What is Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)?

Definition

DAST

What is Dynamic Application Security Testing?

A black-box security testing technique that analyzes a running application from the outside by sending malicious inputs and observing its responses, without access to source code. DAST tools simulate real-world attacks against live systems, identifying vulnerabilities that only manifest at runtime, such as injection flaws, authentication weaknesses, and server misconfigurations. DAST complements SAST by finding issues that static analysis cannot detect.

A white-box security testing approach that analyzes application source code, bytecode, or compiled binaries for vulnerability patterns without executing the program.

Penetration Testing →

A structured, authorized simulation of a real-world cyberattack against a system, network, or application with the goal of identifying exploitable vulnerabilities before malicious actors do.

Vulnerability Assessment →

A systematic process of identifying, classifying, and prioritizing security weaknesses in a system without attempting to exploit them.

CI/CD Security →

The practice of integrating automated security testing and policy enforcement directly into software build and deployment pipelines.

Put this into practice

CI/CD penetration testing →

See how Penetrify's autonomous AI agents find and validate this class of security issue in your application.

What is Dynamic Application Security Testing?

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