Re: Application Assessment

From: Pete Herzog (lists@isecom.org)
Date: Sat Aug 13 2005 - 04:48:51 EDT


Have you looked at Cruiser at www.dyadlabs.com? It's touted to be the
open-source alternative to the commercial application assessors.

-pete.

secureuniverse@hushmail.com wrote:
> Guys
>
> I have been a free lance writer and a research analyst and write
> under different pen names. Usually, I don't post message on these
> boards but all the chatter got to me. There are a number of ways to
> assessing your applications. Besides all the open source tools,
> there are a number of commercial tools as well as service providers
> who can help you. Here are the pros and cons of each:
>
> Open Source
> -Nessus, Nikto, Whisker etc. - Pros - These are fee. Cons - Very
> limited in functionality, lack of reporting, lack of support. If
> you are serious about testing, you would use these to play with but
> quickly move on to commerical products
>
> Commercial
> - Four key players - Cenzic, Kavado, SpiDynamics, Watchfire. These
> points are based on feedback from various companies, journalists,
> analysts, and indepedent evaluations.
>
> Kavado - Out of business recently
> Watchfire - Had acquired Sanctum for web scanner. Pro - has been
> around for a long time. Cons- Lots of false positives. Lack of
> stability in the product
> Spidynamics - Has been around for a while. Pro - has the largest
> installed base. Easy interface. Cons - Lots of false positives.
> Signature based approach for most vulnerabilities
> Cenzic - Around for a while but restarted and rearchitected the
> product two years ago. Announced the new products a few months ago.
> Pros - Based on various input points, very different and refreshing
> approach. Doesn't use signature base methodology. Very few false
> positives and exteremely flexible allowing companies to create
> their own test scripts easily. Proven even better than manual
> testing results in many cases. Cons - Newer player with not as big
> an installed base as other companies.
>
> Service providers
>
>
> Various SIs - big 5 and many boutique firms who provide pen testing
> and manual security assessments. Pros - manual testing can
> generally provide good results depending on the caliber of the
> consultant. Cons -Generally too expensive and time consuming
>
> Depending on your needs, you can pick one or a combination of
> these. Good luck!
>
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 12:39:11 -0700 Kyle Starkey
> <kstarkey@siegeworks.com> wrote:
>
>>I would suggest against the appscan product unless you want to use
>
>
>>their
>>developers addition for pre compiled code... There has been very
>>litle
>>r&d time/dollars being allocated to this product in the past 24
>>months
>>and as such it has lagged behind in functionaliy by comparison to
>>the
>>webinspect product.. If you only have budget for one tool I would
>>suggest webinspect over the others...
>>
>>
>>On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 1:32 pm, RUI PEREIRA - WCG wrote:
>>
>>>Juan,
>>>
>>>Approx 1 year ago we did an evaluation between Appscan, Kavado,
>>>WebInspect and AppDetective. We chose WebInspect for the range
>>
>>of
>>
>>>vulnerabilities tested for, the granularity of test selection,
>>
>>the
>>
>>>flexibility of use, etc. Contact me offline if you want more
>>
>>detail on
>>
>>>our selection process.
>>>
>>>Thank You
>>>
>>>Rui Pereira,B.Sc.(Hons),CIPS ISP,CISSP,CISA
>>>Principal Consultant
>>>
>>>WaveFront Consulting Group
>>>Certified Information Systems Security Professionals
>>>
>>>wavefront1@shaw.ca | 1 (604) 961-0701
>>>
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: Juan Carlos Reyes Muñoz <jcreyes@etb.net.co>
>>>Date: Friday, August 12, 2005 8:26 am
>>>Subject: RE: Application Assessment
>>>
>>>
> Allen,
>
> One question... have you ever tried Watchfire's Appscan? If
>>>
>>>so,
>>>
> which tool
> could be better between Appscan and Webinspect?
>
> Juan Carlos Reyes Muñoz
>
> GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst - SANS Institute
> Consultor de Seguridad Informática
>
> Cel. (57) 311 513 9280
>
> Miami Mailbox
> 1900 N.W. 97th Avenue
> Suite No. 722-1971
> Miami, FL 33172
>
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>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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>
