Synteda is an engineering-driven company providing training, consultancy, and IT solutions to business partners using AI, ComputerVision, and Blockchain technologies. Moreover, Synteda builds and maintains tools, including HiveMind—an AI-powered automated testing tool for web applications.

Synteda operates as a tool vendor and IT consultancy specializing in software quality. As a tool vendor, the primary expected outcome for Synteda is the extension of their GUI testing tool (i.e., Scout/HiveMind) to the area of security. The tool builds on innovative augmentation technology that enables developer and quality assurance teams to easily interact with the system under test, the test environment, and the tool AI simultaneously. The AI component acts as a companion to the user, providing them with suggestions and test support. The project will support Synteda tailoring the AI-generated recommendations towards security-focused aspects, enabling non-security experts to conduct GUI-based security testing. Moreover, the framework developed in the project has the potential to be included in the workflow of Synteda’s development team as a leap towards shifting-left their security practices. For the consultancy services, after participation in the project, the company will be able to include secure software development in their offering portfolio and possibly deploy (parts of) the project outcomes during engagements with their clients.

Synteda participates in the joint development of the project by providing the researchers access to the Scout tool, development resources for the tool, their technical know-how, and their contact network for disseminating the results. With Synteda, SESAM will investigate how to augment GUI-based testing with security-relevant information. To that end, Synteda will work closely with the researchers to ensure that the developed solutions are applicable, user-friendly, and suitable for empirical evaluation. Synteda will conduct feasibility and small-scale evaluation studies.