Software testing is in the middle of its most significant transformation in two decades. The arrival of agentic AI, the maturation of DevOps pipelines, and the shift to cloud-native architectures are collectively redefining what quality assurance looks like, who does it, and how fast it can operate. This post covers the key software testing trends shaping 2026 — the ones that QA leaders and engineering teams need to understand now to stay ahead.

1. Agentic AI Testing: From Automation to Autonomy

The most consequential trend in 2026 is the rise of agentic testing. Traditional test automation requires humans to write scripts, maintain them, and interpret results. Agentic AI testing systems go further: they reason about what to test, generate test scenarios from requirements or code, execute tests, analyse failures, and in some cases attempt automated remediation — all with minimal human direction between steps.

Platforms like Octomind, QodexAI, and Mabl are at the forefront of this shift. Large language models embedded in QA pipelines can consume user stories, API contracts, or application code and produce comprehensive, executable test suites. For QA engineers, the skill shift is clear: from writing tests to orchestrating and governing AI-generated test output.

2. Shift-Left Security Testing Becomes Non-Negotiable

Security vulnerabilities discovered in production are exponentially more expensive to fix than those caught during development. In 2026, “shift-left security” has moved from a best practice to a minimum standard for regulated industries and enterprise software teams. This means:

• SAST (Static Application Security Testing) running in the IDE and as a CI gate on every commit
• Software composition analysis (SCA) scanning third-party dependencies for known CVEs before merge
• DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) integrated into staging environment pipelines
• Security test cases defined alongside functional requirements in sprint planning

The OWASP Top 10 — last updated in 2021, with a 2025 revision in progress — remains the foundational checklist for web application security test coverage.

3. AI-Powered Test Maintenance: Self-Healing Automation

Maintaining test scripts has historically consumed 30–40% of a QA team’s time. Every UI change breaks locators; every API version update breaks integration tests. AI-powered self-healing tools address this directly: they detect broken element selectors at runtime and automatically find the correct replacement using contextual reasoning — surrounding text, element type, ARIA attributes, DOM position.

Tools like Healenium, Testim, and modern versions of Playwright with AI co-pilots make automation suites resilient to UI changes without manual intervention. Teams that have adopted self-healing automation report 50–70% reductions in script maintenance effort.

4. Continuous Testing in AI-Accelerated Development Pipelines

AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude) have significantly accelerated development velocity. Code is being written faster than ever — but that acceleration creates pressure on QA pipelines to keep pace. In 2026, teams that cannot deliver quality feedback at the speed of AI-assisted development face a real risk of quality debt accumulating faster than it can be resolved.

The response is continuous testing: automated quality gates at every stage of the pipeline — IDE, pre-commit, CI, staging, production. Predictive test selection (choosing which tests to run based on the code changed) is critical to making this practical. Running intelligent subsets of tests on every commit keeps pipelines fast while maintaining high defect detection rates.

5. Expanded QA Scope: Testing AI-Powered Applications

As development teams embed LLMs into products — AI chatbots, code generators, recommendation engines, summarisation features — QA teams face entirely new testing challenges that conventional automation frameworks were not designed for:

• Non-determinism: LLM outputs vary for the same input. Tests cannot check for exact string matches; they need semantic evaluation frameworks.
• Prompt injection vulnerabilities: User inputs that manipulate LLM behaviour must be tested as a security concern.
• Hallucination and factual accuracy: AI-generated content must be evaluated for accuracy, especially in regulated contexts.
• Bias and fairness: AI features that make recommendations or classifications need evaluation for discriminatory outputs.

Testing AI features requires new tools, new metrics, and QA engineers who understand how LLMs work well enough to design meaningful tests.

6. Performance Engineering at Cloud Scale

Cloud-native architectures introduce performance failure modes that traditional load testing did not need to address: cold starts, autoscaling lag, database connection pool exhaustion under burst traffic, and cross-region latency in globally distributed systems. Modern performance engineering goes beyond “can the system handle X concurrent users?” to modelling realistic traffic patterns, testing autoscaling behaviour, and validating recovery time under failure conditions.

Tools like k6, Gatling, and Locust are now commonly used alongside cloud-native observability platforms (Datadog, Grafana, AWS CloudWatch) to create comprehensive performance validation pipelines.

7. The Evolving QA Engineer Role

The QA engineer role is being redefined. The engineers who are most valued in 2026 are those who can:

• Work fluidly with AI tools — prompting, reviewing, and governing AI-generated test output
• Code across multiple automation frameworks (Playwright, Selenium, Cypress, Appium)
• Understand application architecture well enough to design meaningful integration and contract tests
• Communicate quality risk clearly to product and engineering stakeholders
• Apply security testing fundamentals as a standard part of every sprint

The demand for pure manual testers performing scripted regression testing continues to decline. The demand for technically capable QA engineers who can direct AI tools and own quality strategy continues to grow.

