#security testing tools

There are various tools used for security testing, but here we are going to talk about the 5 best vulnerability assessment and penetration testing tools that are commonly used while performing security tests. At Detox Technologies, we use these tools in security testing:

1- Burp Suite:

Burp Suite is the world’s most widely used web application security testing software. It comes in 2 versions – Burp Suite Professional for hands-on testers, and Burp Suite Enterprise Edition with scalable automation and CI integration. Burp Suite is an integrated platform for web application security testing.

2- AppScan:

Previously known as IBM AppScan is now known as the HCL Appscan standard is one of the best web application security testing tools. It is a dynamic analysis testing tool designed for security experts and penetration testing experts to use when performing security tests on web applications.

3- Nmap:

The Network Mapper is a free and open-source tool for network discovery and security auditing. Nmap is used to detect the live host on the network (host discovery), also detects the open ports on the host.

4- Nessus:

Nessus is a remote security scanning tool used during vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. This is a free and open-source tool for non-enterprises use. Nessus scans for vulnerabilities on Windows and Unix systems, these qualities make this tool all-rounder. This tool is best for security testing teams and penetration experts.

5- Metasploit:

Metasploit is a very popular hacking and penetration testing tool. It is a penetration testing framework which makes finding vulnerabilities very easy. Metasploit is often used to break into remote systems or test for a computer system vulnerability. Metasploit finds security issues, verify vulnerability mitigation & manages security assessments.

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are a critical part of most modern programs and applications. In fact, both cloud deployments and mobile applications have come to rely so heavily on APIs that you can’t have either without an API managing components somewhere along the line.

Many larger companies, especially those with a big online presence, have hundreds or even thousands of APIs embedded in their infrastructure. The growth of APIs will only continue to increase.

The ingenious thing about APIs is that many of them are just tiny snippets of code, and all are designed to be small and unobtrusive in terms of their network resource requirements. Yet they are also flexible and able to keep working and performing their main functions even if the program they are interfacing with or controlling changes, such as when patches are applied.

As amazing as APIs are, they also have their faults. Because they can be designed to do almost anything, from single functions repeated over and over to smartly controlling the advanced aspects of various programs or platforms, almost no standards govern their creation. Most APIs are unique, and many organisations simply create new APIs as needed. That can be a nightmare for security teams.

Another way APIs are attractive to attackers is that many are over-permissioned. Even APIs that perform only a few functions often have near administrator privileges. The thinking is that such a tiny API could not possibly do any harm.

Hackers compromise APIs and then use those credentials for new purposes, such as data exfiltration or deeper penetration into a network. According to security research conducted by Akamai, nearly 75 per cent of modern credential attacks targeted vulnerable APIs.

The problem is getting worse. According to Gartner, by 2022, vulnerabilities involving APIs will become the most frequently attacked vector across all cybersecurity categories.

API testing tools to the rescue

Having a critical networking and program component in the crosshairs of attackers is bad enough, but with APIs the situation is even more precarious because of the lack of standards involved in their creation. Many organisations likely don’t know how many APIs they are using, what tasks they are performing, or how high a permission level they hold. Then there is the question of whether those APIs contain any vulnerabilities.

Industry and private groups have come up with API testing tools and platforms to help answer those questions. Some testing tools are designed to perform a single function, like mapping why specific Docker APIs are improperly configured.

Others take a more holistic approach to an entire network, searching for APIs and then providing information about what they do and why they might be vulnerable or over-permissioned.

Several well-known commercial API testing platforms are available as well as a large pool of free or low-cost open-source tools. The commercial tools generally have more support options and may be able to be deployed remotely though the cloud or even as a service.

Some open-source tools may be just as good and have the backing of the community of users who created them. Which one you select depends on your needs, the security expertise of your IT teams, and budget.

Below are some of the top commercial API testing tools on the market and their main features, followed by some open-source tools.

Commercial API testing tools and platforms

APIsec

The APIsec platform acts like a penetration tool aimed at APIs. Whereas many tools can scan for common vulnerabilities to typical attacks like script injections, APIsec stress tests every aspect of targeted APIs to ensure that everything from the core network to the endpoints accessing it are protected from flaws in the API’s code.

