Software Maintenance

Software Maintenance

Software maintenance is an extremely wide activity that includes error correction, deletion of obsolete capabilities, enhancements of capabilities, and optimization. Because change is inevitable, mechanisms must be developed for assessment, controlling and assembly modifications. Software Maintenance is the process of modifying a software product after it has been delivered to the customer. The main purpose of software maintenance is to modify and update software application after delivery to correct faults and to improve performance.

Need for Maintenance –
Software Maintenance must be performed in order to:

• Correct faults.
• Improve design.
• Implement enhancements.
• Interface with other systems.
• Accommodate programs so that different hardware, software, system features, and telecommunications facilities can be used.
• Migrate legacy software.
• Retire software.

There are four types of maintenance, namely, corrective, adaptive, perfective, and preventive.

1. Adaptive Maintenance - modify the system to handle changes in the software environment. Adaptive maintenance includes changes to the functionality of the system developed for particular user requirement and needs. Adaptive maintenance also implies the need for modifications of certain functionalities, although the system works as estimated and there is no fault or error in the system. It generally occurs when there comes to an alteration in legal norms or a shift in the political business users. Adaptive maintenance includes modifications and updations when the customers need the product to run on new platforms, on new operating systems, or when they need the product to interface with new hardware and software.

2. Perfective Maintenance - implement new or changed user requirements which concern functional enhancements to the software. Modification of a software product after delivery to identify and correct hidden faults in the software product before they become effective faults. Enhances the performance of resources by increasing uptime. Enhances user (internal or external) service because maintenance teams have fewer unplanned maintenance and can react quicker to latest problems. A software product needs maintenance to support the new features that the users want or to change different types of functionalities of the system according to the customer demands.

3. Corrective Maintenance - diagnose and fix errors, possibly ones found by users.  Corrective maintenance is concerned with fixing errors that are observed when the software is in use. Corrective maintenance most frequently referred to as bugs, is the most usual change associated with maintenance work. Corrective maintenance addresses errors, bugs, and faults in software that could affect various areas of software, design, code, and logic. Most commonly these changes are sprung by bug reports created by users.

4.Preventive Maintenance - increase software maintainability or reliability to prevent problems in the future. Preventive maintenance refers to changes made to increase the understanding and maintainability of software in the extended run. Preventive maintenance is focused in decreasing the deterioration of software in the long run. Optimizing code, restructuring, and updating documentation are common preventive changes. Executing preventive maintenance reduces the quantity of unpredictable effects software can have in the extensive term and helps it become stable, scalable, understandable, and maintainable.

Read More

Cyber Attacks During COVID-19

Cyber Attacks During COVID-19

A cyber attack is intentional exploitation of computer systems, networks, and technology-dependent enterprises. These attacks use malicious code to modify computer code, data, or logic.

We will discuss the common types of attacks:

Phishing Attack: Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. ... An attack can have devastating results. It happens when an attacker, posing as a trusted individual, tricks the victim to open a text message, email, or instant message.

Malware Attack: A malware attack is when cybercriminals create malicious software that's installed on someone else's device without their knowledge to gain access to personal information or to damage the device, usually for financial gain. ... At least one type of malware attack is growing. Malware is a code that is made to stealthily affect a compromised computer system without the consent of the user. Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, ...The 5 most common malware types are viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, spyware, and ransomware.

• Virus. Viruses are designed to damage its target computer by corrupting data, reformatting your hard disk, or completely shutting down your system. ...
• Worm. ...
• Trojan Horse. ...
• Spyware. ...
• Ransomware.

Web Attacks: Cyberattacks on web applications are increasingly common. As more and more governments and businesses move their services online, web applications become an easy target for cybercriminals. Web attacks are one of the biggest threats to corporate security and data security. seven most common types of attacks are:

*SQL injection attack

*Cross site scripting (XSS) attack

*Denial-of-service (DoS)/ distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack

*OS command injection attack

*LDAP injection attack

*Brute force attack

*Zero-day attack

Cyber Security Threats :

• Social Hacking. “Employees are still falling victim to social attacks. ...
• Ransomware. Businesses of all sizes are being increasingly targeted in Ransomware attacks. ...
• Use Active Cyber Security Monitoring. ...
• Unpatched Vulnerabilities/Poor Updating. ...
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS) Attacks.

There are many examples of web applications such as webmail, login forms, content management systems or shopping carts. Developers use a combination of server-side script (ASP, PHP, etc.) and client-side script (HTML, JavaScript, etc.) to develop these applications – but both sides have vulnerabilities that can lead to a web application attack. 

The analysis of this year’s results continues to reaffirm that the web application vector is a major and significant threat to the security of organizations of any size, anywhere in the world, whether they take security steps or not. Web application vulnerabilities pose an increasingly serious threat to the security posture of organizations as a whole. Now is the best time to take a serious look at how automation can help make your application security more holistic and agile.

Read More