8. Observability as a Quality Signal

Production observability — structured logging, distributed tracing, real user monitoring — has become a quality tool in its own right. Teams that instrument their applications well can detect quality regressions in production (performance degradation, error rate spikes, user journey abandonment) far faster than any pre-release test suite. Observability data also feeds back into test design, identifying real usage patterns that pre-release tests should simulate.

In 2026, QA strategy that doesn’t include a production observability component is incomplete.

How VTEST Helps Teams Navigate These Trends

At VTEST, we work with development teams at every stage of their QA maturity journey. Whether you are modernising a legacy test automation stack, introducing AI-assisted testing, or building security testing capability, we provide the expertise and execution capacity to move fast without cutting corners on quality. Our team stays at the leading edge of every trend covered in this post so that our clients don’t have to figure it out alone.

Related: Agentic Testing: The Complete Guide to AI-Powered Software Testing

Partner with Testing Experts for Business Success

In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, software quality is critical. A single bug can lead to security issues, customer dissatisfaction, and financial losses. That’s why businesses need reliable testing solutions to ensure their applications perform flawlessly.

At VTEST, we help businesses achieve software excellence with cutting-edge testing strategies. Our expert team ensures your applications meet industry standards and exceed expectations, giving you a competitive edge.

Why Choose VTEST?

1. AI-Powered Testing
   Our AI-driven solutions enhance testing accuracy, detect issues faster, and optimize automation processes, reducing costs and improving efficiency.
2. Decades of Industry Expertise
   With years of experience in software testing across various domains, we understand the complexities of different industries and deliver customized solutions.
3. Comprehensive Testing Services
   We offer end-to-end testing, including:
Functional Testing – Ensuring smooth performance of features
   Performance Testing – Checking speed, stability, and scalability
   Security Testing – Identifying and fixing vulnerabilities
   Automation Testing – Reducing manual effort with AI-driven automation
   Usability Testing – Enhancing user experience for higher engagement
4. Business-Oriented Approach
   We align our testing strategies with your business goals. Our team collaborates with you to understand project requirements and deliver actionable insights that improve product quality.
   The VTEST Advantage
   Faster Time-to-Market – We streamline testing to accelerate product launches.
   Scalable Solutions – Our testing adapts to your growing business needs.
   Reliability & Security – Ensuring robust, bug-free, and secure software.
   Cost Efficiency – Saving time and resources with AI-driven automation.

Build Reliable Software with VTEST

At VTEST, we believe in delivering more than just testing—we ensure software excellence. By partnering with us, businesses can achieve top-tier performance, security, and user satisfaction.
Let’s work together to build flawless, high-quality software that stands out in the market. Partner with VTEST today!

Related: Agentic Testing: The Complete Guide to AI-Powered Software Testing

If you are thinking of outsourcing your security testing for your web app to some software testing company, you are reading the right blog post. This blog post is not a myth buster or marketing ploy or “grab a project” thing. We just wanted to speak about what we are good at.

Security Testing at VTEST is not a toolsmith job or some crappy work. For instance, our security specialist and OWASP CheatSheet Contributor will be testing for security if you are outsourcing security testing of your web app to us. Now, we come with great experience in hacking and we are intrinsically motivated. Nowadays, we also create awareness in testers across the globe.

Now, it may be difficult for you to decide about outsourcing based on what we say above. In such a case how about reading a testimonial from one of our customers for whom we performed security testing for a web app?

What elements do we test for your web app? Well, OWASP Top 10 is always on the list and we performed great on one of the security testing projects where we found 7 vulnerabilities out of OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. That was awesome and made our customer and us so happy! However, the beautiful thing is about going beyond OWASP Top 10 and making sure that we have tested most of the security aspects of your web app. We build tests based on the web app, business logic and many other attributes. We hate data theft, denial of service, unauthorized access and a lot more stuff as much as our customers do.

What makes us great at web app security testing? Well, mind-set and skill-set are two crucial ingredients that make our security testing great. Also, testers and developers of web apps working together to find vulnerabilities is something that we tried and tested. And the result was cool (We are referring to 7 out of top 10 OWASP vulnerabilities).

More information about our security testing services for web application or mobile web application can be found at https://www.vtestcorp.com/software-testing-and-quality-assurance-services/

Doesn’t get you convinced? We can speak more secrets through emails. Write to [email protected] and we would love to help you become better in security posture for your applications and your users are going to love you for it!

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Success Story

vTEST’s involvement leads to lower bugs in each release and overall higher quality, acting as a partner in initial processes and conversations. Communication is easy and prompt, and they constantly work to improve. They also provide valuable documentation and feedback after each release.

– CTO , Flight App, USA

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How VTEST can help

Whether the process is online or offline, on cloud or in storage, VTEST is having all the latest necessary software and hardware to test applications. With experts having a knack for Web service automation testing, VTEST is ready to change the game.

VTEST it!

