Best Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software
Dynamic application security testing (DAST) tools automate security tests for a variety of real-world threats. These tools typically test HTTP and HTML interfaces of web applications. DAST is a black-box testing method, meaning it is performed from the outside. Companies use these tools to identify vulnerabilities in their applications from an external perspective to better simulate threats most easily accessed by hackers outside their organization. There are similarities between DAST tools and other application security and vulnerability management solutions, but most other technologies perform internal tests and code analysis instead of focusing on black-box testing.
SAST vs DAST — Learn the difference
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Best Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software At A Glance
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HCL AppScan is a comprehensive suite of market-leading application security testing solutions (SAST, DAST, IAST, SCA, API), available on-premises and on-cloud. These powerful DevSecOps tools pinpoint
- Information Technology and Services
- Computer & Network Security
- 54% Enterprise
- 28% Small-Business
444,354 Twitter followers
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Jit is redefining application security by introducing the first Agentic AppSec Platform, seamlessly blending human expertise with AI-driven automation. Designed for modern development teams, Jit empow
- Computer Software
- Financial Services
- 53% Mid-Market
- 36% Small-Business
512 Twitter followers
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Akto is a trusted platform for application security and product security teams to build an enterprise-grade API security program throughout their DevSecOps pipeline. Our industry-leading suite of — AP
- Financial Services
- Computer Software
- 51% Mid-Market
- 28% Enterprise
1,324 Twitter followers
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Aikido is an application security (AppSec) platform specifically designed for developers who prioritize their coding tasks over managing security alerts. Our innovative solution consolidates nine esse
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 78% Small-Business
- 22% Mid-Market
1,273 Twitter followers
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StackHawk is a comprehensive API security solution designed to help developer & security teams identify and remediate security vulnerabilities within their code. By integrating seamlessly into the
- Information Technology and Services
- Computer Software
- 46% Small-Business
- 35% Mid-Market
1,147 Twitter followers
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Astra is a leading penetration testing company that provides PTaaS and continuous threat exposure management capabilities. Our comprehensive cybersecurity solutions blend automation and manual experti
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 68% Small-Business
- 29% Mid-Market
661 Twitter followers
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Bright Security’s dev-centric DAST platform empowers both developers and AppSec professionals with enterprise-grade security testing capabilities for web applications, APIs, and GenAI and LLM applicat
- Computer & Network Security
- Information Technology and Services
- 56% Enterprise
- 28% Mid-Market
1,517 Twitter followers
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Pynt is an innovative API Security Testing platform exposing verified API threats through simulated attacks. Hundreds of companies rely on Pynt to continuously monitor, classify and attack poorly s
- Computer & Network Security
- Computer Software
- 50% Small-Business
- 28% Mid-Market
373 Twitter followers
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Cobalt unifies the best of human security talent and effective security tools. Our end-to-end offensive security solution enables customers to remediate risk across a dynamically changing attack surfa
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 50% Mid-Market
- 25% Small-Business
8,582 Twitter followers
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Indusface WAS (Web Application Scanner) provides comprehensive managed dynamic application security testing (DAST) solution. It is a zero-touch, non-intrusive cloud-based solution that provides daily
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 55% Small-Business
- 36% Mid-Market
3,524 Twitter followers
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AppCheck is a Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and network vulnerability testing solution, developed and supported by experienced penetration testers. We approach security testing as a
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 52% Mid-Market
- 28% Small-Business
662 Twitter followers
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- User Satisfaction
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- Computer & Network Security
- 75% Small-Business
- 17% Enterprise
15,442 Twitter followers
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Invicti is an automated application and API security testing solution that allows enterprise organizations to secure thousands of websites, web apps, and APIs and dramatically reduce the risk of attac
- Financial Services
- Information Technology and Services
- 50% Enterprise
- 25% Mid-Market
2,549 Twitter followers
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Intruder is an exposure management platform for scaling to mid-market businesses. Over 3000 companies - across all industries - use Intruder to find critical exposures, respond faster and prevent bre
- CTO
- Director
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 60% Small-Business
- 35% Mid-Market
949 Twitter followers
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GitLab is the most comprehensive AI-Powered DevSecOps platform that enables software innovation by empowering development, security, and operations teams to build better software, faster. With GitLab
- Software Engineer
- Senior Software Engineer
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 37% Small-Business
- 37% Mid-Market
167,554 Twitter followers
Learn More About Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software
What is Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software?
Dynamic application security testing (DAST) is one of the many technology groupings of security testing solutions. DAST is a form of black-box security testing, meaning it simulates realistic threats and attacks. This differs from other forms of testing such as static application security testing (SAST), a white-box testing methodology used to examine the source code of an application.
