Tabnine vs. Codeium

Posted on March 29th, 2023

The demand for reliable, accurate AI coding assistants is growing fast (let’s just say our sales team’s inboxes are currently flooded). Many enterprise R&D teams are currently exploring the capabilities of different tools, but it can be challenging to find an AI platform that not only provides accurate coding assistance but also provides enterprise-grade security and privacy while meeting the specific needs of each R&D team.

This post compares Tabnine Enterprise to Codeium for Enterprises, based on a range of key parameters that are critical to developers and R&D enterprise teams. By examining the capabilities of each tool, we aim to help you make an informed decision about which AI code assistant is right for your needs:

Price: Price point for each user in the organization
Context-awareness: What level of context can the different AI models take into account when providing suggestions?
Open source compliance: Each company’s practices regarding the code that the AI models are trained on
Ability to train AI models on private code: The code that the AI models can be trained on
Code privacy: Privacy controls offered by each solution
Enterprise deployment: Deployment options available to the customer

Table comparison of Tabnine Enterprise vs. Codeium for Enterprises

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Drilling down further into Tabnine Enterprise vs. Codeium for Enterprises

This section takes a more in-depth look at how the two solutions compare.

Price

Tabnine Enterprise charges $20 per user, while the cost of Codeium for Enterprises isn’t as straightforward and depends on the customer and their needs.

Inline code completions within the IDE and chat

Both Tabnine and Codieum offer inline code completions within the IDE, as well as chat.

Open source compliance

The use of code to train an AI solution’s models can have legal ramifications for customers using the solution.

Tabnine’s AI models are exclusively trained on code licensed under permissive licenses. This approach guarantees full transparency and attribution, which is critical in ensuring that Tabnine isn’t subject to the copyleft provisions of GPL licenses. By adhering to this policy, Tabnine can safeguard its users and customers from potential legal repercussions.
Furthermore, this practice aligns with Tabnine’s objective of respecting the original intent of code authors and maintaining good faith with the wider developer community.

It’s unclear whether or not Codeium’s models are trained on OpenAI or if they’re trained on nonpermissive licenses.

Air-gapped deployment

Tabnine Enterprise offers customers the option to self-host, deploying on the customer’s VPC or on-premises. Tabnine also supports cases where the customer network is air-gapped and can’t access the internet.

On the other hand, Codeium allows its enterprise customers the option of deploying on the customer’s VPC only. Running on a cloud (even a private cloud) means that code needs to leave the premises, which isn’t viable for some enterprises.

Ability to train AI models on private code

Tabnine Enterprise allows its customers to connect their own code repositories to its AI models, with the option to link specific models to particular repositories based on team or project needs. This feature allows the models to adapt and learn the organization’s unique coding practices, naming conventions, and preferred styles, resulting in highly relevant and context-sensitive code suggestions.

By leveraging this functionality, companies can streamline the onboarding and training process for new team members and junior developers, significantly reducing the burden on senior developers. The AI models learn from the company’s own code repositories, resulting in improved accuracy and efficiency in suggesting code, while maintaining consistency with the organization’s established practices.

Codeium trains its models on different coding languages and then fine-tunes the models on its customer’s codebase.

Code privacy

Tabnine Enterprise prioritizes the confidentiality and security of its enterprise customers’ code, ensuring that customer code and training data are never transmitted to Tabnine or used to train its general AI models. This guarantees that customers’ sensitive and proprietary information remains strictly private and protected.

Additionally, Tabnine Enterprise offers flexible deployment options for its customers, allowing them to install the tool on their virtual private cloud (VPC) or on-premises. By enabling customers to have full control over their data and where it is stored, Tabnine Enterprise ensures that their customers’ privacy needs are fully met.

Codeium, however, uses its customer’s code for telemetry purposes, although it’s possible to opt out of this option.

About Tabnine

Since launching our first AI coding assistant in 2018, Tabnine has pioneered generative AI for software development. Tabnine helps development teams of every size use AI to accelerate and simplify the software development process without sacrificing privacy and security. Tabnine boosts engineering velocity, code quality, and developer happiness by automating the coding workflow through AI tools customized to your team. With more than one million monthly users, Tabnine typically automates 30–50% of code creation for each developer and has generated more than 1% of the world’s code.

Unlike generic coding assistants, Tabnine is the AI that you control:

Tabnine ensures the privacy of your code and your engineering team’s activities. Tabnine lives where and how you want it to — deployed as protected SaaS for convenience, on-premises for you to lock down the environment, or on VPC for the balance of the two. Tabnine guarantees zero data retention, and we never use your code, data, or behaviors to feed our general models.

Tabnine is also personalized to your team. Tabnine uses best-of-breed LLMs (which we’re constantly improving and evolving) and is context-aware of your code and patterns. This means that Tabnine provides coding suggestions and chat responses that take your internal standards and engineering practices into account.

Tabnine works the way you want, in the tools you use. Tabnine supports a wide scope of IDEs and languages, improving and adding more all the time. Tabnine also provides engineering managers with visibility into how AI is used in their software development process and the impacts it is having on team performance.

Try free for 90 days, or contact us to learn how we can help your engineering team be happier and more productive.

