By simulating real-world legitimate traffic, distributed denial of service (DDoS), exploits, malware, and fuzzing, BreakingPoint validates an organization’s security infrastructure, reduces the risk of network degradation by almost 80%, and increases attack readiness by nearly 70%.
OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) is a free, open-source web application security scanner that enables software developers and testers to perform penetration testing on their applications to discover vulnerabilities and prevent hostile attacks. To date, it is one of the most searched Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) projects, and an international group of volunteers is maintaining it. This tool is both flexible and extensible and is intended to be used by users who are new to application security as well as expert testers. For the users' convenience, OWASP ZAP has versions for each major OS and Docker platform so as not to rely on any single OS.
OWASP ZAP focuses on being the “middle man proxy,” as it is positioned between the user’s browser and the web application. In doing so, it will intercept and examine messages that are sent between a browser and a web application. If needed, it will adjust the contents and pass those packets on to their destination. As is the case in many corporate settings, if there is already another network proxy in use, ZAP can be configured to join that proxy. A variety of add-ons for further functionality is available on ZAP Marketplace.
OWASP ZAP offers a range of security automation options, including:
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Docker Packaged Scans: A ZAP automation scanner that provides a lot of flexibility and makes it easy for the user to get started with the tool.
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Quick Start Command Line: A rapid and straightforward scanner that is suitable for a quick scan.
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API and Daemon Mode: Through a comprehensive API, this mode gives the user complete control over ZAP.
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Automation Framework: A state-of-the-art framework that is not tied to any current container technology. This framework will, in time, take over the Command Line and the Package Scan options.
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GitHub Actions: The ability to use any associated and available GitHub package scan.
Benefits of OWASP ZAP
Some of OWASP ZAP’s benefits include:
- The ability to run an automated scan. Once set up, ZAP will deploy two spiders to crawl the web application and subsequently scan each page it finds.
- It interprets your results and sends an automated alert. After scanning the web application, all requests and responses sent to each page are recorded. If there is a potential problem, an alert is created and sent to the user.
- An intuitive and innovative interface. The Heads Up Display (HUD) is a new feature that provides capabilities right in the browser. It is great for people new to web security and experienced testers alike.
Reviews from Real Users
OWASP ZAP stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Among them are the solution’s automatic scanning feature, its ease of use, its ability to report vulnerabilities, and its being a free open-source solution..
PeerSpot user Piyush S., Technical Specialist (DevOps), notes that "Automatic scanning is a valuable feature and very easy to use. The initial setup is straightforward. The solution is free due to the fact that it is open-source. The product has a strong community surrounding it to help with issues and troubleshooting. The stability of the solution is very good."
Raj K., Business Analyst at Experion Technologies, notes, “The valuable features are that it's very simple to use and the user interface is very good, particularly for beginners so they can start the application easily. It's enough to refer to an online tutorial to be able to start using this application. It's not very complex.”
Balaji S., Assistant Vice President at Hexaware Technologies Limited, writes, “The solution is good at reporting the vulnerabilities of the application. It can help us with security, SQL injection vulnerability, known vulnerabilities, et cetera. Any kind of a threat that we get in the development cycle, is what we will look for. This solution helps us find them.
Many users like how the solution has improved over the years. As Alan G., CEO at Virtual Security International, notes, "It has evolved over the years, and recently in the last year they have added HUD (Heads Up Display)."
