Do you have a headache trying to choose the right web application security solution? Well, we sure hope it’s Acunetix, but it might not be! We won’t try to convince you that we are the one – that would be unprofessional because we know nothing about your situation (yet). What we will do instead is help you reduce the headache associated with the selection process.
Begin by having a look at some important considerations. If you’re ready to go deeper right away, get the ultimate, comprehensive, detailed, objective, and awesome (yes, we’re proud of it!) web application security buyer’s guide.
Don’t just learn that your leg is broken
If you’re looking to buy just a web application security scanner, you’re basically like someone who has a broken leg and goes to a doctor just to find out that the bone is broken approximately 12 centimeters down from the knee. That doctor won’t give you any medicine, won’t even tell you what to do with the knowledge you’ve acquired.
Web application security is an entire process and the only sensible investment is in a tool that can support you in that entire process. Otherwise, you’d have to go to another doctor who will confirm the first diagnosis and then give you pain killers, apply a cast, see you from time to time to see how the leg is healing, and finally remove the cast to confirm that the leg has completely healed.
Scanning is just the start (the diagnosis). While web application security tools will never eliminate the problem for you (they’re not like antivirus software that follows up with repair), they are there to support the developers of the web application in any way possible (with proof, expertise, monitoring, management, etc.) so that they can easily and efficiently eliminate the problem.
Avoid the trap of saving today and paying tomorrow
If you’re looking for a budget solution to web application security, you can easily find one. There are inexpensive commercial products and even open-source software that does the job. But what job does it do? Well, it does the job of getting you to invest tons of money into getting other software that finishes this job or into hiring people that will finish it.
For example, if you decide to go for an open-source web application security solution, you will also need to hire a team of security experts who will use it. Then, you will need managers to manually monitor all issues found by the open-source solution and liaison with the experts and with developers to get these issues resolved.
Your other choice is to invest in a professional tool that will cover all those bases. No need to hire specialists. No need to get additional software to manage the issues.
If your budget does not allow for a professional solution, don’t fall into the “save today, pay tomorrow” trap. Instead, outsource professional services from an MSSP that offers web application security services (and uses professional software such as ours to do the job).
Think of the day after tomorrow
Choosing a web application security vendor is not just for today but for years to come. When basing your choices on vendor promises only, you’re taking a risk because these promises are very likely to be broken. We’ve seen stories of web application security solutions that take one of two paths: they were born great but either died or became wheels in an expensive machine. As a result, customers who bought these solutions were left in limbo or forced to buy a heap of other solutions for their original tools to work well.
When making your choice, be aware of the history of the solution that you are about to buy and know how it fits into the picture. On the one hand, be wary of complete debutants, who make bold promises that they cannot support by any experience or any customer stories. These are very likely to soon disappear or change hands and become “type two”.
The “type two”, on the other hand, are solutions that began their life as a dream and ended up in a big portfolio of a major do-it-all security company. In such a case, you would be purchasing a good product, but to have it work for you, you will have to buy yet another product from the same company, and then yet another to make these two work with your environment. In the end, you will most probably face purchasing a big package while what you really needed was just an efficient web application security tool.
Is there any other option? Well, there’s always “type three” – products that have been on the market for ages but keep growing and maintain their reputation of being specialist tools, not neglected add-ons to end-to-end solutions that you don’t need.
The ultimate web application security buyer’s guide
Are the above hints not enough? Worry not! Simply click below to go to a form that will let you download our ultimate web application security buyer’s guide with tons of questions to ask your vendor and lots of information on selection priorities and special cases. All we ask in return is to know how well it worked for you.
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THE AUTHOR
Principal Cybersecurity Writer