 

 

Related: Penetration Testing: Definition, Need, Types, and Process

Software testing has undergone more change in the past three years than in the preceding decade. The landscape that existed when this post was first written — focused on Agile adoption, basic DevOps integration, and early AI/ML experiments — looks very different from where the industry stands in 2026. This post examines how software testing has changed, what the current landscape looks like, and what organisations need to prioritise to stay competitive in quality assurance.

The AI Revolution in Software Testing

The single biggest shift in the software testing landscape since 2022 is the integration of large language models and AI agents into QA workflows. What began as experimental tools for test case generation has matured into production-grade capability that is reshaping how testing is done at every stage of the development lifecycle.

LLMs like GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini can now read requirements, analyse code, and generate comprehensive test suites covering positive, negative, boundary, and edge cases — in seconds. AI-powered tools self-heal broken automation scripts, predict which tests are most likely to catch failures from a given code change, and evaluate visual regressions at scale across thousands of device/browser combinations.

The QA engineer’s role is evolving accordingly: from writing tests manually to orchestrating AI systems that generate and maintain tests, while applying human judgment to test strategy, quality risk assessment, and the exploratory testing that AI cannot replicate.

From Automation to Autonomous Testing

In 2022, the aspiration was “automate more regression testing.” In 2026, leading teams are pursuing autonomous testing: pipelines where AI agents handle test design, execution, and initial failure analysis without human direction between steps. Agentic testing systems — tools that chain LLM reasoning with tool use and environmental feedback — can be given a feature specification and return a full test execution report, ready for human review.

This is not universal yet. Most organisations are at an earlier stage — using AI for test generation assistance and intelligent test selection. But the trajectory is clear: human QA effort is concentrating at the decision-making layer (what quality level is acceptable, what risk is worth taking) while execution is increasingly automated or autonomous.

DevOps and CI/CD: Now Table Stakes

In 2022, CI/CD adoption was a differentiator. By 2026, it is table stakes. The question is no longer “do you have a pipeline?” but “how fast and reliable is your quality feedback loop within the pipeline?” The organisations that move fastest are those that have invested in:

• Predictive test selection: Running only the tests most relevant to a given commit, keeping CI times under 10 minutes even for large test suites
• Parallel execution: Distributing tests across multiple containers or cloud-based execution grids to eliminate the serial bottleneck
• Quality gates at every stage: Automated SAST, dependency scanning, and test coverage checks that block merges if quality thresholds are not met

The Security Testing Imperative

Supply chain attacks, ransomware-as-a-service, and AI-powered threat actors have made security testing a mandatory part of every release process — not an optional add-on for compliance purposes. The 2026 landscape requires:

• SAST and SCA (Software Composition Analysis) in every CI pipeline
• API security testing as part of functional QA (OWASP API Top 10 coverage)
• Regular penetration testing for consumer-facing and regulated applications
• Prompt injection testing for any application that integrates LLMs

The cost of finding security vulnerabilities post-production — in breach response, regulatory fines, and reputational damage — dwarfs the cost of finding them pre-release.

Cloud-Native Testing Challenges

Microservices, serverless functions, and container-based deployments have created testing challenges that monolithic application testing frameworks were never designed to address. Testing a modern cloud-native application requires:

• Contract testing: Verifying that service interfaces remain compatible as microservices evolve independently (Pact is the dominant framework for this)
• Chaos engineering: Deliberately injecting failures — latency, pod crashes, network partitions — to verify that systems degrade gracefully
• Observability-driven testing: Using production telemetry to design test scenarios that reflect real traffic patterns and failure modes
• Infrastructure testing: Validating that IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation) configurations are secure and correct before deployment

Mobile Testing in 2026

Mobile testing has grown in complexity significantly. iOS 18 and Android 15 introduced new APIs, new privacy controls, and new interaction paradigms that require test suite updates. Foldable devices and cross-screen UI testing have added new device categories to the test matrix. The proliferation of AI features in mobile applications (on-device LLMs, AI-powered camera features, personalised recommendations) has added non-deterministic testing challenges to mobile QA.

Cloud device farms (BrowserStack, AWS Device Farm, LambdaTest) make it practical to test across hundreds of device/OS combinations in CI pipelines. This capability is no longer a luxury — it is expected for any application with a significant mobile user base.

The Talent and Skills Landscape

The skills profile of an effective QA engineer in 2026 looks quite different from 2022. Demand has grown sharply for:

• Python and JavaScript/TypeScript scripting fluency for automation and AI tool integration
• Knowledge of modern automation frameworks: Playwright, Cypress, Appium, k6
• Understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Security testing fundamentals and OWASP knowledge
• AI literacy — how to prompt LLMs, evaluate AI output, and integrate AI tools into QA workflows

Pure manual testing roles have declined. Full-stack QA engineers and SDETs (Software Development Engineers in Test) with strong coding skills are the dominant demand in the market.

