What is the best way to choose a web application scanner?

When choosing a web application scanner, prioritize solutions that offer comprehensive coverage for various vulnerabilities, including OWASP Top 10. Look for scanners with robust reporting capabilities to easily interpret and act upon the results. Additionally, opt for a scanner that fits your budget and integrates smoothly with your existing development and security workflows.

Inventory your applications and evaluate solutions that are best suited to your application stack, ensuring optimal coverage. OWASP Top 10 is a must, but it's very important that it is tuned to your applications more than anything. If your environment supports it, run a full POC so you can get a real world look into how it will work for you. Develop criteria for the POC so you know what you want to see out of it, and can objectively score the solutions you are evaluating. Once you have implemented your chosen platform, make sure you are bringing in new applications as they are developed. Ensure that the results you are generating are actionable, and develop processes to bring those results to key teams to remediate vulnerabilities.

Don't trust marketing hype for web app scanners! Focus on what matters: 1. Expert Reviews & Certifications: Look for security pro reviews and certifications like PCI DSS, ISO 27k1, or OWASP to see how well the scanner detects vulnerabilities. 2. Deep Dive into Features: The scanner should cover common threats (OWASP Top 10) and ideally specialize in your app type. It also needs a mix of testing methods for a complete scan. 3. Test It Our self: Free trials let's to see how the scanner performs on our app. This helps identify accuracy and false positives (flagged vulnerabilities that aren't real). By following these steps, we'll shortlist scanners that excel in keeping our web app secure!

To choose a web application scanner, consider features such as vulnerability detection, accuracy, and ease of use. Evaluate the scanner's performance, support, and updates, integration with other tools, and cost. Look for a scanner that meets the organization's specific needs and offers an intuitive interface for efficient operation. By considering these aspects, you can select the best option to protect your organization's applications against cyber threats.

Understand your organization's requirements, including the types of web applications you need to scan, the level of security you require, compliance standards you need to meet, budget constraints, and integration capabilities with your existing tools and workflows. Explore the various web application scanners available in the market. Look for both commercial and open-source solutions. Some popular options include Acunetix, Burp Suite, Nessus, Qualys, OWASP ZAP, Nikto, Metasploitetc.

Consider the technical expertise required to operate the scanner. User-friendly interfaces and good documentation are important. you shouldn't need to spend a lot just learning how to use the tool, it must be easy to use and efficient.

-Choose a scanner with an intuitive user interface and workflow that simplifies the scanning process. -Seek scanners that allow customization of scan configurations to tailor scans to specific application environments and requirements.

1. Intuitive Interface: Look for a scanner with a clear and easy-to-navigate interface. Less tech expertise needed means faster scans and easier vulnerability analysis. 2. Customization Options: See if the scanner lets you tailor scans. This could include scan scheduling, crawl depth (how deep the scanner explores your app), and focusing on specific areas for efficiency. 3. Automation Features: Can you automate repetitive tasks? Features like pre-configured scan profiles and automated reporting save time and streamline the security process. 4. Integration Potential: Does the scanner integrate with your existing security tools? This allows for smoother data flow and centralized security management. 5. Trial Time!

Define Your Requirements. Research Available Options. Consider Key Features Evaluate Ease of Use Assess Performance and Accuracy Check for Integration Trial and Demo Consider Support and Training Evaluate Cost

I agree, the easier and the more user-friendly it is to use the web application scanner the more value will be obtained from it. A web application scanner with complex interfaces will only be a deterrent and more often than not it’s possible security teams will spend more time trying to navigate/troubleshoot the interface rather than actually solving issues.

-Assess the scanner's ability to scale with your organization's needs, accommodating the scanning of multiple applications and environments. -Look for scanners that offer efficient scanning algorithms and parallelization capabilities to minimize scan times while maintaining thorough coverage.

A web application scanner should be able to match the speed and high paced environment of today’s top performing industries. With the introduction of DevOPS and SecDevOps there’s a need to make sure that security is able to match the speed of deliverables, whilst providing teams with a realistic and accurate view of vulnerability and remediation paths that won’t ultimately impact or slow down releases.

specially if you manage multiple web applications, choose a scanner that scales to accommodate your needs and don't take long to do the scan.

