Web Vulnerability Scanners: A Case Study

Abstract: Cloud security is one of the biggest concerns for many companies. The growth in the number and size of websites increases the need for better securing those websites. Manual testing and detection of web vulnerabilities can be very time consuming. Automated Web Vulnerability Scanners (WVS) help with the detection of vulnerabilities in web applications. Acunetix is one of the widely used vulnerability scanners. Acunetix is also easy to implement and to use. The scan results not only provide the details of the vulnerabilities, but also give information about fixing the vulnerabilities. AcuSensor and AcuMonitor (technologies used by Acunetix) help generate more accurate potential vulnerability results. One of the purposes of this paper is to orient current students of computer security with using vulnerability scanners. Secondly, this paper provides a literature review related to the topic of security vulnerability scanners. Finally, web vulnerabilities are addressed from the mobile device and browser perspectives.