What is web Application Vulnerability Scanning?
A web application security scanner is a software program which performs automatic black-box testing on a web application and identifies security vulnerabilities. Scanners do not access the source code; they only perform functional testing and try to find security vulnerabilities. Web application vulnerability scanners are categorized as Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools
Various paid and free web application vulnerability scanners are available.
List of top 10 web application Vulnerability scanner is as follows:
- 1. Acunetix
- 2. Burp suite
- 3. Nessus Professional
- 4. Netsparker
- 5. Nexpose
- 6. Nikto
- 7. NMap
- 8. Paros Proxy
- 9. Qualys
- 10. WPScan
Acunetix is an automated web application security testing tool that audits your web applications by checking for vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Cross site scripting and other exploitable vulnerabilities. It scans your website for vulnerabilities such as SQL Injection and XSS. Acunetix audits a website’s security by performing number of attacks against the site. After completion of attack, it provides concise reports of any vulnerabilities it found and also offer suggestions on how to remove them.
Burp Suite is a real-time network security scanner designed to identify critical weaknesses. Burp Suite will determine how cybersecurity threats might invade a network via attack. The Burp suite is available in three versions: Community, Professional, and Enterprise. Professional and Enterprise are paid application testing tools, including the web vulnerability scanner. The Community version is free but severely limited privileges . Community includes only the essential manual tools. Burp Suite is a potent tool for businesses, but perhaps pricey for smaller organizations.
Nessus identifies and repairs detected vulnerabilities, including missing or incomplete patches; software bugs; or other general misconfigurations throughout applications, network devices, and operating systems.
With the Pro version, admins/security experts can consider a free open source scanner that looks for possible exploits. Nessus service update daily its database. Updated information about threats and patches are always available. Users can access a number of security plug-ins as well as develop their own and scan individual computers as well as networks.
Nessus tools is available for Unix, Linux and Win32 GUI client that works with Windows products. Users need to pay an annual subscription to utilize all its services.
Netsparker is an automated, yet fully configurable, web application security scanner that enables you to scan websites, web applications and web services, and identify security flaws. Netsparker can scan all types of web applications, regardless of the platform or the language with which they are built. Netsparker is the online web application security scanner that automatically exploits identified vulnerabilities in safe way to confirm identified issues.
For example, If SQL injection vulnerability detected, it will show the database name as the proof of exploit.
Nexpose offers real-time, on-premises vulnerability scanning and management.
It helps security and IT teams search, detect, and reduce possible weak points, and presents ‘live’ views of the network and also continually refreshes and adapts to new threats in software and data. Another useful feature is its ability to help security teams prioritize the highest vulnerabilities by providing a risk score. This is useful for coordinating responses to multiple breaches or delegating workflow, starting with the weakest areas where the more serious/potentially damaging breaches are more likely to take place.
One of the best open-source vulnerability scanner management tools. Nikto will scan web servers and networks for matches with a database of over 6400 threats. Although the network protection software itself has not been updated in some time, it is still up to date. This is because the threat database is regularly updated. There are also countless plugins being released and continuously updated. Nikto is a cornerstone of the vulnerability scanning routine.
Nmap has been designed to offer a close look at every network. Including indicating hosts, what services are being provided at each host, what types of packet filters are in use and other features.
Nmap also includes a debugging tool for all platforms and can be used to scan one network or more at same time. The network security tool is designed to be user-friendly and can be easily customized.
Paros proxy is Java-based web proxy which includes several useful tools for running security tests. These include a web spider, traffic recorder, and vulnerability scanner. Paros Proxy works excellent for detecting network intrusion openings to some of the most common threats, including detecting SQL injection attacks and cross-site scripting.
Very easy to edit with even rudimentary Java or HTTP/HTTPS knowledge. Anyone who know how to code web application can edit Paros Proxy. An excellent network protection software testing tool for identifying a security risk before it becomes a security breach.
Qualys is a commercial vulnerability and web application scanner. It can be used to identify and assess vulnerabilities so that they can be prioritized and corrected before they are targeted and exploited by hackers. The Qualys Web Application Scanner finds vulnerabilities, like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and URL redirection. Qualys scans are performed over the network. You do not need to install any software on your systems to use the service.
For network vulnerability scanning, only need to include the IP address of your machine, or the network that you manage.
For web applications, please specify URLs, e.g., your_domain_name
WPScan is a free, for non-commercial use, black box WordPress security scanner written for security professionals and blog maintainers to test the security of their sites. WPScan uses the vulnerability database called wpvulndb.com to check the target for known vulnerabilities.
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