VTEST’s Perspective on the Changing Landscape

VTEST has been navigating and adapting to every shift described in this post since our founding. We have built AI-assisted testing capability, deepened our security testing practice, and grown our cloud-native and mobile testing expertise to match where the industry is. Our clients benefit from this continuous investment in staying current — we bring the latest tools, frameworks, and thinking to every engagement, so quality doesn’t fall behind the pace of development. If your testing practice needs updating to match the 2026 landscape, we should talk.

The process of software testing can be very tricky and hectic. In this process, Web service test automation solutions help in detecting and verifying the app’s effective communication. Also, it checks whether the app can access the functions from the web in a correct manner. Along with this, they also help in confirming the behavior of the web service that is connected to them in different situations. In simpler terms, these solutions can be said as an effective way to check if the services are meeting the terms of the basic business manifesto and the desired output is being delivered to the end-user.

As you know, Web services allow a seamless connection between two software apps over the internet and the respective private internets. The testing of these web services is utilized to verify the various approaches in which an individual web service works with managing load for a single client and balancing it with the rise in the number of users accessing it day by day.

Another aspect of web service testing is that it helps in avoiding the delay in the identification of errors. This in effect leads to more complicated and costly repairs. When this whole process gets automated, it gets much simpler and easy to repeat the tests whenever needed. Hence, the use of web services does not only help in developing sound but also assesses the performance, functionality, and scalability of them.

Web services automation – Need

A general ideal web service testing contains the following stages. It cannot be said that this is the only way to do this, but one should follow this basic general structure.

• Define the test inputs that are required.
• Generate skeleton or client code.
• Generate skeleton or client code for the web service.
• Implore the web service using the skeleton or client code.
• Verify the response in terms of comparison between actual and expected outcomes.

 Web Service Test Automation – Benefits

There are many pros to web service test automation. An organization can benefit by using this in several ways. We have made a list for you below. Check it out.

1. Improved performance and reliability of SOA:

First, let’s define SOA, SOA stands for Service Oriented Architecture. It is a set of different services that are connected by web services and communicate with each other. Now, this can either be a group of activities that engage in coordinating any other task or data transfer.

The reliability and mainly performance of these SOAs can be easily improved by utilizing web service test automation tools. It tests the ground on various factors and owes to their ability for effective communication.

2. Eases testing:

The process of web application testing can be hectic at times and using a web service test automation tool helps in simplifying it. It owes to their ability for effective communication with other apps. This further increases their ability to give away the desired performance. This is the reason one can go for using these tools for testing all the SOA and REST API based web services.

3. Supports cloud environment

In cloud computing, the user gets access to a shared pool of resources from various parts of the world. It is a type of computing architecture and software model. That shared pool generally consists of Applications, Computer networks, Servers, etc. Also, it can be provided quickly with very fewer management efforts, often over the internet.

If the web service testing automation tool is used when anyone is needed to run a test of web services that are on a cloud setup, testing becomes easy, quick, and sharp.

4. Simplifies testing over regression cycles

In regression testing, it is confirmed that whether the software’s previous version is running the same way as it was running earlier than the development of a newer version or any kind of interfacing with other software.

The efforts and time took to execute a regression cycle test become much less when the web service test automation tool is used.

5. Ensures complete testing of the product

When any test is executed by utilizing the web service test automation tools, it eliminates the possibility of forgetting any particular aspect of the software to test. It makes full use of the tool and guarantees 100% functional test coverage. This ultimately results in better performance.

Conclusion

We hope that the reasons mentioned above were helpful for you to get your testing plan ready. Remember to not be so ignorant towards these tools and success will follow.

How VTEST can help

Whether the process is online or offline, on cloud or in storage, VTEST is having all the latest necessary software and hardware to test application. With experts having a knack for Web service automation testing, VTEST is ready to change the game.

VTEST it!

 

Related: Best Practices for Test Automation Framework

 

We are very happy to share that VTEST is now a member of NASSCOM. Being a member of NASSCOM family will undoubtedly strengthen the company’s professional stature, team spirit and will make our clients rely on our awesome software testing & QA services even more than before.

 

 

 

“We are really delighted to have joined and become a member of NASSCOM. This allows VTEST to network with NASSCOM’s 2800 member firms in India as well as worldwide organizations having a presence in India.”   – Shak – Founder & CEO

 

 

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM, a not-for-profit industry association, is the apex body for the $227 billion dollar IT BPM industry in India, an industry that had made a phenomenal contribution to India’s GDP, exports, employment, infrastructure and global visibility. In India, this industry provides the highest employment in the private sector.

NASSCOM’s members, 3000+, constitute 90% of the industry’s revenue and have enabled the association to spearhead initiatives at local, national and global levels. In turn, the IT BPM industry has gained recognition as a global powerhouse.

 

About VTEST

VTEST is independent software testing company catering to product and services teams across North America, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore and India..

As an independent testing services firm, we empower our clients to develop the best software in terms of functionality, usability, performance, and scalability. We ease the testing effort for our clients by implementing smart test practices, improvised quality processes, reusable test frameworks, and delivery excellence. Our clients can therefore spend more time on prime activities such as design, development, innovation, research, and business process engineering.