HIPAA cybersecurity requirements

Posted on March 28th, 2023

What Is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. law that was enacted in 1996. It sets national standards for protecting sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

HIPAA applies to healthcare warehouses, health plans, and certain healthcare providers, including doctors, hospitals, and other types of medical facilities. The law includes provisions for maintaining the security and privacy of protected health information (PHI), as well as standards for electronic healthcare transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.

HIPAA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), part of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR is in charge of investigating complaints and enforcing HIPAA compliance. They have the authority to impose fines and penalties for non-compliance, as well as take legal action against entities that violate HIPAA regulations. Additionally, state attorneys general also have the authority to take enforcement action against HIPAA covered entities under certain circumstances.

HIPAA enforces many requirements related to IT and computing, and among these are detailed cybersecurity requirements. In this article we explain how your organization should adapt its cybersecurity program to meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

HIPAA Cybersecurity Requirements

Risk Analysis and Management

HIPAA requires relevant organizations and individuals (covered entities) and their business partners to conduct risk analyses as part of their overall risk management process. The risk analysis is used to identify and assess potential vulnerabilities and risks to electronic protected health information (ePHI), focusing on maintaining its integrity, availability, and confidentiality. It is a critical step in implementing adequate technical, physical, and administrative protections to secure ePHI.

The risk analysis process should include:

Identifying and documenting all systems and applications that contain or transmit ePHI.
Identifying and assessing potential risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI, such as unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.
Evaluating the likelihood of identified risks and their potential impact.
Implementing appropriate safeguards to address identified risks and vulnerabilities, such as encryption, firewalls, and access controls.
Regularly reviewing and updating the risk analysis and management plan to address new threats and changes to the organization.

One of the key measures organizations can take to implement HIPAA requirements for risk analysis is to scan source code for vulnerabilities. This can help identify risks and vulnerabilities in systems that access or generate ePHI.

Risk management is an ongoing process that requires organizations and their associates to continuously monitor and assess the effectiveness of their security efforts, and update them as necessary.

Securing Third-Party Applications

Third-party application security refers to the measures taken to protect sensitive medical information when it is processed, stored, or transmitted by third-party applications or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions.

To secure a third-party SaaS solution that accesses IP or data, you can implement the following measures:

Evaluating the security features and practices of the vendor, such as their data encryption methods, access controls, and security certifications.
Requiring the vendor to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) that outlines their responsibility to protect the data and comply with HIPAA regulations.
Regularly monitoring the vendor’s compliance with the BAA and HIPAA regulations.
Implementing your own security measures, such as data backup and disaster recovery plans, to mitigate the risk of data loss or breaches.

Administrative Protections

Administrative protections are a set of policies and procedures that covered entities and business partners must implement to protect the ePHI they handle. These safeguards include measures to ensure the proper management and use of ePHI, as well as the implementation of security management procedures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, use, and destruction of ePHI.

Some examples of administrative safeguards include:

Implementing and maintaining written policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the HIPAA regulations.
Appointing a security official responsible for HIPAA compliance.
Providing security awareness training for all workforce members.
Implementing and regularly reviewing incident response and data breach notification procedures.
Conducting regular risk analyses and risk management activities.
Performing regular monitoring and testing of security controls and systems to ensure they are functioning as intended.
Establishing and maintaining a security incident management process to detect, investigate and mitigate security incidents.
Implementing and enforcing access controls to ePHI.

Administrative safeguards are the foundation for protecting ePHI and should be implemented in conjunction with technical and physical safeguards to have a comprehensive security plan.

Physical Safeguards

Physical protections are security measures that organizations and associates must implement to protect all ePHI from physical threats such as unauthorized access, theft, or natural disaster.

Some examples of physical safeguards include:

Controlling access to facilities that store ePHI, by using locked doors, security guards, or security cameras.
Securing the workstations and devices that store or transmit ePHI, by using locks, security cables, or other physical security devices.
Maintaining and monitoring an inventory of all the hardware and equipment that stores or transmits ePHI, including servers, mobile devices, desktop computers, and laptops.
Establishing and maintaining an emergency response plan to protect ePHI during an emergency or natural disaster.
Regularly inspecting and testing physical security measures to verify that they are functioning as intended.
Implementing and maintaining an incident response plan that includes procedures to properly handle and document lost or stolen devices that contain ePHI.

Physical safeguards are important because they help prevent unsanctioned use of ePHI, and ensure the availability and integrity of ePHI during a physical emergency or disaster.

Access Control

Access control is a critical component of HIPAA’s administrative safeguards. It refers to the process of granting or denying access to ePHI based on an individual’s role and need-to-know within an organization.

Access control measures are intended to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to the organization’s ePHI, and that they only access information that is needed to perform their job functions. Here are some examples of access controls:

Authentication: Verifying the identity of an individual who wants to access ePHI. This can be done through means such as usernames and passwords, security tokens, or biometric identification.
Authorization: Determining what an individual is authorized to do with ePHI after their identity has been verified. This includes granting access to specific information, applications, or systems that are required to perform their job functions.
Auditing: Tracking and logging all access to ePHI, including the date, time, and user that accessed the information, and what actions were taken.
Access control lists: Defining and maintaining a list of users who are authorized to access ePHI, and what level of access they are granted.

