What Are the Uses of Website Vulnerability Scanner Tools?

The average cost of data breaches in 2021 was USD 4.24 million, the highest figure in at least 17 years. So, proactive, accurate, and effective identification of security vulnerabilities is non-negotiable and offers a solid basis for adequate security. By proactively identifying these vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and flaws in the application, website vulnerability scanner tools bring accuracy and efficiency in web application security.  

Website vulnerability scanners enable organizations to continuously identify vulnerabilities by crawling the website and its diverse parts, including web pages, third-party components, and software. In this article, we delve into their many uses. 

Top 10 Uses of Website Vulnerability Scanner Tools

1. Crawling at Lightning Speeds Without Interruptions

Even though a few tools are manually operated, the best web vulnerability scanning tools are intelligently automated. Automation enables them to quickly crawl large volumes of web pages and other web assets. They are agile and can scan thousands of pages without interruptions. Typically, website vulnerability scanners are online and cloud-based, so they run on the backend without eroding the site’s performance or speed. 

2. Detecting All Known Vulnerabilities

Through daily and on-demand scanning using automated web vulnerability scanning tools, organizations can identify all known security vulnerabilities, including SQL injections, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), broken authentication, weak passwords, broken access controls and so on.   

Next-gen website vulnerability scanner tools crawl pages and check for vulnerabilities based on rules in an automated scan. Thus, have high accuracy compared to any manual scanning or manual tools. The best tools are equipped with AI, self-learning capabilities, and threat intelligence. These capabilities enable the scanner to add new areas to crawl automatically and update rules to cover the fast-growing volumes of vulnerabilities comprehensively.   

The best web vulnerability scanners also assure zero false positives, saving developers and IT security teams precious time and resources in remediating vulnerabilities that do not exist. 

3. Identifying Business Logic Flaws

Intelligent website vulnerability scanner tools like Indusface WAS are also helpful in detecting business logic flaws that other scanning tools don’t. The best web scanning tools are backed by the expertise of certified security professionals. They enable businesses to build the scanner contextually with surgical accuracy and customize the rules to ensure unknown and logical vulnerabilities do not go undetected. 

4. Detecting Errors and Vulnerabilities in the SDLC Stages

Web vulnerability scanners can be integrated into the SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) stages to identify errors, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations in the early development stages. Since vulnerabilities are identified early, developers do not have to wait for the testing stages to fix them. In effect, automated scanning tools help accelerate the development and testing of applications. Further, since vulnerabilities are identified and fixed in the development stages, the probability of releasing flawless and secure applications is high. 

5. Holistic Asset Discovery

Another important use of website vulnerability scanner tools is that it helps in holistic asset discovery. Being intelligently automated, they provide comprehensive coverage of all assets, including third-party components.   

This is important because we live in an agile technology landscape where applications are constantly changing – new components are added, several moving parts exist, the technology keeps getting redundant, shared services are used, several third-party software and components are used, etc. Leaving even one asset or area un-crawled could have devastating consequences for the organization. 

6.  Malware Monitoring

Equipped with the latest threat intelligence and intelligent automation, web vulnerability scanning tools enable organizations to proactively discover malware attack vectors, including the latest malware tools used and deployed by attackers. Advanced scanner tools are equipped to discover known and unknown malware. 

7. Website Blacklisting Detection

Advanced website vulnerability scanners like Indusface WAS are equipped to monitor the reputation of your website, tracking popular search engines and other platforms for blacklisting status. Through the external URL blacklisting feature, such scanners ensure that customers do not visit infected/ hacked websites, leading to malware transmission into your website/ web application. 

8. Defacement and Vandalism Alerts

Website vulnerability scanning tools offer real-time defacement and vandalism alerts to IT security teams, enabling them to take immediate action. This saves businesses from financial and reputational damage.  

9. Security Analytics to Strengthen security

The best website scanners are equipped with security analytics. With real-time insights and alerts, developers and IT security teams can take instant action and continuously harden the security posture.  

10. Comprehensive Documentation and Reporting

Documentation and reporting are essential to developers. The best scanning tools offer detailed reporting and comprehensive documentation along with remediation guides. These help developers to fix issues quickly.  

The Way Forward   

Website vulnerability scanner tools provide an opportunity to remediate security vulnerabilities to ensure attackers do not detect and exploit them. By onboarding the best web vulnerability scanner, you effectively take the first step towards proactive, fortified security. Invest today! 

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