Website security is paramount if you want your business to retain its reputation online. If you have a web based business, the security of your website is among the most important elements of maintaining your web presence. Information and data leakage and similar security issues will often cause users of your website to take their business elsewhere. A significant security breach could hurt your bottom line for years. It’s also important to understand that the costs associated with cleaning up after a security breach are much higher than the costs of bolstering your site security.
If you’re searching for ways to increase the security of your WordPress website, you should first consider integrating at least one WordPress security plugin into your website. These plugins are easy to download and can be installed in minutes. Some of the best security plugins that you can download for your WordPress website include NinjaFirewall, Sucuri Security, and iThemes Security.
When you’ve secured your website and customer data, you can be confident that the information input into your website will be kept safe and secure. The following article is designed to provide you with a detailed guide to online tools that you can use to effectively scan your website for any security vulnerabilities. Being able to identify these vulnerabilities early on will allow you to plug the security holes in your website before a breach occurs. If you don’t detect and address vulnerabilities as soon as they occur, these vulnerabilities will eventually be acted upon, which can lead to a security breach.
- Detectify
- Qualys SSL Labs, Qualys FreeScan
- Tinfoil Security
- SUCURI
- Pentest Web Server Vulnerability Scanner
- UpGuard Web Scan
- Mozilla Observatory
1. Detectify
Detectify is a very popular vulnerability scanner that allows developers, business owners, and infosec teams to search for more than 1,000 vulnerabilities in an instant. This security scanner is SAAS-based, which means that you will need to pay a monthly subscription in order to access it. They offer three separate packages that you can subscribe to, which include the starter, professional, and enterprise packages. While you need to request pricing information for the enterprise packages, the starter and professional packages are priced at $50 and $85 per month respectively.
Some of the features that you’ll be provided with include immediate scans upon login, enhanced integration with API, the ability to export your vulnerability reports, and two-factor authentication. Each package come with a 14-day free trial. Once the scan crawls through your website and analyzes the information that it receives, you will be provided with an extensive report that lists all types of vulnerabilities and the severity of each in your website. With this information in hand, you can accurately bolster your website security.
Scan Your Website with Detectify
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. Keep in mind that you will need to at least sign up for a free trial before you can download and use this tool.
2. Qualys SSL Labs, Qualys FreeScan
Qualys SSL Labs is a tool that’s primarily known for its SSL testing. However, it also offers a robust FreeScan feature that you can use to identify the security vulnerabilities in your website. Likely the best aspect of this tool is that it’s entirely free to use. When you access this services, you will be able to conduct 10 free scans of your website URL. Some of the many issues that are analyzed by this tool include SSL certificate vulnerabilities, hidden malware, vulnerabilities related to your network, and auditing of OWASP web application.
Once the scan has been performed on your website URL, you’ll be provided with a results page that states the number of vulnerabilities and what the breakdown is for high, medium, and low risk vulnerabilities. You’ll also be provided with detailed CVE information about each vulnerability.
Scan Your Website with Qualys
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. You will need to make an account at this link in order to use the FreeScan feature.
3. Tinfoil Security
Tinfoil Security is a great and simple vulnerability scanner that allows you to scan your website for free by accessing their free trial. Following the trial period, they offer three separate packages, which include the starter, standard, and all access packages. These packages are priced at $59 per month, $199 per month, and $799 per month respectively. With the starter package, you can scan your website monthly and will be able to scan up to 500 pages at a time. When this scan begins, it will first scan your site for the 10 top OWASP vulnerabilities. Once this occurs, additional security holes will be looked at.
Even though the scanning tool provided by Tinfoil Security is somewhat slow, it is very thorough and will be able to detect the hidden vulnerabilities that are located in your server, network, or code.
Scan Your Website with Tinfoil Security
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. When you sign up for one of the three available security packages, you will be provided with a free trial that allows you to test the security tool before paying for the package.
