Cybersecurity is a growing concern, and organizations are struggling to defend their digital assets from bad actors. While adding more and more layers to your existing security mechanisms can provide greater protection, a single hole in it can leave everything vulnerable. Hence, identifying and remediating vulnerabilities is the first line of defense.
Dynamic application security testing or DAST, helps you dynamically test your applications and discover vulnerabilities to safeguard them from cyber menace. DAST works like an outside tester and identifies application weaknesses by trying to hack and detect exploits. You can leverage the DAST tool to spot vulnerabilities in real time and enhance your security posture.
DAST tools perform simulated attacks on a target application and detect weak spots that can allow an attacker to compromise its security. They help automate the process of vulnerability assessment and eliminate threat vectors. In this article, we are going to discuss the top 9 DAST tools that help to perform security tests and discover vulnerabilities. Let’s check out these tools!
1. ZeroThreat
ZeroThreat is a cutting-edge DAST tool with excellent features that have caught many eyes. With a comprehensive automated web app and API security scanning, it can uncover vulnerabilities beyond OWASP Top 10.
It offers AI-powered vulnerability scanning to detect misconfigurations and security flaws. Faster scanning speed, lowest false positives, and zero-day detection are a few USPs of this tool. ZeroThreat is a great security testing solution for developers, DevOps experts, and CISOs.
ZeroThreat requires no configuration and can be used instantaneously with a single click. The following are the key features of this tool:
- Prevent Session hijacking.
- 5x faster scanning results.
- Priority-based scanning reports.
- Reduce pen test efforts by 90%.
- Scan behind logins.
- Out-of-Band Security Testing (OAST).
- Role-based scanning.
- Custom scanning server location.
- Built-in threat intelligence.
- CI/CD integration.
2. AppScan
It is a feature-rich DAST tool that enables you to scan APIs, web apps, and mobile backends to identify security vulnerabilities. AppScan supports DevSecOps integration and helps you manage vulnerabilities within your SDLC. This tool has many features to simplify security testing and offer remediation guidance. The following are the key features of this tool:
- It has features that support DevSecOps.
- Reporting and analytics.
- Compliance testing.
- It offers both SAST and DAST features.
- It scans, classifies, and prioritizes vulnerabilities.
3. Detectify
Detectify can scan web applications and databases to identify security vulnerabilities. It can discover common vulnerabilities and misconfigurations like OWASP Top 10. It performs deep vulnerability assessment by imitating hacker attacks. It minimizes your attack surface by uncovering vulnerabilities with greater accuracy.
Before you start scanning with Detectify, you require some basic setup. It can take a little time and once set up, the tool is ready for security testing. With its surface monitoring functionality, it can evaluate, continuously monitor, and discover web-based assets. Let’s check the key features of this tool below:
- It has an asset discovery feature that will identify all assets in your organization.
- Detectify performs continuous threat monitoring for sub-domains.
- It offers attack surface protection with threat monitoring.
- Automatic domain verification.
- Detect and share identified vulnerabilities through different tools.
- Get priority-based results.
- Test application parts that need authentication.
4. OWASP ZAP
It is an open-source and free vulnerability scanning tool with many excellent features. ZAP is an abbreviated form of Zed Attack Proxy and a suitable security testing tool for experienced and novice users. It is now known as ZAP and was previously maintained by the OWASP foundation.
ZAP was developed using the Java programming language and more than 29 languages are supported. It can be installed on Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It helps to automate security testing with rigorous vulnerability assessment. Another key benefit of ZAP is it also works as a proxy by manipulating HTTP/S requests.
The following are the key features of ZAP:
- It offers fuzz testing.
- Intercepting proxy server.
- Automated vulnerability scanning.
- Plug-n-Hack support.
- It helps to scan AJAX-rich web apps with AJAX scrapping.
5. AppCheck
It is another robust security testing solution that comprehensively scans your digital assets. You can leverage this tool to scan single-page applications, infrastructure, web apps, and APIs. AppCheck thoroughly scans your web apps and APIs with the requisite standards and protocols to uncover potential security exploits.