Access controls should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure any new users or changes to roles and responsibilities are reflected in the access control list.

Policies and Processes

HIPAA requires organizations and their associates to implement a set of written policy and procedural commitments to ensure the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of ePHI. These procedures and policies should be designed for the specific needs and operations of the covered entity, and should be reviewed and updated regularly.

Examples of policies and processes that an organization might consider include:

Security management process: A process that outlines how the organization will identify and manage risks to the privacy of ePHI.
Incident response: Procedures for responding to, and reporting of, security incidents involving ePHI.
Remote access: Procedures for securely accessing ePHI from remote locations, including the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) or other secure remote access methods.
Business associate agreements: Procedures for entering into agreements with business associates, and ensuring that they comply with HIPAA regulations.
Sanction policy: Procedures for disciplining workers who fail to comply with the HIPAA requirements.

However, having written policies and codified procedures is not enough. Covered organizations must ensure HIPAA policies and processes are reviewed and updated periodically, and that all members of the workforce understand them.

Best Practices for Maintaining HIPAA Cybersecurity Requirements

Identify Code Vulnerabilities

SAST stands for Static Application Security Testing. It is a type of testing that is used to identify vulnerabilities in the source code of a software application. SAST is important for HIPAA compliance because it can help organizations identify and fix potential security vulnerabilities in their systems before they are exploited by hackers.

SAST can be a useful tool for organizations to use as part of their risk assessment process and to ensure that their systems are secure and compliant with HIPAA requirements.

Secure Code Repositories

A secure code repository is a system or service that is used to manage and store source code in a secure and controlled manner. These systems provide a centralized location for developers to store and share code, and they typically include a number of features that are designed to help ensure the security and integrity of the code.

Secure code repositories provide a way to securely manage and store source code, which is a critical aspect of protecting sensitive patient health information (PHI). By using a secure code repository, covered entities can ensure that PHI is protected at every stage of the software development lifecycle.

Security Monitoring

Security monitoring is a critical component of maintaining HIPAA cybersecurity requirements, as it helps covered entities and business associates detect and respond to potential security threats and breaches of ePHI.

Here are some best practices for maintaining HIPAA cybersecurity requirements through security monitoring:

Implement security monitoring software: Use security monitoring software to detect and alert organizations to potential security threats and breaches of ePHI, such as unauthorized access, use, disclosure, or destruction of ePHI.
Use intrusion detection and prevention systems: Implement intrusion detection and prevention systems to detect and prevent unauthorized access to networks, systems, and applications that store or transmit ePHI.
Monitor network traffic: Regularly monitor network traffic for unusual or suspicious activity, such as excessive login attempts, unauthorized access to ePHI, or other indicators of a security breach.
Monitor logs and audit trails: Regularly review logs and audit trails to detect and respond to potential security threats and breaches of ePHI.
Use security analytics: Use security analytics to detect patterns and anomalies in data that may indicate a potential security breach.
Regularly test: Regularly conduct penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and security audits to identify potential security vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

Implementing a Security Policy

A security policy is a set of rules and guidelines that outline the organization’s approach to protecting ePHI from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, and destruction. Here are some best practices for implementing a security policy:

Tailor the policy to the organization: A security policy should be tailored to the specific needs and operations of the organization. It should take into account the organization’s size, complexity, and technical infrastructure.
Involve all stakeholders: Involve all stakeholders in the development of the security policy, including management, IT, legal, and compliance personnel.
Assess risks: Assess risks and vulnerabilities to ePHI and include them in the security policy.
Include incident response: Include incident response procedures in the security policy that cover all types of security incidents and breaches.
Include regular review and update: Include a provision for regularly reviewing and updating the security policy to ensure it remains current and effective in protecting ePHI.
Communicate the policy: Communicate the security policy to all workforce members, business associates, and any other parties who are bound by the policy.

HIPAA Compliance with Tabnine

Tabnine’s secure AI assistant for code is highly relevant for organizations operating under HIPAA. Healthcare organizations must ensure that their coding practices are compliant with the law. By running Tabnine on a private network, organizations can have complete control over their data and ensure that they meet the stringent security requirements of HIPAA. This is particularly important when dealing with patient health information, which must be kept confidential at all times. Tabnine’s ability to run locally, on self-hosted servers, in a VPC, or completely offline, provides an added layer of security that can help healthcare organizations protect sensitive patient data and maintain compliance with HIPAA regulations.

About Tabnine AI for Enterprise

Tabnine is an AI assistant tool used by over 1 million developers from thousands of companies worldwide. Tabnine Enterprise has been built to help software engineering teams write high-quality code faster and more efficiently, accelerating the entire SDLC. Designed for use in enterprise software development environments, Tabnine Enterprise offers a range of features and benefits, including the highest security and compliance standards and features, as well as support for a variety of programming languages and IDEs.