Our service offerings include all types of Software Testing, Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, Project Management, Production Support. We offer these services through continuous (24X7, 24×5, 8×5) OR on-demand channels (hours/day, hours/week, hours/month) and are highly flexible.

 

Performance testing is a non-functional software testing technique that determines how well an application’s stability, speed, scalability, and responsiveness hold up under a given workload.It’s an important step in ensuring software quality, but it’s often seen as an afterthought, to be done after functional testing is finished, and, in most cases, after the code is ready for release.

In a closed performance testing environment setup, various techniques can be used to verify the performance of a software. This involves,

• The simplest form of testing, i.e. Load testing, is conducted to comprehend how the system behaves under a certain particular load.
• Stress testing takes place to verify a software’s ability to cope with the increased load. It helps in determining the maximum capability of the system in place.
• Endurance testing is another type of testing which checks the system’s capacity to perform in scenarios of continuous load.
• By abruptly increasing the number of users of the system and then deciding how the system performs under that load is done in Spike testing.

There are various ways in which accuracy can be achieved, and better results can be ensured in the test. By using a better performance testing environment setup, this can be easily achieved. Below is a list of possible ways to do this.

1. Detailed knowledge of AUT Production and Test Environment

The performance testing engineer is responsible to have proper knowledge and awareness of the AUT production environment like load balancing, server machines, and all other components of the system. Before starting the process of performance testing, these details must be recorded properly.

Also, an engineer must have the basic knowledge and awareness about AUT architecture. He/she should be able to ensure that the same architecture is being performed in the test environment. If there is any difference between the two, it can lead to a waste of production cost, time, and efforts.

2. Isolating the test environment

Whenever someone is using the system, it is essential to make sure that no activity is being carried out in the performance test environment. As you know, the results of every test are going to be different so, it can get difficult to execute a new bottleneck every time in the system test environment when there are other users currently present and active on the system.

Other than this, when an application server is undergoing any heavy load, it affects its performance. In effect, this might not allow the other actual-time application users to properly complete their tasks when the execution of a performance task is already in process.

3. Network Isolation

To achieve proper and accurate output in the performance test, sufficient network bandwidth is necessary. One must ensure that a certain bandwidth is achieved to initiate and regulate the test.If in case the network bandwidth happens to be low, timeout errors are produced by user requests. This is why one must ensure that there is maximum network bandwidth provided to the test environment by keeping the test network isolated from other users.

4. Test Data Generators

While validating any test, Database records play an important role. Hence, Database writing, updating, reading, deletion are the most performance-based actions in any software.

If the test is conducted on lesser database records as compared to the test records, there are high chances of the performance test failing in the production environment. Hence, the performance test engineer is responsible to make sure that both the aspects, Database, and test environment are having the same number of test records. If the database is small, it is recommended to utilize a tool and generate the required test data for a more accurate framework.

5. Removing proxy servers from the network path

If there is a proxy server present between the web server and the proxy server, then performance results can be affected highly. In this case, the client will certainly be served with information and data in the cache and hence will stop sending requests to the web server. Due to this, the AUT response time is lowered.

By transferring the web server to a secluded environment, a performance tester could easily deal with this. It can also be done by striking directly to the web server, that is, by editing the HOSTS file by taking in the server IP address.

Performance Testing Production Environment

Conducting a performance test in the production environment can have multiple effects. There are several advantages and disadvantages to this process. Let’s have a look at them.

Advantages:

• The verification of the performance test results executed in a test environment is possible.
• The complexities and recovery process of the application is well known.
• The reproduction of the production site data set is not needed.
• The cost and time involved in the test infrastructure are reduced.

Disadvantages:

• It is hard to detect the bottleneck root cause with real software users present in the system.
• When generating larger data on the production database, the database can become slower even after the execution of the test.
• The actual user base of the application receives a slower and buggy application.
• To properly achieve the performance test results, it is most likely that access to real users is blocked.

In the initial stages of testing, once the performance testing setup is ready, you can compare it with the production environment based on various factors such as load balancing strategy, application components, number of servers, hardware and software resources, etc.

Conclusion

It is important to have a good performance testing environment setup, and we hope that this blog helped you to gain some insights about how to do it properly. Remember that, above all, it is important that the required tests are conducted properly. This ensures that there are no pending faults in the software when it gets released.

How VTEST can help

Executing software performance testing in the production stage and setting it up optimally and efficiently is no easy task, and VTEST is good at it. With expert professionals at the desk and in the managing team, VTEST completes any given test with complete devotion and sharp brainpower.

VTEST it!

Related: An All-in-One Guide to Performance Testing

In the various types of software testing, performance testing is one of the main types as it is about testing the actual performance of the software.

When one talks about software performance testing, the main aspect of it has always been verification of the actual software before it has been developed. The primary goal of this process is to work as a diagnostic aid to detect errors in communication.