>> -----Mensaje original-----
>> De: Brokken, Allen P. [BrokkenA@missouri.edu]
>> Enviado el: Jueves, 11 de Agosto de 2005 01:43 p.m.
>> Para: Glyn Geoghegan; goenw
>> CC: pen-test@securityfocus.com; Webappsec
>> Asunto: RE: Application Assessment
>
>> I am a Security Analyst for the University of Missouri -
> Columbia Campus.
>> I came from a systems administration background, and in the
>>>
>>>past
>>>
> 18 months
>> have been tasked with application security as just part of a
>
>
>>>greater
>>>
>> Information Systems Auditing program.
>
>> I personally have used
>
>> SpikeProxy from www.insecure.org
>> Paros, mentioned by others
>> and evaluated a handful of other Proxy/Automated Attack
>>>
>>>Methods.
>>>
>
>> However, the best tool I've seen and the one we finally
> purchased is
>> WebInspect from SPI Dynamics
>> http://www.spidynamics.com
>
>> I did some independent test between SpikeProxy and
>>>
>>>WebInspect on
>>>
> the a few
>> different applications. With SpikeProxy it took basically 1
> working day
>> to run the tool, and verify false positives, look up good
> references for
>> the vulnerabilities and write the report. The same
>>>
>>>application with
>>>
>> WebInspect took approximately 15 minutes of my time to
> configure, and
>> generate the final report while taking about 2 hours to
>>>
>>>actually run
>>>
>> without my intervention. It typically found 20% more
> vulnerabilities than
>> I could find by the more manual method with SpikeProxy, and
>>>
>>>produced
>>>
>> extensive reports that not only explained the
>>>
>>>vulnerabilities,
>>>
> but gave
>> code references the developers could use to fix their
>>>
>>>problem.
>>>
>
>> Those were results I got prior to training. I got some
> extensive training
>> with the tool and on web application testing in general at
> Security-PS
>> http://www.securityps.com. They are a Professional
>>>
>>>Application
>>>
> Security> auditing company and they use this as their core
>>>
>>>tool
>>>
> because of both the
>> accuracy of the tool and the responsiveness of the company.
>
>
>>>In the
>>>
>> training I got to learn how to effectively use the a whole
>>>
>>>suite
>>>
> of tools
>> including a Web Brute force attacker, SQL Injector, Proxy,
> Encoders /
>> Decoders, and Web Service assessment tools to name a few.
>
>> The tool is a little pricey, but I work with litterally
>>>
>>>dozens
>>>
> of campus
>> departments and have evaluated LAMP, JAVA/ORACLE,
>>>
>>>ASP.NET/SQL
>>>
> Server and
>> even VBScript/Access systems with the WebInspect Suite of
>>>
>>>tools.
>>>
> The #1
>> comment I get from the developers is how helpful the report
>>>
>>>was in
>>>
>> correcting their code. For that broad spectrum of coding
> enviroments I
>> couldn't possibly provide code level help to the developers
> without this
>> product.
>
>> We've been using it now for almost a year and the
>>>
>>>responsiveness
>>>
> of their
>> Sales and Technial staff has been extreme. I haven't had a
> single issue
>> that wasn't resolved in less than 24 hours. I've also
>>>
>>>gotten a
>>>
> lot of
>> support from their sales staff regarding application
>>>
>>>security
>>>
> awareness> for our campus developers in general.
>
>> One last thing to mention is the updates. I have never seen
>
>
>>>a
>>>
> tool that
>> is so consistently updated. I have run 2 or 3 assessments
>>>
>>>in
>>>
> the same day
>> and had updates for new vulnerabilities made available each
>>>
>>>time
>>>
> I ran the
>> tool. If a week goes by without using it there can be
> litterally 100's of
>> new signatures it needs to add to the list.
>
>> If you have more questions and want to talk offline I'd be
>>>
>>>happy
>>>
> to answer
>> them.
>
>> Allen Brokken
>> Systems Security Analyst - Principal
>> Univeristy of Missouri
>> brokkena@missouri.edu
>
>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------

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>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------

>>--------------
>>Kyle Starkey
>>Senior Security Consultant
>>SiegeWorks
>>Cell: 435-962-8986

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thefts and MAC spoofing. Request your complimentary white paper at:

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