Tabnine Enterprise vs. ChatGPT Plus

Posted on March 21st, 2023

There’s been a lot of noise recently around ChatGPT’s ability to write code. But when it comes down to it, is it really an effective AI code assistant for developers and R&D enterprise teams?

To fully understand the main differences between Tabnine Enterprise and ChatGPT Plus, we’ve put together a list of parameters that, as developers with years of experience serving the dev community, best reflect the needs and challenges of R&D organizations:

Main use case: The use cases for which the tool was designed and is most useful
Code privacy: Privacy controls offered by each solution
Open source compliance: Each company’s practices regarding the code that the AI models are trained on
Context awareness: The level of context that different AI models take into account when providing suggestions
Ability to train AI models on private code: The code that the AI models can be trained on
Centralized configuration: The type of centralized configuration and management offered to customers
Price: Price point for each user in the organization
User management: The types of user management available
Payment methods: The methods of payment available

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Drilling down further into Tabnine Enterprise vs. ChatGPT Plus

This section takes a more in-depth look at how the two solutions compare.

Main use case

Tabnine’s code suggestions are context-sensitive and inline within the IDE, prompted as the developer types, or from natural language requests. There’s no need to copy and paste the code to your project. In addition, Tabnine’s AI models are aware of the organizational coding practices, styles, and standards, which is reflected in the accuracy of the code suggestions.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, can only code from scratch, and generates this code mainly from natural language requests, which requires providing detailed instructions and context, and then, obviously, adaption to the customer’s environment. Essentially, ChatGPT functions as a replacement for search and knowledge bases, such as Google and StackOverflow.

Code privacy

Tabnine Enterprise ensures full and complete privacy for its enterprise customers’ code:

Customer code and training data are never sent to Tabnine.
Tabnine’s general AI models are never trained on customer code.
Tabnine Enterprise customers can install Tabnine Enterprise on a VPC or on-premises.

ChatGPT Plus, however, uses user interaction data to train its models. It also may use the code it generates to train its AI models.

Code suggestion format

Tabnine’s code completion works directly within the developer’s IDE, offering whole-line and full-function suggestions as the user codes (or via natural language hints).

On the other hand, ChatGPT Plus only works on the dedicated ChatGPT website, generating code in response to requests. For the generated code to be relevant, the developer needs to provide multiple directions and instructions. Additionally, the generated code then needs to be copied/pasted into the IDE. This requires changing names, paths, etc., where required and can lead to bugs and other issues.

Open source compliance

The code on which a solution’s AI models are trained can have legal implications for the companies that use the solutions.

Tabnine’s AI models are never trained on code with nonpermissive licenses and offer full transparency and attribution. This ensures that Tabnine isn’t restricted by the copyleft provisions of GPL licenses, and protects our users and customers from possible related consequences. This policy is also in line with Tabnine’s goal to honor the intent of code authors and maintain good faith with the rest of the developer community.

However, ChatGPT trains its models on OpenAI, which could result in possible legal implications for its customers. There’s also evidence that ChatGPT has copied whole sections of nonpermissive coding, creating additional possible legal liabilities for its users.

Context-awareness

The ability of the AI models to understand and account for context has a major impact on the amount of effort required by both the entire developer and the entire R&D team to generate high-quality code that aligns with the org’s own best practices, conventions, and styles.

Tabnine can understand the relevant context from your project’s existing code as well as the organization’s private code repositories that our AI models are trained on.

When using ChatGPT Plus, the developer interaction is far more complex, and providing the relevant context when composing a code request is practically impossible. Since the code provided is boilerplate, it requires the context to be provided in detailed, natural language, often needing multiple iterations. Even after being generated, considerable effort is required to copy/paste the code and adapt it to the relevant environments.

Ability to train AI models on private code

ChatGPT Plus is trained only on OpenAI, while Tabnine Enterprise gives our customers the ability to connect our AI models to their code repositories. It’s also possible to connect different models to different repos specific to certain teams. This enables the models to learn the organization’s best practices, styles, naming conventions, and more, providing code suggestions that are both context-sensitive and relevant. In addition, this helps companies onboard and train new team members and junior developers way faster, while removing the burden from senior devs.

Centralized configuration

ChatGPT Plus doesn’t offer any type of centralized configuration or management.

Tabnine Enterprise’s centralized configuration allows organizations to do several things:

Configure the platform for your organization’s security and privacy requirements
Connect AI models to different repos for different teams
Manage access roles and permissions
Advanced reporting to monitor usage
Manage subscriptions

User management

Tabnine allows enterprise customers to configure and manage user roles and permissions. ChatpGPT Plus doesn’t offer any user management capabilities.

About Tabnine Enterprise

Tabnine and Google Cloud partner to power the future of AI for the SDLC

Posted on March 14th, 2023

We are incredibly excited to announce that we are extending our partnership with Google Cloud to further advance generative AI on GCP. We are a part of many developers’ daily process as the leading AI tool for VS Code (5M) and JetBrains (2M).

Tabnine has been leveraging the capabilities of Google Cloud and has already extended its services to over one million monthly users. This is a significant milestone, which shows the popularity and effectiveness of AI-powered code completion technology.