As it is stated by the experts, it is hard to state the correct definition of performance testing as it is utilized for varied functions base on various organizations and companies. In this article, we will see what is software performance testing and what are its various types.

Software Performance testing – Definition

Software Performance testing is performed to authenticate and check the quality metrics of the given software like reliability, Vigorousness, scalability, etc.

Different amounts of intense load conditions will be subjected to the software to check their behaviour and response. The output will be measured to analyze and predict various elements.

Software Performance testing – Types

Now, let’s dig into the various types of performance testing as the whole concept of Performance testing is relative to every individual software.

1. Load Testing

In this method, the intensity of load the software undergoes when it is increased and reached the maximum level is checked. Here, when we say increased load, it means that the number of simultaneous users is increased. Along with this, the number of simultaneous transactions is also increased and the overall behavior of the software under test situation is also checked.

Here, primarily the response time of the software is observed to make sure that the software is capable to carry that certain amount of load at any given time. This is the reason it is also called as Volume Testing.

2. Stress Testing

In this method, the stability of the software is checked when the hardware elements like Disk space, CPU, or Memory are not stable. It is an aspect of negative testing in which the software is loaded with many simultaneous users, which is out of capacity for the software.

Stress testing can be said as a type of non-functional testing, as it tests the aspects of the software which are non-functional. Also, it’s carried out under a controlled situation. This allows it to capture irregular scenarios and correct them.

3. Throttle Testing

In this method, a load is tested on the software at a limited speed. This is done to verify the speed at which the website will load for end-users who might have connectivity issued or low connectivity. Tools like Speed simulators, traffic sharpers, etc. are used in this type.

4. Endurance Testing

In this method, the software is tested for a long time with a fixed amount of load on it. The long-term load behavior of the software is observed here. Let’s say, certain software is designed to work properly for 5 hours. Here, it will be tested for 10 hours straight to check its behavior.

This is generally done to check for any memory leaks or system fails. It is also known as Soak testing.

5. Spike Testing

This method is a bit similar to stress testing. The only difference here is that the load volume is increased simultaneously, and the workload is kept for a longer time.

The actual testing time here is longer than the anticipated functioning time. If any unknown behavior is found, it is tapped and rectified at the very moment.

6. Smoke Testing

In this method, the software is run on a smaller load compared to its capacity. When the test is run, if the software generates smoke, then it becomes clear that the software has some error in its script.

This is one of the most simple tests and is considered as a verification test conducted before the software is launched, or larger tests are run.

7. Capacity Testing

In this method, the software is tested for the load it can handle at any given moment. When one knows the number of users the software can handle, he/she has better visibility of predicted events that might act as a barrier for your website growth. It works as a confirmation test to avoid any future problems, especially if one decides to increase the volume of the data.

8. Component Testing

In this method, the functionality of a particular part of your software is checked. Simpler but essential elements like shopping cart, chart feature, file upload, email function, search function, etc. are checked.

9. Peak Testing

In this method, one exposes the software with increased load for a small-time and regular peaks in simultaneous users. This is done to analyze how the software will behave in the real-life, similar situation.

10. Scalability Testing

This method is usually carried out at the developmental stage of the software and also just before the release. Here, one is supposed to check how the software will program when another software is added to the same server. One can also improve loading time during this type of testing.

Its general aim is to find out the peak intensity at which the software is preventing more scaling.

Software Performance testing – Common issues observed

Now, after analyzing the various types of software performance testing, let’s have a look at the different issues that can occur while testing the software.

1. Poor Scalability

It can happen that if the system is not able to handle the predicted intensity of load, then the loading time will get delayed. This will result in unexpected benefits that can have a bad impact on CPU usage, Network configuration, Memory, Disk usage, Operating system, etc.

2. Bottlenecking

When the software is not capable enough to handle the load, the data flow is interrupted or halted. This issue is about that error.

3. Insufficient Hardware Resource

Here, the lack of good hardware technology will result in memory shortage and/or CPUs won’t perform well.

4. Software Configuration Problem

This one is a minor problem. It occurs when the configuration setting is set so low that the system can handle more. To solve this, just some minor changes in software configuration settings is enough.

Software Performance Testing – Best Practices

1. Remember that performance testing can also be used to test individual scenarios as well as the entire system.
2. Ensure that there are testers and IT developers involved in the process. This makes it an all-around process and transition time is saved.
3. Decide a high-level plan before taking the test.
4. Configure Database test sets, Test environment, Quiet network, Router configuration, etc.
5. Run this test as early as possible in the developmental stage. This will allow you to conduct small trials that are successful rather than a single bigger trial that has many smaller problems.
6. Testing a single part multiple times helps to ensure that the test results are consistent.
7. Ensure what you need internally and externally before you execute the test.
8. Devise a script for proof-of-concept for software under test.
9. Run a dry test to check the script before executing the actual test.

