With businesses shifting their operations online, there is a pressing need to pay more attention to establishing robust security measures. People often need clarification about how to detect and prevent hacking attacks when it comes to enhancing web application security.  

Welcome to the world of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)! 

Let us discuss more on DAST, its importance, security concerns related to web applications, and some of the best DAST tools with which you can escape the most common smart contract vulnerabilities. You can even go for a smart contract audit from a credible company if you wish to get a third-party perspective on your code. 

What is DAST? 

DAST stands for dynamic application security testing and is a security testing methodology that centers around using automated tools to make detecting vulnerabilities in web applications much easier. It is unique from static analysis and relies upon automated inspection of the code. The best part about DAST is that it can be easily used to look for both known and unknown security flaws. 

Types of DAST

There are two types of DAST. Do you know the characteristics of both? Let us discuss them. These are 

Automated DAST	Manual DAST
It is faster.	It is more time-consuming
It can scan a large number of applications.	It can scan and find the vulnerabilities that automated DAST has missed.
It is more efficient	It is more accurate

Now before we get on to discuss about the top DAST tools, let us briefly give you an overview of the importance of DAST tools. 

How important are DAST tools? 

When it comes to using DAST tools to find vulnerabilities in web applications, it holds an imperative stature. 

• It may be utilized to evaluate programs that are currently in use.
• Applications may be rapidly and simply scanned to find vulnerabilities using automated methods.
• Before the program is launched, developers can fix security issues.
• Before proceeding on to the next stage of the app’s development, it makes sure that any security problems are fixed. In the long term, this saves time and makes it simpler to fix errors in the future.
• DAST is compatible with different security testing techniques.

From the security perspective of any web application program, DAST forms a crucial part. They are very efficient and can aid in determining all the vulnerabilities that even other methods might fail to find. Furthermore, you can use DAST to test applications regularly. This keeps them secure and up-to-date. 

What Are The Major Security Issues In Web Applications? 

It is well-evident that businesses want to take advantage of the increased sales and revenue, which is why they have shifted from offline to online. 

On the flip side, this shift has also brought to the limelight a number of cyberattacks. Therefore, security becomes a vital area of concern for businesses to conduct their operations smoothly. 

Hackers have been increasingly targeting web applications as they serve as the entry points into the network. We have enlisted the top security issues in web applications. 

These are: 

1. Broken access control
2. Cryptographic failures
3. Injection and cross-site scripting
4. Insecure design 
5. Security misconfiguration
6. Vulnerable and outdated components
7. Software and data integrity failures 
8. Security logging and monitoring failures
9. Server-side request forgery
10. Identification and authentication failure

Now, let us come straight to the top DAST tools that are used to find breaches in web applications. 

Want to stop OWASP? Use these DAST tools

Finding security flaws in a program while it is in production is done using a procedure called dynamic application security testing (DAST). DAST is a preventative strategy to safeguard your data and apps against hackers. DAST examines every component of the program, including data validation, business logic, etc., in addition to security flaws and code problems.

1. OWASP Zap

It is an open-source security scanner. The main key feature of this tool is that it provides an integrated development environment. It is among the world’s most popular free web security tools. A dedicated international team of volunteers maintains it. 

2. W3AF

A web application attack and audit framework are known as 3af. The project’s objective is to provide a framework that will assist you in securing your online applications by identifying and utilizing any web application flaws.

3. Nikto

An Open Source (GPL) web server scanner called Nikto runs extensive testing on web servers for a variety of things, including over 6700 potentially harmful files and applications, outdated versions on over 1250 servers, and version-specific issues on over 270 servers. Additionally, it looks for HTTP server settings and the existence of multiple index files and will try to detect any installed web servers and applications. Plugins and scan components can automatically update and get regular updates.

4. InsightAppsec

InsightAppSec conducts black-box security testing to automate vulnerability detection, vulnerability triage, action prioritization, and application risk remediation. It is a DAST tool by Rapid7, and it scans for few false positives, and 97 attacks. 

Key features include

• Tests for more than 95 attacks
• Minimal false positives
• Covers OWASP top 10

5. Appscan

Strong DevSecOps identify application flaws, enabling speedy correction throughout the development lifecycle. HCL AppScan provides best-in-class application security testing tools to guarantee that your company and its clients are not exposed to threats.

Currently, there are two versions of AppScan: one for business use and the other for commercial use.

Important characteristics include

• Thorough security scanner
• Testing the security of interactive and dynamic applications

6. StackHawk

StackHawk checks your live apps, services, and APIs for exploitable open-source security flaws and vulnerabilities that your team may have developed.

7. Acunetix

Acunetix is an automated tool for assessing online applications’ security and auditing your web apps for exploitable flaws like SQL Injection and Cross-Site Scripting.

Other than these DAST tools, there are a number of others as well that you can use to find the security vulnerability in your web application. 

This automated tool can help your site crawl, find vulnerabilities in it and allow you to fix them before the hackers hack it. 

Key features include: 

• Inventory of assets
• Detects difficult vulnerabilities
• Scans across environments

Final Thoughts: 

It might be challenging to understand what kinds of solutions are available, what they can perform, and which is the best fit for your business when there are many Dynamic Application Security Testing solutions. 

We hope you have got a little knowledge about DAST tools with this blog. Try experimenting with them and see how you’ll be able to eliminate all the vulnerabilities in your web applications. 

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