Integrations with popular IDE’s like VSCode and JetBrains are straightforward and bring measurable uplift in developer productivity. Whether completing code or generating unit tests, Tabnine’s features are aimed at making an engineer more productive in a simple and seamless manner.

Our commitment to open source is another area where we align with Google Cloud. Their vision of open cloud fits very closely with the work we’ve done with Bert, SFDC’s T5, and Flan. In the space of foundational LLM’s we made a bet that open would win and have applied our expertise to fine tuning these models on code. We recognize the value of sharing knowledge and resources with the developer community and commit to a continuing support for a free version of Tabnine.

Tabnine has also built a strong partnership with the broader Google Cloud partner ecosystem. Some of Tabnine’s customers are Google’s services partners like SADA, Accenture, CI&T, and Booz Allen. These companies host multi and single tenant instances for their own clients, which are hosted inside their GCP projects. Tabnine’s kubernetes based architecture works with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to make deployments simple, scalable and easy to manage.

The extended partnership between Tabnine and Google Cloud is great news for developers worldwide. It will help them to streamline their workflow, improve productivity, and make the software development process more efficient. With our commitment to open source and our growing user base, Tabnine has become a key player in the AI-powered code completion space.

“We’re thrilled to expand our work with Tabnine through the new Built with Google Cloud AI initiative,” said Manvinder Singh, Managing Director, Partnerships at Google Cloud. “Tabnine’s platform helpfully applies generative AI to streamline coding and support developers through a platform that is powered by Google Cloud infrastructure, and that further enables developers’ capabilities to build with AI on Google Cloud.”

About Tabnine Enterprise

Top automation testing tools and frameworks

Posted on March 13th, 2023

What Are Automation Testing Tools?

Automation testing tools are software programs that are used to automate the process of testing. These tools can be used to run repetitive tests, perform regression testing, and test the functionality and performance of an application. Some common types of automation testing tools include:

Unit testing frameworks: These test individual units of code, such as functions or methods. Examples include JUnit for Java, NUnit for .NET, and pytest for Python.
Functional testing tools: These test the functionality of an application. Examples include Selenium, Appium, and TestComplete.
Performance testing tools: These test the performance of an application under different loads and conditions. Examples include Apache JMeter, LoadRunner, and Gatling.
Test management tools: These manage and organize the testing process, including test cases, test results, and test plans. Examples include TestRail, Zephyr, and qTest.
Continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) tools: These automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software. Examples include Jenkins, Travis CI, and CircleCI.

Automation Testing vs. AI Testing Tools

Automation testing tools and AI testing tools are both used to automate the testing of software applications and systems, but they differ in the way they automate the testing process.

Automation testing tools are designed to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks and help ensure that software is functioning correctly and meets specified requirements. These tools can automate the execution of test cases and the comparison of actual results with expected results. They can also be used to automate the creation of test cases, but typically require the manual creation of test cases.

On the other hand, AI testing tools use artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to automate the testing process. These tools can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of testing by reducing manual effort, increasing test coverage, and identifying defects and issues more quickly. They can be used for tasks such as generating test cases, optimizing the test execution process, analyzing test results, predicting the results of tests, and summarizing test results.

Top 7 Automation Testing Tools and Frameworks

Selenium

Selenium is an open-source browser automation tool that is primarily used for automated functional testing of web applications. It allows developers to write scripts in programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, Ruby, and JavaScript, which can then be used to automate the interaction with a web browser. Selenium can be used to automate a wide range of tasks such as:

Navigating to a website
Filling out forms
Clicking buttons
Verifying page content
Taking screenshots

Selenium is often used in conjunction with other testing frameworks and tools such as JUnit, TestNG, and Maven for building and running test suites. Selenium can interact with a wide range of web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, and it supports a variety of operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Appium

Appium is an open-source, cross-platform test automation tool for mobile apps. It allows developers to write tests in multiple programming languages, including Java, Ruby, Python, C#, and JavaScript, and run them on both Android and iOS platforms. Appium supports both Android and iOS native, mobile web, and hybrid apps. Notable capabilities include remote and parallel testing.

Appium uses a client-server architecture, where the client sends commands to the server, which then executes them on the mobile device. This allows Appium to interact with the mobile app as a user would, performing actions such as clicking buttons, entering text, and scrolling through lists. Appium can also access the mobile device’s internal APIs, such as GPS and camera, to perform more advanced testing.

Katalon

Katalon Studio is an automation testing tool for web, mobile, and API testing. It is a powerful solution for test automation that supports both keyword-driven and data-driven testing. It is built on top of Selenium and Appium and provides a user-friendly interface and a wide range of built-in functionalities to help users automate their tests easily and efficiently.

Katalon Studio provides a comprehensive set of features for testing web applications, including support for web, mobile and API testing, record and playback, integration with various testing frameworks, and built-in reporting and analytics. It also supports test execution on various environments, including local, remote, and cloud-based environments.

One of the main advantages of using Katalon Studio is its ability to support both manual and automated testing, which makes it suitable for both experienced and new testers.