One big advantage to APIsec is that it can be deployed in the development phase while APIs are being programmed. A full scan of apps that are in the process of being built takes only a couple minutes, with results comparable to old-school penetration testing operations that used to take days or weeks to complete.

AppKnox

AppKnox offers a lot of assistance to those who purchase and deploy their platform. Combined with its easy-to-use interface, this makes AppKnox a good choice for organisations that don’t have large security teams dedicated to their APIs. AppKnox starts with a scan to locate APIs either in the production environment, on endpoints or wherever they may be deployed. Once located, users can select which APIs they want to submit for further testing.

AppKnox tests for all the common problems that can cause an API to break or become compromised like command injection vulnerabilities in HTTP requests, cross-site tracing, and SQL injection vulnerabilities. This includes a complete analysis of web servers, databases and all components on the server that interact with the API.

After the API scan, users can submit their results for advanced analysis with a human security researcher, a process the company says normally takes between three and five days.

The Data Theorem API Secure platform is designed to fit into any continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD) environment to provide ongoing security to APIs in every stage of development and into the production environment. Its analyser engine continually searches the network for new APIs and can quickly identify non-authorised ones or those that are part of the shadow IT at an organisation.

The analyser engine keeps itself up to date about the most recent vulnerabilities discovered for APIs and continually tests protected assets. It works with both on-premises and cloud environments to make sure that no APIs can fall victim to the latest threats.

To keep the CI/CD pipeline clear and flowing, Data Theorem API Secure offers to automatically fix discovered problems without requiring human innovation. That way organisations can keep their APIs secure against even the latest threats, so long as they are comfortable with a high level of automation.

Postman

While Postman certainly qualifies as a testing tool for APIs, its claim to fame is as a complete and collaborative platform for building secure APIs. It’s used by millions of developers working in Windows, Linux and iOS environments, and for good reason.

Postman provides developers with a complete set of API tools to use when designing new APIs, and it also provides a secure repository for code that organisations can build up over time. Using the secure repository can ensure that future APIs maintain tight security and organisational standards from the start.

The workspaces provided by Postman are designed to help developers organise their work. It also can provide security warnings when an app’s code starts to drift away from the organisation’s established secure template or incorporates a potential vulnerability. That way the problem can be fixed long before the API makes it to the production environment.

Smartbear ReadyAPI

In addition to security testing, the Smartbear ReadyAPI platform is designed to optimise their use and performance within any environment. It can execute an API security analysis with a single click, but it also supports other critical functions like seeing how well, or badly, an API can handle an unexpected load or sudden spike in usage.

You can configure ReadyAPI to generate the specific kinds of traffic that the API is expected to handle. It can also record live API traffic so that future tests will be more accurate and configured to the unique environment where it will be operating.

In addition, the platform can import almost any specification or schema to test APIs using the most popular protocols. Natively, ReadyAPI supports Git, Docker, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, TeamCity and more, and can be run in any environment from development to quality assurance long before APIs go live.

Synopsis API Scanner

One reason why the Synopsis API Scanner is so powerful is because in addition to security testing, it also incorporates fuzzing as part of its suite of deep scans and tests. The fuzzing engine sends thousands of unexpected, invalid or random inputs to APIs to see how they behave or if they will break when subjected to things like very large numbers or odd commands.

It also maps out all the paths and the logic of an entire API, including all the endpoints, parameters, authentications, and specifications that apply to its use. This gives developers a clear picture of what functions they intend their APIs to perform, compared with what they actually might sometimes do. It makes it clear why an API might be subject to unexpected behaviour or security vulnerabilities.

Open-source API testing tools

While the open-source tools generally don’t have the same support as commercial offerings, experienced developers can easily deploy them, often for free, to shore up or improve the security of their APIs. The following are some of the more popular offerings according to the open-source community.

