side Request Forgery
• XML External Entity Injection

Why is Out of Band Application Security Testing Important?

When testing, applications often contain lots of vulnerabilities. Many of these vulnerabilities are well-known but new vulnerabilities can arise again because the technologies applications use keep evolving. Hence, security testing is a continuous process to keep cyber threats in check.

The benefit of dynamic testing is it provides precise results. So, when the report indicates vulnerabilities in the case of dynamic testing, they are real. However, standalone dynamic tests struggle to find some types of vulnerabilities. They can effectively find different vulnerabilities by enhancing their range.

Out-of-band security testing offers better results for dynamic testing. It broadens the scope of vulnerability testing and helps to find more weaknesses that are actual vulnerabilities. All in all, out-of-band application security testing is a wider technique that helps to detect vulnerabilities that are hard to find with the usual dynamic testing approach. You need an advanced vulnerability testing tool to detect OAST vulnerabilities because ordinary cannot find these vulnerabilities.

Prevent Potential Security Risks by Dynamically Testing Your Application Find Security Issues

OAST vs DAST vs SAST

Today, SAST and DAST are popular methods for security testing. SAST involves analyzing source code and DAST tests applications dynamically. They help to identify known vulnerabilities in applications and APIs.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a method where a simulated attack is performed on a target application to check vulnerabilities. Since it tests an application from outside, like a hacker attack, without knowing the source code or internal mechanism, it is considered more realistic to detect vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, SAST, an acronym for Static Application Security Testing, is a method where source code is checked to find security vulnerabilities. SAST testing looks at things from the code’s perspective, which makes it susceptible to many false positives. It doesn’t depend on the execution of code for testing.

DAST and SAST are powerful methods to detect a wide range of vulnerabilities. However, detecting an out of band vulnerability is out of their scope. Such a vulnerability is hidden and cannot be detected by performing regular security audits. Hence, it needs a different approach and that’s out of band security assessment.

As we have already discussed, out-of-band application security testing augments dynamic testing to uncover weaknesses that are otherwise invisible. OAST security audits can effectively meet organizational requirements and match the dynamic landscape of enterprise applications.

What are the Advantages of OAST Testing?

OAST testing provides realistic results and offers many advantages, as mentioned below.

• Increased Coverage: OAST testing can detect more security issues since it can find vulnerabilities that dynamic testing detects. This higher scope of vulnerability detection makes it more effective in application security testing. It is depicted in the image below.
• Improved Testing Results: Most vulnerabilities captured with out of band testing are real compared to dynamic and static testing methods. Hence, it results in more accurate testing results.
• False Positives are Rare: While dynamic testing can provide a few false positives, out-of-band application security testing rarely produces any false positives.
• Language Agnostic: OAST testing does not depend on any specific programming language. So, it is possible to test many different types of applications irrespective of which language they use.
• Easy Integration: Integrating the OAST testing tool with your application development workflow is easy and offers quality testing.

Is Out-of-Band Application Security Testing a Perfect Method?

Testing application security can be tricky due to their dynamic nature. So, there is no perfect testing method. Similarly, the OAST testing method has some drawbacks. Out-of-band application security testing is indeed a more effective approach because it offers a larger number of real vulnerabilities than other methods and that too with almost no false positives.

Automated tests with the OAST technique are not a panacea to detect vulnerabilities. However, it can be combined with manual penetration testing to minimize the risks of security vulnerabilities and detect as many weaknesses as possible.

Minimize the Risk of Hacking and Malware Attacks by Detecting Complex Vulnerabilities Check for Issues

To Wrap Up

With the increasing incidents of cybercrimes, it becomes more important than ever to boost your application’s security. Besides implementing solid features, security testing is crucial to find vulnerabilities and fix them before they pose any serious security challenges. OAST is a dynamic application security testing method that offers numerous advantages over other testing methods.

Choosing the right testing tool is vital to detect out of band vulnerabilities and ZeroThreat is the one that you can rely on. It’s a cutting-edge dynamic security testing tool with a bunch of great features to meet your organizational expectations. You can leverage this to discover hard-to-detect vulnerabilities with OAST security audits. This tool uses AI to enhance test results and help testers achieve their objectives seamlessly.