Cypress

Cypress is an end-to-end testing framework for web applications. It is designed to make it easy to set up, write, run, and debug tests for web applications. Cypress is built on top of JavaScript and uses a browser-based architecture that allows it to interact with a web application in the same way that a user would. This means that Cypress tests can simulate clicks, form submissions, and other user interactions, and can also access and verify the application’s state and behavior.

Cypress comes with a built-in test runner, and supports real-time reloads, time-travel debugging and automatic waiting, which makes it easier to write, debug and run tests. Cypress also supports parallel test execution, which enables you to run tests on multiple browsers or devices at the same time. This can help reduce the time it takes to run your tests, and give you more confidence in your application’s functionality.

LambdaTest

LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that allows you to test your web applications and websites on different browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices. It is a third-party tool that enables you to perform manual and automated testing on a wide range of browsers and devices, including desktop browsers, mobile browsers, and real mobile devices.

LambdaTest offers a number of features to help you test your web applications and websites, including:

Real-time testing on a cloud-based Selenium Grid
Automated screenshot testing
Automated video recording of test sessions
Integration with popular tools like Jira, Trello, and Slack
Automatic issue reporting
Support for automated testing frameworks like Selenium, Appium, and TestCafe.

TestComplete

TestComplete is an automation testing tool developed by SmartBear Software. It is used to test the functionality and performance of desktop, web, and mobile applications. TestComplete supports a variety of programming languages including Python, JavaScript, C++, C# and VBScript, and can be integrated with a number of different development environments, including Visual Studio and Eclipse.

TestComplete provides a comprehensive set of features for automating functional and regression testing, including support for record and playback, object-based scripting, and data-driven testing. It also has built-in support for testing web, mobile and desktop applications.

TestComplete also includes a visual object recognition feature, which allows you to easily identify and interact with the objects within your application, as well as integrated debugging, logging, and reporting capabilities.

Ranorex

Ranorex is a commercial automation testing tool that is used for functional and regression testing of desktop, web, and mobile applications. It provides a set of automation libraries and a GUI-based test editor that allows users to record, edit, and execute tests for a variety of different platforms, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Ranorex offers a wide range of features, including:

Object recognition: Ranorex uses a proprietary object recognition algorithm that allows it to identify and interact with elements within an application, even when the application’s structure changes.
Test recording and editing: Ranorex’s GUI-based test editor allows users to record tests and edit them using a drag-and-drop interface.
Test execution and reporting: Ranorex allows users to execute tests and generate detailed test reports, including screenshots, log files, and error messages.

Applitools

Applitools is a software testing tool that is used to automate the process of visual testing for web and mobile applications. It uses advanced image and optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms to compare screenshots of an application’s user interface (UI) to a set of expected results. This allows developers to quickly and easily catch visual bugs, layout issues, and other UI problems that might be difficult to spot manually.

Applitools also provides a variety of features to help with test automation, such as support for multiple browsers and devices, integration with popular test frameworks, and the ability to run tests in parallel to speed up the testing process.

In addition to that, Applitools also provides a cloud-based platform called “Applitools Ultrafast Grid” that helps in running automated tests on a large scale and in parallel across multiple browsers, viewports and devices with minimal setup.

Applitools is particularly useful for web and mobile applications that have a lot of visual elements or that are frequently updated, as it can help ensure that the UI remains consistent and error-free.

Mabl

Mabl is a cloud-based, AI-powered test automation platform that allows users to automate the testing of web applications. It uses machine learning algorithms to automatically identify and interact with elements on a web page, and can be used to perform functional testing, regression testing, and performance testing.

Mabl’s key features include:

Automatically creating and executing test scripts.
Identifying and interacting with web page elements using machine learning.
Automatically detecting and reporting on regressions and other issues.
Integrating with popular development and testing tools such as JIRA, Slack, and Selenium.
Providing detailed test results and analytics, including screenshots, video recordings, and performance metrics.

The Future of Testing Tools with Generative AI

The future of testing tools with generative AI is likely to see a greater integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques into the testing process.

With the help of generative AI, test cases can be generated automatically and in a more efficient way, increasing the coverage of testing and discovering new defects and issues that would have been missed with manual testing. This can help to improve the overall quality of the software and reduce the time and effort required for testing.

Generative AI can also be used to supercharge test driven development (TDD). Developers who practice TDD try to create tests before adding functionality to code – initially the tests fail, and then when functionality is working, they pass. Generative AI tools can be used to easily create these tests without slowing down development work.

Lastly, Generative AI technology can be integrated into the CI/CD process, to automatically create tests that are missing from a test suite during the build process. This can dramatically increase the agility of the testing process.

Automate engineering processes with Tabnine’s AI

Tabnine, the AI assistant for software development, has introduced AI-powered unit test generation capabilities to its platform. Tabnine is an AI assistant tool used by over 1 million developers from thousands of companies worldwide. Tabnine Enterprise has been built to help software engineering teams write high-quality code faster and more efficiently, accelerating the entire SDLC. Designed for use in enterprise software development environments, Tabnine Enterprise offers a range of features and benefits, including the highest security and compliance standards and features, as well as support for a variety of programming languages and IDEs. The use of AI results in fewer bugs and better code stability, which is especially important for projects with tight deadlines or larger teams.

