Doing good business means more than just focusing on sales effectiveness. On the contrary, a good business leader must be attentive to all aspects of his or her organization. This implies above all the security aspect. Because, although sometimes not so obvious, today a protected corporate system is the key to success in the business world. That’s why one of the main tools any organization should have is a web vulnerability scanner.
Web services have become a central pillar to meet customer requirements and ensure the competitiveness of the organization in the digital age. However, being so exposed on the network; corporate systems need cutting-edge tools to stay protected.
But which one to choose? How to select the best option among the vast array of options offered by the market? It seems a complex task to choose a web vulnerability scanner, however; with the right criteria, you can select the most suitable one for your company. Read on and learn more.
Why a Web Vulnerability Scanner?
As website owners, proactivity in regularly reviewing and updating site security measures is essential to keep systems free of cyber attacks. In this sense, the best way to automate this task is through a web vulnerability scanner.
It is likely that your website stores confidential personal information submitted by users. This means that the visitors who come to it have given your company their trust to take care of their sensitive data. Responding efficiently to that trust is imperative when it comes to providing a positive perception of your brand.
Unfortunately, as long as it is not detected, malware or any other threat can hide on your website and collect information without you even noticing it. This affects both users and your business because if Google or other security services detect that your site may be a source of malicious elements, they may even blacklist it.
Luckily, you can avoid such situations by applying regular scans that allow you to quickly discover security threats to your website.
What criteria to use when choosing your scanner?
Once you are clear about the importance of a web vulnerability scanner, the next step is to select the one that’s right for your business. Considering the number of options currently available, this stage can sometimes seem a bit complex. However, there are some criteria you can use to speed up the selection process.
#1 Cutting edge technology
Your web vulnerability scanner should give you a total view of your web resources. This can only be done if it integrates state-of-the-art technology designed to detect even the most modern threats. That’s why you should make sure that the solution you choose allows you to make a complete mapping of your pages hosted on web servers.
One of the latest trends in digital security is to integrate with the tools, functions based on artificial intelligence, more specifically Machine Learning technology. This type of resources is ideal for quickly simulating injections of malicious code, and to relate suspicious patterns in favor of threat detection. So choosing a scanner that integrates this technology can be a smart decision.
#2 Usability
Since each of the members of your company must actively participate to ensure the security of the systems, it is very important that you find a solution that suits all users, whatever their level of technical knowledge: business manager, CIO, etc.. This means that your solution must offer you:
- Accessibility: It must provide a simple installation.
- Simplicity: It should have an intuitive interface and a centralized panel.
- Process automation: The solution must be able to prevent security teams from performing repetitive tasks.
#3 False Positive Rates
Before purchasing a web vulnerability scanner, try to inform yourself about its false positive percentage. If the solution incorrectly reports problems that are not real (i.e. false alarms); it may flood your system with erroneous data. This will cause security teams to have to perform manual checks, resulting in a considerable loss of time.
#4 Metrics
Reporting is a critical feature of any web vulnerability scanner because it helps guide remediation efforts. Incomplete reports can’t help you achieve your security goals. That’s why your solution is required to provide you with flexible, comprehensive reports that allow you to receive appropriate information about network security status, trend analysis, detailed information about discovered vulnerabilities as well as filtering and classification options for custom data views.
Now you know where to start when choosing your vulnerability scanner. If you haven’t made up your mind yet, we recommend you take a look at the powerful Acunetix. A tool capable of meeting the above criteria and even exceeding expectations.
If you want more information about Acunetix or any other solution do not hesitate to contact us. At GB Advisors we specialize in providing the best advice to help you improve your processes and your service delivery.