Software Performance testing -Process

1. Test environment identification – Detect the Tools required, Goals that need to be completed, Physical test environment of the test.
2. Identify performance acceptance criteria – Detect different characteristics such as Throughput, Constraints, Response time, and Resource-use goals.
3. Plan and design tests – Select the desired tools, prepare test environment, decide the strategy, etc.
4. Configure the test environment – Get ready with all the resources that are needed to execute the tests.
5. Implement test design – Develop and design a test design.
6. Execute the test – Run the test, monitor, validate, and collect the test data.
7. Analyze test results, make reports, and retest – Combine the test output data and analyze it. According to the results, decide if a re-test is required.

Conclusion

Performance testing of any given software is as important as any other type. It cannot be ignored as it is the visible user experience of the software. We hope this article has insightfully helped you.

How VTEST can help

At VTEST, we perform multiple testing methods with robust nature. It is our strength that we do not compromise the testing quality and take pride in having one of the most efficient testing companies around.

VTEST it!

 

Related: An All-in-One Guide to Performance Testing

In today’s mobile world, even when the companies try hard to keep the software safe and secure, any software has its own set of errors and vulnerabilities. As different aspects of our lives are becoming digital and more technical, the need for security testing is increasing day by day.

Security testing looks into the following aspects of software:.

• Authorization
• Availability
• Non-repudiation
• Authentication
• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Resilience

In this blog, we will look at the major types of security threats, the need for security testing, different kinds of security testing tools and the techniques used.

Security testing: Need

Now, let’s discuss in detail why security testing is necessary for software. Several reasons can be stated to answer this. Below is a list.

• If you don’t focus on building a secure network, your company’s customer count will be on a decline.
• As the customer count gets low, revenue will be affected.
• Budget-wise, it is more helpful to test the software and rectify the bugs earlier rather than correcting the mistakes later.
• Extra expenses in the future can be saved if you have a better security code.
• If the security code in your software gets attacked, the personal information of your customers can be leaked, and they can sue you for that.

Types of Cyber-Attacks

The definition of crime in today’s world is changing, and cyber-attacks and digital threats have become a common aspect. In this, there are various kinds of breaches. Many of these attacks can cost the company extra money and unnecessary time and attention. Let’s dig deeper into the various types of these threats.

SQL Injection

Here, the breach occurs when the attacker puts harmful SQL statements into the entry field for execution. This might lead to a leakage of classified information from the server database. This is why SQL injection is dangerous. Properly checking various aspects of the software like comments, text boxes, etc., this can be prevented. This generally occurs when there are some loopholes and weak links in the system. Also, the correct usage of special characters in the input is necessary.

Privilege Elevation

Here, the hackers use their already existing accounts to raise the privileges to a more upper level than they deserve. If they become successful in doing this, the privilege is used to run the code, and hence, the system eventually gives in.

URL Manipulation

Here, attackers change the URL query string to access the information. Using the HTTP GET method to pass information between the server and the client is a practice that many software follows. These are quite prone to such attacks. In this method, the information flow is in the parameter in the query string. That is why the tester must modify the parameters to check if the server is accepting it.

Unauthorized Data Access

Here, the hackers gain access to the data and the information by illegal and unauthorized means. This consists of,

• Using information-fetching operations to have access.
• Having access to the client authentication information is reusable. This is done by keeping track of the success of others.
• Gaining access to the data by regulating others’ access.

Data Manipulation

Here, the hackers gain access to the software data and change it for their profit. They also do it to humiliate the owner of the software. This is done by gaining access to the HTML pages of the website.

Identity Spoofing

Here, the hackers, utilize the credentials of an authentic user or device only to attack the network hosts, to gain the advantage over accessing controls, and also for data theft. Network-level mitigations and IT infrastructure is required to avoid and tackle such attacks.

Denial of Service

Here, the hacker’s primary goal is to freeze a specific system or network resource so that it becomes unavailable for actual authenticated users. If this takes place, the whole system can be at risk of unusable.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Here, the hackers insert the script from the client’s side into the web pages designed for other users. This manipulates them into clicking the URL. This is one of the significant risks found in web applications. After that URL click, the code changes how the website behaves and allows the hacker to execute personal data and critical information theft.

Preventive measures

So these were the types of cyber-attacks that usually take place in the software criminal zone. Now, let’s dig into some solutions to these threats.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

The verification of cross-site scripting must be done by the testers on any given web application. A tester must make sure that the software does not accept any HTML or script. If it is accepting, then it can be said to be potentially prone to XSS. This gives the hacker the space to put up harmful scripts in the software. Also, the hacker can manipulate the User’s browser’s URL for a major level of data theft. It must be performed for greater-than, apostrophe, and less-then signs.

Ethical Hacking

This is done by organizations and/or individuals to detect potential vulnerabilities in the given software. This provides a proper way for the hacker to have access to the main security code of the system. White hats, also known as ethical hackers, try to breach=h into the software to check for vulnerabilities that any potential hacker can use to their advantage.

