Measuring Software Resilience: A QA Approach to Cybersecurity Incident Response Readiness

Abstract

The increasing rate and complexity of the cyber threats have further reinforced the importance of software resilience as one of the key dimensions of organizational security. The historical approaches to quality assurance (QA) have been mainly aimed at the assurance of functional accuracy and performance effectiveness, but the contemporary security environment requires a wider outlook that involves the notion of resilience and incident response preparedness as quantifiable results of quality assurance activities. This paper examines the QA-based approach to assessing the resilience of software with consideration given to cybersecurity response to incidents. With the alignment of fault tolerance testing, penetration and stress testing, error detection testing and automated response testing probes and QA methodologies in place, the framework offers an ordered way of testing how well software systems can endure, adapt and recover to security incidents. The examples of high-profile cyber incidences within recent cases reveal the loopholes that present themselves when resilience is not incorporated into the QA cycles and the importance of resilience metrics as a proactive defence. It is discussed in terms of the two-fold advantage that resilience testing adds to QA pipelines: it improves the organizational ability to respond to a hazard, and it allows improvement to continue indefinitely, as performance metrics allow gauging its performance. The obstacles, including resource allocation, the changing threat vectors, and the necessity of the cross-disciplinary cooperation, are recognized, as well as the possibilities of introducing the resilience metrics into the DevSecOps work practices. Finally, the paper suggests redefining QA as not a technical gatekeeper, but as a strategic facilitator of cybersecurity resiliency, which can provide organizations with a viable pathway on the way to more efficient incident response preparedness.