It isn’t bound by any framework, language, or platform to perform security testing. You can utilize this dynamic application security testing solution to assess external or internal assets. Let’s check the major benefits of this tool:
- It has an engine that offers SPA-specific vulnerability scanning.
- You can scan APIs with OpenAPI/Swagger, SOAP, and GraphQL endpoints.
- Discover out-of-band vulnerabilities.
- It is possible to link it with the existing development tools.
- A detailed list of various threat vectors.
6. Checkmarx
Checkmarx has a unique standing in the group of top dynamic application security testing tools. It is a cloud-based security testing solution that can be used without complex configuration. It enables AppSec teams to discover and eliminate risks across different parts of modern software, including the source code, APIs, and IaC (Infrastructure-as-a-Code).
It can help to identify and remediate critical vulnerabilities at the scale of an enterprise. Checkmarx offers efficient coordination between development, AppSec, and CISOs with its interactive dashboard. It can seamlessly integrate with various tools used in the development and AppSec cycle. The following are the key features of this tool:
- It easily integrates with SDLC.
- You can use it to scan live APIs.
- See all APIs on a single platform with API global inventory
- Get a combined view of DAST and SAST results.
- Run SAST and DAST scans from a common platform.
- Quick visibility into APIs with API discovery.
7. Nikto
Nikto is a lightweight and quite simple DAST scanner that assesses live applications for various vulnerabilities. This tool is provided by America’s Cyber Defense Agency, and it is an open-source solution. It scans web servers to identify a wide range of security risks, such as security-critical files and programs.
It is written using the Perl programming language and is available with a GPLv2 license. This vulnerability scanning tool can discover 6700+ dangerous files/CGIs. In addition, it also checks for version-related issues and outdated servers. It can detect servers to pinpoint misconfigurations and errors. The following are the key features of it:
- Identify servers and related misconfigurations.
- It allows testers to create custom profiles.
- It generates a structured vulnerability report.
- Discover server issues that could compromise security.
8. Tenable.io
It discovers exposures and helps you identify critical vulnerabilities that need to be addressed first. Tenable is a cloud-based security assessment solution that helps to evaluate various web-based assets and identify different types of vulnerabilities including OWASP and CWE.
It offers Tenable One which is a well-designed platform to view and manage vulnerabilities found in your digital assets. With a single and user-friendly dashboard, it is easy to manage and view all types of attack vectors on your digital landscape. The following are the key features of this tool:
- Built-in threat intelligence.
- It offers a scoring of risks to know the most critical issues.
- It offers always-on sensors providing continuous threat discovery and assessment.
- You can identify common vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
- It helps you maintain compliance with industry regulations and standards.
- With deeper threat filtering and grouping, it is easy to prioritize vulnerabilities.
9. Soos
Soos is another DAST tool that falls under the category of top choices for application security testing. It lets security professionals evaluate web applications and APIs for a myriad of vulnerabilities. Soos can be easily integrated with the CI/CD pipeline to leverage its power to build and deploy secure software.
You can catch all vulnerabilities from a single dashboard with Soos, as it offers a user-friendly web dashboard. Identifying vulnerabilities is relatively easy and it provides well-structured reports to give an insight into the potential security weaknesses. Let’s see the key features of it.
- It can be used for web applications and APIs with OpenAPI, GraphQL, and SOAP protocols.
- Soos offers the full breadth of domain scanning without any limit.
- It offers limitless concurrent DAST scans.
- Seamless integration with CI/CD.
- It allows OSS vulnerability with the use of SCA.
- With a unified dashboard, viewing and managing DAST issues is easy.
- Integrates with GitHub, Jira, and other tools.
In Conclusion
In the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity, constantly identifying and remediating vulnerabilities is critical to ensuring security. DAST is an effective method to assess and discover vulnerabilities in web applications and APIs. It offers a comprehensive security analysis of applications.
By using dynamic
Comments
0 comment