Why is it important to conduct positive and negative testing during the assessment of an application?

Conducting positive and negative testing is essential for ensuring comprehensive security and functionality coverage within an application. Positive testing verifies that the application behaves as expected under normal and valid conditions. It ensures that users can perform intended actions and receive correct outputs. This aspect is crucial for confirming that the application functions properly and meets user requirements.

On the other hand, negative testing focuses on how the application handles unexpected or invalid conditions. This includes inputting erroneous data or performing actions that should either fail or trigger error handling mechanisms. The purpose of negative testing is to uncover vulnerabilities and flaws that could be exploited by malicious users, ensuring that the application is resilient to atypical usage scenarios and attacks.

Combining these two approaches allows for a thorough evaluation of both the application's strengths and weaknesses. Identifying potential points of failure or security gaps through negative testing, while also confirming that valid operations are supported, culminates in a more robust and secure application overall. This comprehensive testing framework ultimately enhances the trustworthiness of the application in a live environment, strengthening security postures and ensuring better functionality for end users.