Password Cracking

Many a time, attackers break into the system by using password cracking tools to guess the commonly used passwords. This way, they gain access to private data and extort it. These widely used passwords can be easily found on the web with open-source password cracking tools. Hence, it is essential to test password cracking.

Penetration Testing

It can be called an authorized and regulated attack on the given system, software, or network to check for security loopholes and weak links that the attackers can insert. For a deeper understanding of this method, see our guide on penetration testing.

Security scanning

This program identifies web application vulnerabilities by establishing communication with the software through the web front-end.

Security auditing

In security auditing, a systematic evaluation of the security of an organization’s data and information system is done. It is intended to check how well it complies with the given guidelines.

Risk analysis

The verification of potential future risks is done here. Each risk is measured and analyzed. The defects are identified and then rectified. If this is done after the software release, it gets pretty expensive.

This is why it becomes essential to properly analyze the different types of risks and detect the areas in the system that are most vulnerable to security risks. To reduce the risk of security threats after the release, acting earlier on understanding the vulnerabilities helps.

SQL injection

These types of attacks are generally very harmful. The attackers try to steal private and confidential data from the server database. Ideally, when any tester puts a single quote (‘) in the textbox, it should get rejected by the software. On the other hand, if the software shows a database error, it means that the application has executed any input inserted in the query.

The above-explained scenario means that the software is more vulnerable to security threats. But what is the method to detect or identify the areas of the software that are liable to such attacks?

One should detect a code database of the application where direct MySQL queries are executed by taking in any user inputs. SQL injection testing can be executed for brackets, question marks, apostrophes, and quotation marks.

Posture assessment

This is a combination of Security scanning, Ethical hacking, and risk assessment. It is used to decide the overall security posture of a company.

Vulnerability scanning

This helps to detect the area in the given software or network that is vulnerable to threats and detect the security threats.

Testing for URL manipulation

If an application is using the HTTP GET method for client-server communication, it becomes easy for the hackers to manipulate the URL of that application. As discussed earlier, this involves the information flow through parameters in the query string. In this case, the tester should check if any private or confidential data is being flown through the query strings. Along with this, it should be made sure that the server is not accepting any invalid and non-authentic parameter values in the query strings.

Tools

Now, after having a look at types of cyber-attacks and their subsequent solutions, let’s see the different types of tools used for security testing.

Application testing tools

This type of tool helps detect the potential future vulnerabilities that are present in your application before the release. It gives you a proper time frame to correct the bugs. Examples of this type of tool are IBM Rational Robot, Apache JMeter, Selenium, Rational Functional Tester (RFT), etc.

Code review tools

This helps in assessing the application source code. This detects mistakes that are made in the developmental phase. This results in polishing the developer’s skills and good maintenance of the overall quality and security of the application. An example of this type of tool is Crucible, A collaborator by Smart Bear, Reviewable, etc.

Penetration testing tools

Often, it is not enough to execute manual testing to detect all the risks present in the software. Sin such cases, Penetration testing tools play an essential role. By performing penetration tests, some of the tasks are automatized. This makes the testing process more efficient and identifies the errors that are not identifiable during manual testing. Examples of this type of testing are Wire shark, CORE Impact, Metasploit, w3af, etc.

Runtime Application Self Protection (RASP)

This one is an inbuilt security technology in software. This helps to detect and tackle real-time software attacks.

Security review software

Often, organizations tend to outsource the developing process of their application. Many a time, they also may use third-party software. In aby case, the outsourced applications come in with many risks. Security review software helps detect the threats that come with this software.

Software testing tools

As the security on the enterprise layers increases, hackers are now shifting their eyes towards the application layer. The result of this is that they are now prone to 90% of the vulnerabilities in the application. The way to protect your application from these vulnerabilities is to test the software and analyze the code in detail. It must be done from the initial stages of the SDLC. Examples of these types of tools are Coded UI Test, Unified Functional Testing, Selenium, Sahi, etc.

Vulnerability assessment tools

This helps one detect the upcoming potential risks and avoid them before they hamper the business and your reputation. Examples of this type of tool are Nmap, DB-Scan, STAT, etc.

Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing tools (VAPT)

Penetration testing and Vulnerability assessment testing are two wholly different kinds of testing methods with different strengths. When these two are combined, it becomes much easier to achieve an overall analysis of the application.

Vulnerability scanning

As noted earlier, organizations outsource their application development to a third party. This doesn’t guarantee to receive back a genuine bug-and risk-free product. Here, Vulnerability scanning helps to detect loopholes, weak links, harmful codes, and other threats in the software.

Conclusion

It is not easy to maintain software. A process of regular testing and detection of bugs is necessary for the application to run smoothly. If not, the security of the software is at stake, and ultimately the privacy and confidential data of the users are at risk.

To avoid misuse and attacks, security testing is a must.

How VTEST can help

With a strong and regularly tested code of its application, VTEST is here to make a radical mark in the security testing field. With professionals constantly at work to give a secure code to the clients, VTEST is here to help your application become stronger and safer.

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