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If automated vulnerability scanners caught all
security risks, hackers would be out of business
and security personnel wouldn't have much to do.
In reality, automated vulnerability scanners are
only one tool used in the process of identifying
and managing security risks. For many
organizations, web applications are a vulnerable
element of an organization’s IT infrastructure.
As your organization uses the Internet for
customer, supplier, employee, and vendor
interactions, Internet technologies and database
interfaces become complex and require additional
security.
Organizations typically have two different
choices when it comes to website and web
application security audits:
Automated tool assesses web application
- Tools tend to find easy to identify
vulnerabilities
- Result in false positives (reported
items that aren't really security risks)
- Since a person is not manually running
the tool, the automated scan may not find
the real risks
Knowledgeable security experts perform
security audit
- Mimic the approach used by hackers to
get into your systems
- Perform a controlled real life attack on
your website and web application
- Identify and categorize threats into
high, medium, and low priority security
risks
- Test vulnerabilities to determine if
they are real or false
- Important engagements can include
several engineers assigned to find security
risks
Automated scans provide little defense
against knowledgeable hackers and full scale web
attacks. Hackers don’t rely exclusively on
automated scanners and neither should you.
Experienced professionals using a combination of
manual and automated tools give you the best
chance at finding your security vulnerabilities.
Skilled professionals can identify risk areas
created during the design, programming,
installation, and maintenance phases of a
software development lifecycle.
Knowledgeable experts can emulate the
approach used by hackers, identify risk areas,
and make recommendations to secure systems. With
the help of website security audits,
organizations can better protect themselves and
the sensitive information stored on servers.
Web
application security audits help organizations
identify, manage, and reduce risks to web
applications and web sites. Formal and
documented policies
ensure a top down approach to managing
security risks.
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Tags: website security | web application
security | software security audit | website
security audit | web application security audit
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