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Web App Scanners Miss Half of Vulnerabilities

seek3r sends news of a recent test of six web application security scanning products, in which the scanners missed an average of 49% of the vulnerabilities known to be on the test sites. Here is a PDF of the report. The irony is that the test pitted each scanner against the public test files of all the scanners. This reader adds, "Is it any wonder that being PCI compliant is meaningless from a security point of view? You can perform a Web app scan, check the box on your PCI audit, and still have the security posture of Swiss cheese on your Web app!" "NTOSpider found over twice as many vulnerabilities as the average competitor having a 94% accuracy rating, with Hailstorm having the second best rating of 62%, but only after extensive training by an expert. Appscan had the second best 'Point and Shoot' rating of 55% and the rest averaged 39%."

4 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Every system is different by truthsearch · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I first quickly ran through the summary I read that as "I pity the scanner". After re-reading the summary it seems appropriate.

  2. Re:Whitehat Security by ls671 · · Score: 4, Funny

    > There seems to be a little bit of a disconnect between the sales force and the operations team

    No kidding, I can't believe that such a company exists ;-)))

    --
    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
  3. Simple fix: double the reported value by noidentity · · Score: 2, Funny

    If these scanners report only half the vulnerabilities, they just need to double the reported number. Simple fix, really.

  4. Re:Web apps make it so easy to be insecure. by madddddddddd · · Score: 1, Funny

    Even after well over a decade, PHP still makes is too damn easy to write code.

    fixed that for you....