Welcome Guest. | Log In | Register | Membership Benefits

Acunetix Web Rolls Out Vulnerability Scanner 8

Acunetix WVS can automatically identify URL parameters and manipulate them to detect vulnerabilities

Feb 16, 2012 | 01:21 PM | 


London, 16th Feburary 2012

Acunetix -- a name on the forefront of the web application security industry -- today announced the 8th version of its popular Web Vulnerability Scanner product.

Through this new iteration of WVS, Acunetix reaffirms its position as a leader in the development of web application security scanners. Version 8 echoes years of counter-hacking experience through its new ability to lock hackers out by integrating scan results into Imperva's Web Application Firewall, and by recognizing a new breed of vulnerabilities through new detection methods.

Additionally, Acunetix WVS 8 takes vulnerability scanning to a new level by integrating smarter and more reliable automated features, making it quicker to launch a scan with less configuration required.

"Acunetix WVS 8 continues to set new standards for web vulnerability scanners. Web security exploit statistics are steadily on the rise -- unfortunately not in favor of website owners -- which is why version 8 of WVS focuses on providing a comprehensive solution to anyone wanting to make their online presence a safe one. Acunetix WVS 8's high performance scanning engine provides even more accurate exploit detection, and coupled with the new automation enhancements securing a web application has never been easier. WVS 8 makes it clear why Acunetix is the number one choice for companies to audit and secure their websites."

Mr. Nick Galea | Acunetix CEO

New feature showcase:

An automated web scanner that thinks like a hacker

* Manipulation of inputs from URLs: Acunetix WVS can automatically identify URL parameters and manipulate them to detect vulnerabilities. This technology is not present in any other competing vulnerability scanner.

Replace manual intervention with scanner intelligence

* Automatic custom 404 error page identification: Acunetix WVS 8 can automatically determine if a custom error page is in use, and recognizes it without needing any recognition patterns to be configured before the scan. Interpret IIS 7 rewrite rules automatically

Using the web application's web.config file, WVS 8 can automatically interpret rewrite rules without requiring any manual input. Fix vulnerabilities while locking hackers out

* Imperva Web Application Firewall integration: An exciting co-operation between Imperva and Acunetix; WVS 8 scan results can be imported into an Imperva Web Application Firewall and interpreted automatically as firewall rules. Use WVS 8 as a true security scanning workhorse

* Multiple instance support: Acunetix WVS 8 can be relaunched as multiple instances on the same machine, allowing the user to scan multiple websites enabling further support for multi-user scenarios on the same server/workstation. Re-scan without re-configuring

* Scan settings templates: WVS 8 can save the settings for the scan of a specific application as a template, making it quick and easy to recall those exact settings for the same application each time it is scanned. This is particularly useful when auditing multiple sites, enabling the user to load the template for each site instead of re-configuring everything manually. Launch a scan quicker than before

* Simplified Scan Wizard: In addition to the introduction of Scan Settings Templates and automatic custom 404 error page recognition, the Scan Wizard contains far less options so it's much easier and quicker to kick off a scan. Access your results from anywhere and everywhere

* Web-based scheduler: Accessible via a web interface, the new Scheduler allows administrators to download scan results from any workstation, laptop, or smartphone. The new Scheduler will automatically launch another instance of WVS when multiple web scans are due, preventing multiple processes from depending on the resources of one WVS instance, and thereby allowing scans to complete in less time. Identify threats unseen by other black-box scanners

* New HTTP Parameter Pollution vulnerability class: At the time of writing, Acunetix WVS 8 is the only scanner that tests for this security vulnerability. Ensure complex scans will complete automatically and successfully

* Smart memory management: The following settings have been added to optimise scanning efficiency: Define number of files per directory Limit number of subdirectories per website Assign Crawler memory limit

Other New Features

Real time Crawler status (number of crawled files, inputs discovered, etc.) Support for custom HTTP headers in automated scans Configurable log file retention Detailed Crawler coverage report Scan status included in report

Try Acunetix WVS

Download the trial edition of Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner v8 from http://www.acunetix.com/vulnerability-scanner/download.htm

About Acunetix

Acunetix is a market leader in web application security technology. Founded in 2004, Acunetix customers include the London Stock Exchange, Cisco, NASA, the US Air Force, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and many more.

For more information please visit: http://www.acunetix.com



Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

Dark Reading encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, Dark Reading moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. Dark Reading further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

Disqus Tips To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.
Subscribe to RSS



Database Security Reports

report Securing The Data Warehouse
Many enterprises are building data warehouses to centralize the ever-increasing information flowing through their organizations into useful repositories. This makes good business sense, but it opens up a slew of concerns from a security standpoint. IT professionals can apply many of the same security best practices used with databases, but there are new lessons to be learned as well.

report Defend Your Data From Malicious Insiders
The biggest threat to your company?s most sensitive data may be the employee who has legitimate access to corporate databases but less-than-legitimate intentions. And while the incidence of insider data breaches has decreased, external attacks often imitate them--and do serious damage. Follow our advice to mitigate the risk.

report Ensuring Secure Database Access
Role-based access control based on least user privilege is one of the most effective ways to prevent the compromise of corporate data. But proper provisioning is a growing challenging, due to the proliferation of "big data," NoSQLdatabases, and cloud-based data storage.

Other reports from the Database Security Tech Center:

Related Content

Establishing a Strategy for Database Security is No Longer Optional
As databases continue to grow in size, complexity and importance, enterprises struggle to identify the most appropriate controls regarding their use and misuse. The report identifies best practices, including: Implementing database activity monitoring to mitigate the high levels of risk from database vulnerabilities, and address audit findings in areas such as database segregation of duties and change management; using data security measures, such as data masking and data encryption; and monitoring privileged-user access and access to critical data.

Database Activity Monitoring Is Evolving Into Database Audit and Protection
In this report, Gartner writes that "Database audit and protection (DAP) represents an evolutionary advance in database activity monitoring tools." DAP suites provide comprehensive, cross-platform support in heterogeneous database environments to protect sensitive data from inappropriate use. Organizations are increasingly concerned with optimizing database security and mitigating risks associated with database vulnerabilities.

Protecting Against Database Attacks and Insider Threats: Top 5 Scenarios
Data security presents a multi-dimensional challenge in today's complex IT environment. Multiple access paths and permission levels have resulted in a broad array of security threats and vulnerabilities. We invite you to read this new eBook: "Protecting against database attacks and insider threats" to learn the top five scenarios and essential best practices for preventing database attacks and insider threats.

Demo: Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring and Audit Protection
Organizations across the globe continue to experience compromised data caused by malicious attacks, web application vulnerabilities or unauthorized changes. View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium? database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with a holistic approach to data security and compliance.

Look Beyond Native Database Auditing To Improve Security, Audit Visibility, And Real-Time Protection
Today's attacks on enterprise databases are more sophisticated than ever, and they occur so fast that it's often difficult to stop them in real time. Despite significant efforts to protect enterprise databases, the number of records breached has grown each year - due to all types of internal and external attacks and violations of corporate policy.




Featured Webcasts
Featured Whitepapers
Featured Reports