Improve your open source security with these 10 tips

Posted on March 1st, 2023

What Is Open Source Security?

Open source security refers to measures and practices that can help protect open source software from potential security threats and vulnerabilities.

This can include the use of security tools and techniques, such as penetration testing and code review, to identify and fix vulnerabilities in the software. It also involves the use of best practices and guidelines for secure coding and development, as well as the implementation of security policies and procedures for managing and maintaining open source software.

Additionally, open source security includes collaboration and communication with the open source community to share knowledge and information about security threats and vulnerabilities and to create solutions to address them.

In this article, we will cover the following tips for improving open source security:

Create an Inventory of Open Source Components
Keep Open Source Up to Date
Identify Other Open-Source Risks You May Face
Identify License Risk in Open Source Software
Leverage SBOM (Software Bill of Materials)
Use Security Testing Tools
Use SCA (Software Composition Analysis)
Perform Regular Penetration Testing
Cross-Train Your Staff

Improving Open Source Software Security in Your Organization

1. Create an Inventory of Open Source Components

Creating an inventory of open source software can help to improve open source software security by providing a comprehensive view of the open source components being used within an organization, as well as identifying any potential vulnerabilities or risks associated with those components. This information can then be used to prioritize and address security issues, as well as to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

Here are some steps to take to inventory open source software:

Identify all open source software used within the organization: This includes identifying all open source components that are used in applications, systems, and infrastructure.
Assess the risk associated with each open source component: This includes evaluating the potential vulnerabilities and risks associated with each component, as well as the potential impact of those risks on the organization.
Prioritize open source components based on risk: Use a risk assessment to prioritize the open source components that pose the greatest risk to the organization and focus on addressing those risks first.
Keep track of open source components: Keep track of all open source components used within the organization and monitor for any updates or changes that may impact the security of the software.
Communicate with the open source community: Regularly communicate and collaborate with the open source community to share information about vulnerabilities and risks, as well as to stay informed about any new developments or updates that may impact the security of the software.
Regularly review and update the inventory: Regularly review and update the inventory of open source software to ensure that it remains accurate and up-to-date.
Train the team: Regularly train the team on best practices of open source security management, development, testing, and deployment.
Automation tools: Use available tools to automate the process of open source inventorying, tracking, and monitoring security vulnerabilities, patches, and updates.

2. Keep Open Source Up to Date

Keeping open source software up to date is important for several reasons:

Security: Open source software is often maintained by a community of developers, who may discover and fix security vulnerabilities or bugs. Updating the software ensures that these vulnerabilities are patched and the software is secure. Learn more about scanning for security vulnerabilities in our sections about security testing and SCA below.
Performance: Updating open source software can also improve its performance and functionality, making it more efficient and effective.
Compliance: Keeping open source software up to date can also help organizations to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, as well as industry standards.

3. Identify Other Open-Source Risks You May Face

Here are additional open source risks organizations may face:

Dependency risks: Open source software often relies on other open source software, which can lead to dependency issues and conflicts, making it difficult to use the software or update it.
Vendor lock-in risks: Some open source software may be developed and maintained by a single vendor, which can lead to vendor lock-in and a lack of flexibility in the event that the vendor goes out of business or discontinues support for the software.
Support risks: Some open source software may not have dedicated support teams or resources, making it difficult to get assistance with issues or troubleshoot problems.
Reputation risks: Open source software may be associated with certain negative perceptions, such as low quality or lack of security, which can damage the reputation of the organization.
Integration risks: Open source software may not be as well-integrated with other software and systems, making it difficult to use in a business environment.
Lack of standardization: Open source software may not be standardized due to the different versions, different languages and different platforms, which can make it difficult to use in a business environment.

4. Identify License Risk in Open Source Software

Organizations should be aware of and comply with the terms and conditions associated with the use of open source software. This involves evaluating the licenses of open source components to determine if they are permissive or copyleft and the impact this may have on the organization.

Permissive licenses, such as MIT and Apache, allow for free use and modification of the software with few restrictions, while copyleft licenses, such as GPL, require that any derivative works also be made available under the same license.

Using open source software with an incompatible license can result in legal and financial consequences for the organization, including lawsuits, fines, and the requirement to release proprietary source code.

5. Leverage SBOM (Software Bill of Materials)

Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a mechanism that ensures transparency of all components used in a software development project. It is a detailed list of all the binaries, libraries, and dependencies that are used in a software project, along with their versions and any known vulnerabilities.

Having an SBOM in place allows developers to understand the origin and potential risks of every component they are using in their code. It helps to identify any known vulnerabilities that may exist in the components they are using, and take appropriate action to mitigate those risks. This can include updating to a newer version of the component or replacing it with a different one.

In addition, an SBOM also helps with compliance and regulatory requirements. Many industries, such as healthcare and finance, have strict regulations around the use of open-source

components in software development. An SBOM can provide the necessary documentation to demonstrate compliance with these regulations.