4. SUCURI
SUCURI is easily the most popular security scanner for website vulnerabilities. Once you enter your website URL into the SiteCheck tool, you’ll receive detailed information related to such vulnerabilities as malware, injected SPAM, defacements, and website blacklisting. This tool will also take a look at the code for your website to make sure that there aren’t any server errors or malicious code situated within the JavaScript, HTML, or CSS files.
The information that you’ll be provided with can include application server signatures, web server signatures, and IP addresses. Each vulnerability that’s found will be labeled with a security risk, which can range from minimal to critical. One of the better features of this tool is that you can access it directly from your browser without needing to download the tool.
Scan Your Website with SUCURI
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. All you need to do to use this tool is enter the URL of your website into the “Scan Website” bar.
5. Pentest Web Server Vulnerability Scanner
The Pentest Web Server Vulnerability Scanner is a reputable security scanner that is able to scan your website against all vulnerabilities. If you’re a guest and have yet to sign up for one of their packages, you can obtain a light scan for your website twice before needing to create a pro account. The pro account gives you access to a much deeper scan. If you want to obtain the features available with their full scan, the pro basic, pro advanced, and enterprise packages are priced at $55 per month, $113 per month, and $221 per month respectively.
The results report that you’re provided with will give a rating summary for each risk, a list of any sensitive files that were identified, stats for SQL injection, a look at any outdated software on your server, and a list of poorly configured services on the server. The pro packages you can sign up for allow for quicker scanning and advanced reporting.
Scan Your Website with Pentest
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. Once you arrive at the link, you can enter your website URL to conduct a light vulnerability scan.
6. UpGuard Web Scan
The UpGuard Web Scan is a simple yet very fast vulnerability scanner that can test against over 40 separate vulnerabilities. The best features of this scanning tool include the fact that it’s free and that it’s easy to use. When you provide the tool with your URL, it will immediately scan your site server, network, and web apps for any signs of email attacks, cross-site attacks, and malware infections. Once the scan has been completed, you will be provided with a cybersecurity rating as well as extensive information about each vulnerability that was found within your website.
Scan Your Website with UpGuard
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. Once you arrive at the page and enter your website URL, you’ll be provided with your free risk assessment.
7. Mozilla Observatory
The Mozilla Observatory is a highly effective vulnerability scanner that’s entirely free to users. This tool divides its scanner into four separate categories of vulnerabilities, which extend to TLS observatory, SSH observatory, HTTP observatory, and third-party testing. While the SSH scanner can only be initiated manually, the other scans will automatically occur when you activate the scan.
Once the scan has been completed, you’ll be provided with a comprehensive report that gives you a recommendation on how to improve your security, tells you how many tests you passed, and identifies any vulnerabilities that are currently affecting your site. You’ll also be provided with a score pertaining to how secure your website is, which will allow you to better understand what your next steps should be.
Scan Your Website with Mozilla Observatory
You can use this tool to scan your website by going to this link. Just enter your site URL and wait for the results.
Protecting Your Website from Vulnerabilities
In order for a business to be competitive on the internet, it needs to be easy to use, fast to load, and highly secure. No matter how well designed your website is, one security breach can cause your mainstay customers to start looking at your brand differently. Even if you have a great reputation for customer service and product quality, the reputation of your business will assuredly falter if your website is breached by hackers and other threats. If your customers don’t feel like they can safely provide you with their information, they’ll start to take their business away from your site and provide it to your competition.
In order to avoid these issues, it’s essential that you protect your website from vulnerabilities. Doing so will allow you to identify and address security issues before they become a serious problem. Once you’ve identified the security vulnerabilities that are present in your website, the most effective way to address these issues is by downloading security plugins for your WordPress site. There are many fantastic plugins to select from, which should help you find one or two that meet your security needs.
Some of the other steps that you can take to bolster website security include using HTTPS in your website URL, keeping all of your website software up-to-date, making sure that all admin passwords are secure, and investing in automatic backups. If you need help scanning or fixing the website vulnerabilities that you’ve identified, contact our team of developers at Bryt Designs so that we can get you up and running in no time!