For scalability, it should scale seamlessly with the web applications if they grow and increase in complexity. It should be able to scan a wide range of applications from small to large, as well as the complexity of web applications and sophisticated functionalities. It should offer flexible deployment options to ensure it scales along with the infrastructure needs. Also, one of the important features is that it supports multiple scans to be run simultaneously and can conduct several assessments in parallel to keep up with rapid dev cycles. For Speed, the WAS should be able to crawl and analyze web applications quickly and efficiently, quickly detecting dynamic content and vulnerabilities without compromising operational performance.

Para elegir un escáner de aplicaciones web escalable y rápido, investiga opciones en el mercado, enfocándote en características como la capacidad de manejar grandes volúmenes de datos y realizar escaneos rápidos sin comprometer la precisión. Asegúrate de probar la herramienta para evaluar su rendimiento en situaciones de carga y su velocidad de respuesta antes de tomar una decisión.

The best of the web application scanners should be able to cover the most in terms of threat intelligence, vulnerability management and remediation or patching. That being said an important aspect to consider is whether the web application scanner already includes remediation or is capable of integrating with SOAR platforms

Effective information Security involves thorough reporting and remediation. Security scans and incident investigations should generate detailed reports outlining identified vulnerabilities, their severity, and potential impact. This report should be communicated to relevant stakeholders for prioritization. The remediation plan should then address these vulnerabilities with clear steps, timelines, and assigned resources to fix them and prevent future breaches. This closed-loop process ensures identified risks are addressed and the Security posture is continuously improved.

-Prioritize scanners that provide comprehensive and actionable reports, including detailed descriptions of vulnerabilities, risk ratings, and remediation recommendations. -Look for features such as integration with issue tracking systems and vulnerability management platforms to streamline the remediation process and track progress effectively.

Both the reporting and remediation capabilities are important for translating vulnerability data into effective security improvements. With these features, organisations can ensure that it does not only identify vulnerabilities but also address and remediate them in a timely and efficient manner and enhance their overall security posture.

Reporting and remediation A final aspect to consider when choosing a web application scanner is how well it can report and help you fix the vulnerabilities it finds. You want a tool that can provide you with clear and actionable reports, without overwhelming you with irrelevant or redundant information. You also want a tool that can help you prioritize and remediate the vulnerabilities, without requiring too much manual effort or expertise. To evaluate the reporting and remediation of a web application scanner, you should look for elements such as vulnerability severity, exploitability, evidence, recommendations, and patching tools.

Choosing the best web application scanner involves considering several key factors: the scope of the scan (such as types of vulnerabilities it can detect), ease of use, integration capabilities with your development and security tools, the quality and clarity of reports it generates, the level of customer support provided, and cost. It's crucial to evaluate how well a scanner matches your specific security needs, its ability to scale with your application, and its effectiveness in a real-world testing environment. Seeking recommendations and reading reviews from industry peers can also provide valuable insights.

Following factors need consideration for selecting the best scanning tool: ????Understand your web application landscape i.e. whether your application is developed in-house or by 3rd party, whether it's internet-facing or not, End user of the application etc. ????Assess and identify risks around your web applications depending upon your landscape, additionally refer to OWASP and revelations from your threat intelligence program to identify common risks. ????Based on the above considerations, look for the scanning tool that is best suited for your landscape, Mitigates your identified risks, Offers accuracy, Integration compatibility, Customization, Alerting, Reporting, Ease of usage, Good support service and cost-effectiveness.

Ensuring scan effectiveness: In addition, for ensuring effectiveness of the scan, we should consider scanning of web applications in development environments with authenticated scan by using a privileged credentials. This will help wide coverage and appropriate permission for holistic scanning with maximum possible access and ensure reliable output.

?Look for scanners that are regularly updated to address emerging vulnerabilities. ?Consider scanners that offer additional features such as penetration testing, malware detection, and compliance reporting. ?Choose a scanner that aligns with your organization's security policies and best practices.

Choose a tool that will allow you to target a specific vulnerability class. Casting the net too wide will drown you in false positives and your team will loose faith in the solution and ultimately make meaningful adoption impossible.