Astra

Astra mostly concentrates on representational state transfer (REST) APIs, which can be extremely difficult because they are often constantly changing. Given that the REST architectural style emphasises scalability in its interactions between components, it can be challenging to keep REST APIs secure over time. Astra helps by offering to integrate into the CI/CD pipeline, checking to make sure that the most common vulnerabilities don’t creep back into a supposedly safe REST API.

crAPI

The crAPI tool has a terrible name, but it performs its function as an API wrapper efficiently. It’s one of the few wrappers that can connect to a target system and provide a base path with the root client’s default set of handlers. It can do it without having to create any new connections. Advanced API developers can save a lot of time with it.

Apache JMeter

Apache JMeter, which not surprisingly is written in Java, began life as a load tester for web applications but has recently expanded for use with almost any application, program or API. Its detailed suite can test performance on either static or dynamic resources. It can generate a heavy simulated load of realistic traffic so that developers can discover how their API will perform under pressure.

Taurus

Taurus provides an easy way to turn standalone API testing programs into a continuous testing operation. On the surface, Taurus is simple to use. You install it, create a configuration file and let your testing tools do their work. If you poke under the hood a bit, you can discover ways to generate interactive reports, create more complex scenarios to put your APIs through, and set up failure criteria so you can immediately go in and fix discovered problems.

10 Best Mobile App Security Testing Tools in 2019

List of Top 10 Mobile App Security Testing Tools

Quick Android Review Kit

Zed Attack Proxy

Drozer (MWR InfoSecurity)

MobSF (Mobile Security Framework)

Android Debug Bridge

Micro Focus (Fortify)

CodifiedSecurity

WhiteHat Security

Kiuwan

Veracode

The number of mobile users around the globe is now estimated at over 3.7 billion. There are about 2.2 million in the Google Play store and 2 billion or more applications in the Apple App Store. As per Flurry, customers nowadays spend approx 5 hours each day on their mobile devices.

Such widespread usage of mobile apps comes with a complete range of new threats attacks formerly not relevant in the classic web app world. The latest research by NowSecure shows that 25% of mobile applications contain approx high-risk vulnerabilities. There are different kinds of vulnerabilities:

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

The leak of User Sensitive Data (IMEI, GPS, MAC address, email or credential) over the network

SQL Injection

Phishing Scam Attacks

Missing Data Encryption

Unrestricted Upload of Dangerous File Types

OS Command Injection

Malware

Arbitrary Code Execution

With the growth of mobile applications, delivering a highly secured app is vital to user retention. What can you do to avoid these threats? Fortunately, penetration Testers can help ensure that applications provide data protection.

There are many reasons why app security testing is significant. A few of them are–virus or malware infection, fraud attacks, security breaches, etc. Mobile App Security Testing comprises data security, authorization, authentication, session management, vulnerabilities for hacking, etc.

Hence, from a business point of view, it is vital to perform security testing which requires the best mobile app security testing tool that guarantees that your application is secure.

We have shortlisted 10 Best Testing Tools for Security:

Quick Android Review Kit (QARK)

Quick Android Review Kit” (QARK) was developed by LinkedIn. It is a static code analysis tool and gives information about android app related security threats and gives a concise & clear description of issues. QARK is beneficial for Android platform to discover security loophole in the mobile application source code & APK files.

Features:

It is an open-source tool and provides complete information about security vulnerabilities.

It generates a report about potential vulnerability and provides information about what to do to fix them. It highlights the problems related to the Android version.

It scans all the elements in the mobile app for security threats. It creates a custom app for the purpose of testing in the form of APK and determines the potential issues.

2. Zed Attack Proxy

Zed Attack Proxy is the world’s famous mobile application security test tool. OWASP ZAP is actively managed by hundreds of volunteers globally and is an open-source security testing tool. It is also one of the best tools for pen testers.

Features:

It is available in 20 diverse languages.

Simple to install. It helps in identifying security vulnerabilities automatically in apps during the software development & test phases.

It is an international community-based tool that gives support and comprises active development by universal volunteers.

3. Drozer (MWR InfoSecurity)

It is a mobile app security testing framework that is developed by MWR InfoSecurity. Drozerhelps to determine security vulnerabilities in Android devices.

Features:

It is an open-source tool that supports both actual Android devices and emulators.

It takes very little time to assess Android security-related complications by automating time taking and complicated activities.

