Developer Strengthens Security App by Adopting an Attacker's Mindset

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A software developer building a desktop security application called ATLOCK shifted from standard functional testing to adversarial testing by asking how each feature could be bypassed or misused. This change in perspective revealed vulnerabilities that normal testing had completely missed, including issues triggered by repeated wrong password attempts. The developer found that a working feature and a secure feature are not the same thing, as flaws often only surface under intentional misuse. Some discoveries required rewriting entire modules, while others needed only minor fixes, but none were ignored. The experience led the developer to permanently adopt the habit of asking 'How would I break this?' before considering any feature complete.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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