Control is one of the most important parts of corporate security. It’s difficult to protect sensitive information if you don’t have authority over the information system that hosts it. Controlling processes in a distributed multichannel network with a geographically diverse workforce is always more difficult than controlling processes in your own secure environment. However, with an offsite or offshore group, this is not always possible. Physical security approaches won’t work here, therefore you’ll have to deploy control over a distributed network on a rational level, with some tweaking for the team’s internal operations. 

1. Practices to set up a Secure Test Environment 

The following are the key categories of practices and tools for setting up a secure test environment:  

1.1 Infrastructure 

It’s relatively straightforward to have two or more groups of QA engineers working on the same project at various offices. This is usually something that your sysadmin/DevOps does on a daily basis. Secure gateways and virtual channel protocols with defined settings are used to connect the workplace networks.  

However, in today’s environment, it’s becoming more normal for some, if not all, teammates to join the company’s or project network autonomously from their remote locations. From a technical standpoint, such a framework offers some advantages while also posing additional obstacles.   

You won’t have much control over the various remote devices. Even if a corporation provides a laptop or a phone to a remote QA, it will be tough to track how the product is used. As a result, the primary security measures must be adopted by the organization. To link the remote QA work device to the internal network, a mandatory VPN channel, such as Cisco AnyConnect, will be utilized, and further accessibility to the test environment will be regulated using standard internal security processes. 

Popular device-independent channels (Skype, Slack, etc.) are commonly used for team communication. All teammates, especially those who work remotely, should use special corporate accounts and engage in conversations and discussions from their work devices whenever possible. The final condition, once again, is hard to regulate for remote employees. 

The same rules apply to email accounts and shared data storage. Nowadays, most projects use Google Drive and Google Mail for both purposes because it is a safe and convenient platform. The client’s own server is frequently required, which shifts some of the control duty from the outsourcing business to the client. We also have the option of using a secure internal cloud. 

Maintaining control over test servers is critical regardless of how dispersed the QA team is. Members of the team can access them and even run CI jobs to acquire an unscheduled update or perform auto tests. However, based on project configuration, the project manager, the tech lead, or the product owner from the client end must make the final decision in any challenging situation. 

 1.2 QA Processes  

The focus on QA processes is the most critical component of developing a secure QA environment. It’s not only about what you do to ensure safety; it’s also about how you do it. Corporate culture plays a role in the process aspect of security.  

You must ensure that teams are adhering to them. Enthusiasm is the greatest method to ensure it, and micromanagement should be avoided wherever possible. A committed teammate should care about the project’s success. When you include a clear and comprehensive structure of duties, you’ll be able to avoid most security threats and promptly resolve any disasters.  

You either have to monitor and log some essential procedures if the team is new or if a defined culture hasn’t yet been formed. Even if you have a positive culture, some logging in the project network should be done in case of a security issue, such as illegal access, where some hints could be utilized to figure out what went wrong. It’s also necessary to support versioning for all key documents — Google Docs comes with it by standard — so you can always definitely turn if something significant is accidentally destroyed.  

Your team’s flexibility will be determined by the balance of trust and micromanagement. A remote team must strike the right mix between security policing and productive cooperation. 

1.3 Regulations and Policies 

Teams can now work on developing policies that will govern how this infrastructure is used. To avoid some of the common mistakes that introduce security vulnerabilities into a distributed QA environment, the team must establish internal standards, follow best practices, and adhere to rigorous company policies.  

Access limitations and regulations for using shared documents and data should be covered in the initial set of policies. Many of the core features of these principles are addressed when establishing infrastructure, such as document sharing via Google Drive and defining a team hierarchy to determine who has access to which documents. This is expanded at the policy level to ensure that only business accounts have access to the data. This will also prohibit the same individual from using several accounts, which can create disruption.  

For documentation, the same accessibility rights and restrictions regulations can be applied. Having an internal hierarchy can assist teams in deciding, for example, that crucial documents should only be accessible to the customer and the project manager.  

Finally, in an ideal scenario, a customer or an outsourcing provider would supply specialized work devices to an offshore or off-site staff. Remote QAs, on the other hand, are frequently forced to utilize their own. Some ways can still be utilized to maintain control in this situation, depending on the project’s characteristics and network architecture. The QAs may be asked, in particular, to minimize connecting these devices to insecure networks, such as unprotected public WIFI’s, and to assume accountability for their work credentials and critical project information to ensure that it is not disclosed to a third party. 

 1.4 Risks and Obstacles 

Any security measure’s biggest risk is how strictly it’s implemented. It’s all too easy to skip the preliminaries in order to save time, especially when the deadline is approaching. A scenario like this has happened to almost every team at some point. When there is even a modest risk of crucial data loss or sensitive information breaches, however, the cost of failure might be prohibitively expensive. On the other hand, overcomplicating an infrastructure due to ineffective security measures can restrict a team’s productivity and impair individual performance. Time losses or miscommunication within the team due to a lack of knowledge of roles and responsibilities might result in a failure to produce results on time. That is why teamwork and flexibility are important.  

The QA team may be too stiff to match the client’s policies if it lacks flexibility. Even if it requires relying extensively on micromanagement, the client’s wishes and policies should be obeyed.  A client’s security policy, on the other hand, is the basic minimum that a dispersed QA team should strive for. If team members discover that the client’s policies are permissive, going above and beyond what was requested may be beneficial in the long term.  

Remote QA teams want to keep sensitive data safe in test environments, therefore they always bring up any troublesome circumstance or loophole they identify and make sure the customer is aware of the threat. It is the team’s obligation to maintain high productivity and efficient QA processes while avoiding any key security rules. 

 2. Best Practices/Tips for Continual Improvement 

• Each team must carry out its task responsibly and learn as they go, closing gaps as they go and adhering to best practices. 
• Each project presents its own set of challenges, and even if it turns out to be a data security disaster, you can learn from it to enhance your infrastructure, rules, and strategy for remote team building. Clear requirements and corporate guidelines should be maintained by teams. Because making changes on the fly might impede the entire development process, it’s better to invest some extra time creating infrastructure, regulations, and processes before work begins. 

Finally, effective communication is the key to security, which begins with making things plain to clients. It is preferable to spend time discussing and clarifying all criteria and specific instances in depth rather than discovering severe underlying issues near the end of a project. Our infrastructure at TestDel is among the safest and healthiest available, ensuring that your data is never compromised. With few security threats, our technical crew is well-equipped and ready to operate in this situation.

Do you require assistance setting up a secure testing environment? You might decide to collaborate with a company like TestDel that offers QA services. TestDel is a leading quality assurance company with over 5 years of experience in providing all testing-related services to ensure the successful delivery of programmes. Our principal focus is to provide end-to-end quality assurance services around the world to Software Development firms and end clients. Our test teams work with organizations across all industries to meet all testing challenges effectively.

We are experts in manual and automated testing for web, desktop, mobile, cloud, and cross-platform software solutions. We’re here to make sure platforms are tested thoroughly on time and within budget to improve how the software works for the people who use it. You can trust our team of experienced and highly qualified professionals from reputed technology and management institutions who are domain experts from various industries including IT, Telecom Retail, Aviation, Utility, and Banking. Please Contact Us for more information.