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Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
I'm assuming you mean "manual testing" in the context of ethical hacking. Given that you need to consider looking at your app from every possible angle as both an untrusted outsider and a trusted user. Look at things using multiple role levels if you have them. You need to consider what can be thrown at the application in the form of input both in forms and URLs. You'll also want to see what can happen when you disable JavaScript, field length maximums, and so on. A malicious mindset a Web browser are two of the best things you can use to test your Web apps for security flaws so practice, practice, practice.
If you are indeed dealing in terms of "ethical hacking," I can certainly point you in some positive directions and to some good resources. Recently, I have written a number of tips and expert responses dealing with hacking one's own application and or software. Here is a list of a few of them I hope you will find useful.
This was first published in October 2009