Web Security Scanner
Web Security Scanner are programs that generate scanning reports of websites that have been analyzed using security scanners. A scanner is a tool that “reads” the source code (the HTML or source coding) of an application or web site and checks for known security flaws. Security scanners are used to find security flaws in web applications, commonly by the side or front end. They are often used in Internet Security Assessment (IDSA) to detect security issues that would otherwise be missed by manual testing. Security scanners can also be used to monitor networks for potential security threats. These tools generate comprehensive vulnerability reports that will be useful for network operators to keep their networks and servers secure.
The Web Security scanner works on the following basis: First, the scanner scans the web application or web site. It then creates a report with the results showing security weaknesses in the application, including information such as list of security exploits and controls, user authorization, access control, etc. Next, the scanner creates a categorized list of vulnerabilities. Based on the identified vulnerabilities, a classification is created. Based on these classified vulnerabilities, the scanner generates a recommended remedial step.
In a commercial environment, such a scanner would identify vulnerabilities in a web application or web site as listed above. However, there are other categories of vulnerabilities as well. In a commercial environment, they would go one step further and identify whether or not the issue was of a security impact. For instance, if it was found that a web application had security issues that would allow a user to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, the commercial scanner would allow the user to log into the system via a URL to perform updates. If the user was able to update the software, the new version would be deployed and would contain the fix for the security flaw.
In a more simple example, let’s assume that we have a static web site. When a new visitor requests a page from the site, a login process occurs. If the login process did not authenticate to the server, the visitor would not be authorized to view the page or even proceed past the login page. In this case, we would either need to add authentication to the login process, use a commercial tool to add authentication to the login page, or create a custom application to handle the login request from a different location.
Now, let’s assume that we have an application that connects to a database and is responsible for password resetting. Let’s also assume that the application connects to an FTP server. Again, if we were to find a weakness in the FTP client, we could easily deny FTP access or set the FTP connection to require a username and password before allowing access to the website. In both cases, if we found a weakness in the FTP protocol, we could easily prevent Mac Macintosh users from accessing the website.
However, with a commercial scanner, all of the problems are solved. We have a commercial tool that analyzes all the HTTP, FTP, and JSP protocols. Each protocol is then analyzed and the strengths and weaknesses of that protocol are noted. Armed with this information, the scanner can safely allow or deny access to the website.
With the increased focus on mobile computing, a mobile security scanner will also be very useful. All applications on a smartphone or tablet must run on a secure device platform. Mobile devices are typically subject to attacks just as much as an on-premise computer because of their lower storage space and greater tendency to be exposed to high volumes of wireless network traffic. As such, the security commercial saas free (limited capability) software provides additional protection for the business website by detecting any attacks to the mobile application as well as blocking any unauthorized access to the business site.
Another type of scanner that is also useful in the protection of a business website is one that works with on-demand scanning. This type of scanner works in the background, alerting the user when a scan is needed so that they can manually perform the scan or not. This type of commercial security protection software has been available for some time but has only recently been made available in commercial versions. Many mobile security vendors have already begun to make these commercial saas available and expect that it will quickly gain popularity on mobile devices. As more business people become aware of these capabilities, we should soon begin to see a significant increase in the number of on-demand scans that are performed using commercial tools.