6. Address Open Source Compliance Risk

Addressing open source compliance risk involves ensuring that the use of open-source software in an organization is in compliance with various legal and regulatory requirements, such as those set forth in standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

This can include implementing processes for tracking the use of open-source software, regularly reviewing license agreements, and ensuring that proper attribution is given. Additionally, organizations may need to take steps to address any potential security vulnerabilities in the open-source software they use, and have policies in place for managing any incidents related to open-source software security.

7. Use Security Testing Tools

There are several open source security testing tools that organizations can use to improve the security of their open source software. These include:

SAST (Static Application Security Testing): SAST tools are used to scan the source code of an application for potential vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting.
DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing): DAST tools are used to test the application while it is running, by simulating attacks on the application to identify vulnerabilities.
IAST (Interactive Application Security Testing): IAST tools are used to combine the capabilities of SAST and DAST tools to provide a more comprehensive view of an application’s security. It analyzes the application while it is running and can detect vulnerabilities that might not be detectable by SAST or DAST alone.

It is important to note that these tools are not substitutes for each other, but they can be used in conjunction with each other to get the most comprehensive view of the application’s security.

8. Use SCA (Software Composition Analysis)

SCA (Software Composition Analysis) tools are used to scan an organization’s codebase and identify any open source components that are being used. This includes identifying the specific versions of open source components and any known vulnerabilities associated with those versions.

SCA tools can help organizations to:

Inventory open source software: SCA tools can help organizations to inventory open source software and identify which components are being used and where they are being used.
Identify vulnerabilities: SCA tools can help organizations identify vulnerabilities in open source software, including known vulnerabilities and potential vulnerabilities.
Prioritize vulnerabilities: SCA tools can help organizations to prioritize vulnerabilities based on the severity of the vulnerability and the potential impact on the organization.
Compliance: SCA tools can help organizations to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as the PCI DSS and HIPAA.
Improve security: By identifying and fixing vulnerabilities in open source software, organizations can improve the overall security of their systems and applications.
Automate the process: SCA tools can automate the process of identifying open source software and identifying vulnerabilities, making it more efficient and effective.

Here are examples of popular SCA tools:

OWASP Dependency Check: an open source tool released by the Open Web Application Security Project (publisher of the OWASP Top 10 security threats list).
Sonatype Nexus: A platform that integrates with the software development lifecycle to automate and enforce open source component usage policies.
Synopsys Black Duck: A tool that scans software applications to identify open source components and vulnerabilities, as well as license compliance issues.
Mend (formerly WhiteSource): An SCA solution that provides real-time visibility into open source software usage, vulnerabilities, and licensing information.
Snyk: A cloud-based platform that helps developers find and fix vulnerabilities in open source components, while also providing license compliance information.

9. Perform Regular Penetration Testing

Performing regular penetration testing is an important aspect of open source security. Penetration testing is the process of simulating a cyber attack on an application or system to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This can help to identify any potential vulnerabilities in open source software and ensure that they are fixed before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

Some of the key benefits of performing regular penetration testing include:

Measuring the effectiveness of security measures: Penetration testing can help organizations to measure the effectiveness of their security measures, and identify areas where additional security controls are needed.
Identifying potential attack vectors: Penetration testing can help organizations identify potential attack vectors and create strategies to mitigate them.

Riding a realistic assessment: Penetration testing provides a realistic assessment of the security of an application, as it simulates a real-world attack.

10. Cross-Train Your Staff

Cross-training staff is an important aspect of open source security. By providing staff with training on open source security, organizations can ensure that all staff members are aware of the risks and best practices associated with open source software. This can help to reduce the risk of vulnerabilities and security breaches.

Here are some steps that organizations can take to cross-train their staff:

Develop a training program: Develop a training program that covers open source security best practices, including how to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, how to use security tools, and how to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Provide regular training: Provide regular training to all staff members, including new hires, to ensure that everyone is aware of open source security best practices.
Encourage participation: Encourage participation in open source security training by making it a requirement for all staff members.
Use real-life scenarios: Use real-life scenarios to provide hands-on training and to ensure that staff members understand how to apply open source security best practices in a practical setting.
Encourage collaboration: Encourage collaboration and communication between staff members to share knowledge and information about open source security.
Provide ongoing support: Provide ongoing support and resources to staff members to ensure that they are able to stay up-to-date with the latest open source security best practices.

Improve Open Source Security with Tabnine

Open source security is a critical concern for software developers and organizations that rely on open source software. One way to improve open source security is by using Tabnine, an AI-powered code completion tool that offers developers with total control over their code completion models.

Tabnine Enterprise offers a variety of deployment options for its AI models, including local, self-hosted, VPC, or offline, which ensures complete compliance with data privacy regulations and security policies. This makes it an excellent choice for engineering organizations that prioritize security and privacy.

Tabnine Enterprise offers flexible deployment options for running AI models: locally, on self-hosted servers, in VPC, or completely offline.
These deployment options ensure absolute compliance with data privacy regulations and security policies.
Tabnine’s generative AI models are only trained on repositories with permissive open-source licenses, giving enterprises confidence in compliance with licensing requirements.
Tabnine provides advanced security features and compliance with open source licensing requirements, making it the ideal choice for secure code completion.

If you’re looking to enhance your software development practices while prioritizing privacy and security, please reach out to us.