It supports the Android platform and executes Java-enabled code on the Android device itself.

4. MobSF (Mobile Security Framework)

MobSF is an automated mobile app security testing tool for iOS and Android apps proficient to perform dynamic, static analysis and web API testing. We can use a mobile security framework for a fast security analysis of Android & iOS apps. MobSF supports binaries (IPA &APK) and zipped source code.

Features:

It is an open-source tool for mobile app security testing.

With the help of MobSF, the mobile app testing environment can be effortlessly set up.

It can be hosted in a local environment, so confidential data never interacts with the cloud.

Faster security analysis for mobile apps on all three platforms (Android, iOS, Windows) Developers can identify security vulnerabilities during the development phase.

5. Android Debug Bridge

Android Debug Bridge or ADB is a command-line mobile app testing tool used to communicate with a device that runs on Android. It offers a terminal interface for controlling the Android device connected to a computer using an USB. Android Debug Bridge can be used to install/ uninstall apps, run shell commands, reboot, transfer files, and more. One can easily restore Android devices using such commands.

Features:

We can easily integrate ADB with Google’s android studio integrated development environment

Real-time monitor of system events. It allows operating at the system level making use of shell commands

It communicates with devices using Bluetooth, WI-FI, USB, etc

6. Micro Focus (Fortify)

Micro Focus majorly delivers enterprise services and solutions to its users in the areas of Security & Risk Management, Hybrid IT, DevOps, etc. It provides comprehensive app security testing services across various platforms, devices, servers, networks, etc. Fortify is one of the smartest security testing tools by Micro Focus which secures mobile applications before getting installed on a mobile device.

Features:

It performs end to end testing using a flexible delivery model.

Security testing comprises static code analysis and a scheduled scan for mobile applications and gives an accurate result.

It helps to identify security vulnerabilities across – networks, servers, and clients.

It supports various platforms like Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS, Google Android, and Blackberry.

7. CodifiedSecurity

It is one of the famous automated mobile app security testing tools to perform mobile application testing. CodifieSecurity discovers and fix security vulnerabilities and make sure that the mobile application is secured enough to use. It provides real-time feedback.

Features:

It follows a programmatic approach for security testing, which guarantees that the test outcomes are scalable and reliable.

It supports both Android and iOS platforms.

It is supported by static code analysis and machine learning. Also supports dynamic and static testing in mobile app security testing

It tests a mobile app without fetching the source code. Files can be uploaded in multiple formats like IPA, APK etc.

8. WhiteHat Security

WhiteHat Sentinel Mobile Express is a security assessment and testing platform offered by WhiteHat Security. Some recognized by Gartner as a leader in security testing and has also won several awards. It offers services like mobile app security testing, web app security testing, and computer-based training solutions, etc.

Features:

It is a cloud-based security platform and offers a quick solution using its static and dynamic technology.

WhiteHat Sentinel supports both iOS and Android platforms. The sentinel platform gives complete information about the project status.

It can easily detect loopholes than any other tool or platform.

Testing is performed on the actual device by installing the mobile application; It doesn’t use any emulators for testing.

9. Kiuwan

Kiuwan provides a 360º approach to mobile application security testing, with the leading technology coverage.

Features:

IT comprises static code analysis & software composition analysis and with automation (in any phase) of the Software Development Life Cycle.

10. Veracode

Veracode provides services for mobile app security to its global customers. Using an automated cloud-based service, it offers solutions for mobile app and web security. Veracode’s MAST (Mobile Application Security Testing) services determine the security glitches in the mobile app and give instant action to execute the resolution.

Features:

It is simple to use and gives perfect security testing results. Healthcare and finance apps are tested deeply, while the simple web app is tested with a simple scan.

In-depth testing is performed using full coverage of mobile app use cases. Veracode Static analysis gives accurate and fast code review results.

Under a solitary platform, it gives multiple security analyses which counts dynamic, static, and mobile app behavioral analysis.

Solutions – How can we help you?

Each of these mobile app security testing tools has its pros and cons. Our expert software testers choose the best security testing tools based on the nature of mobile applications and requirements.

Also, Read- Top 5 Mobile Application Testing Tools

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