DAST includes a number of testing components that operate while an application is running. Security professionals simulate real-world functionality through testing the application for vulnerabilities and then evaluate the effects on application performance. The methodology is often used to find issues near the end of the software development lifecycle. These issues may be tougher to fix than early flaws and bugs are, but those flaws pose a larger threat to critical components of an application.
DAST can also be thought of as a methodology. It’s a different approach than traditional security testing because once a test is completed, there are still tests to be done. It involves periodic inspections as updates are pushed live or changes are made before release. While a penetration test or code scan might serve as a one-off test for specific vulnerabilities or bugs, dynamic testing can be performed continually throughout the lifecycle of an application.
Key Benefits of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software
- Simulate realistic attacks and threats
- Discover vulnerabilities not found in source code
- Flexible and customizable testing options
- Comprehensive assessment and scalable testing
Why Use Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software?
There are a number of testing solutions necessary for an all-encompassing approach to security testing and vulnerability discovery. Most start in the early stages of software development and help programmers discover bugs in the code and issues with the underlying framework or design. These tests require access to source code and are often used during development and quality assurance (QA) processes.
While early testing solutions approach testing from the standpoint of the developer, DAST approaches testing from the standpoint of a hacker. These tools simulate real threats to a functional, running application. Security professionals can simulate common attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting or customize tests to threats specific to their product. These tools offer a highly customizable solution for testing during the later stages of development and while applications are deployed.
Flexibility — Users can schedule tests as they please or perform them continuously throughout an application’s or website’s lifecycle. Security professionals can modify environments to simulate their resources and infrastructure to ensure a realistic test and evaluation. They’re often scalable, as well, to see if increased traffic or usage would affect vulnerabilities and protection.
Industries with more specific threats may require more specific testing. Security professionals may identify a threat specific to the health care industry or financial sector and alter tests to simulate the threats most common to them. If performed correctly, these tools offer some of the most realistic and customizable solutions to the threats present in real-world situations.
Comprehensiveness — Threats are continuously evolving and expanding, making the ability to simulate multiple tests more necessary. DAST offers a versatile approach to testing, wherein security professionals can simulate and analyze each threat or attack type individually. These tests deliver comprehensive feedback and actionable insights that security and development teams use to remediate any issues, flaws, and vulnerabilities.
These tools will first perform an initial crawl, or examination, of applications and websites from a third-party perspective. They interact with applications using HTTP, allowing the tools to examine applications built with any programming language or on any framework. The tool will then test for misconfigurations, which expose a greater attack surface than internal vulnerabilities. Additional tests can be run, depending on the solution, but all the results and discoveries can be stored for actionable remediation.
Continuous assessment — Agile teams and other companies relying on frequent updates to applications should use DAST products with continuous assessment capabilities. SAST tools will provide more direct solutions for issues related to continuous integration processes, but DAST tools will provide a better view of how updates and changes will be seen from an outside perspective. Each new update may pose a new threat or unveil a new vulnerability; it is therefore crucial to continue testing even after applications have been completed and deployed.
Unlike SAST, DAST also requires less access to potentially sensitive source code within the application. DAST approaches the situation from an outside perspective as simulated threats attempt to gain access to vulnerable systems or sensitive information. This can make it easier to perform tests continuously without requiring individuals to access source code or other internal systems.
What are the Common Features of Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software?
Standard functionality is included in most dynamic application security testing (DAST) solutions:
Compliance testing — Compliance testing gives users the ability to test for various requirements from regulatory bodies. This can help ensure information is stored securely and protected from hackers.
Test automation — Test automation is the feature powering continuous testing processes. This functionality operates by running prescripted tests as frequently as required without the need for hands-on or manual testing.
Manual testing — Manual testing gives the user complete control over individual tests. These features allow users to perform hands-on live simulations and penetration tests.
Command-line tools — The command-line interface (CLI) is the language interpreter of a computer. CLI capabilities will allow security testers to simulate threats directly from the terminal host system and input command sequences.
Static code analysis — Static code analysis and static security testing is used to test from the inside out. These tools help security professionals examine application source code for security flaws without executing it.
Issue tracking — Issue tracking helps security professionals and developers document flaws or vulnerabilities as they are discovered. Proper documentation will make it easier to organize the actionable insights provided by the DAST tool.
Reporting and analytics — Reporting capabilities are important to DAST tools because they provide the information necessary to remediate any recently discovered vulnerabilities. Reporting and analytics features can also give teams a better idea of how attacks may affect application availability and performance.
Extensibility — Many applications offer the ability to expand functionality through the use of integrations, APIs, and plugins. These extensible components provide the ability to extend the platform beyond its native feature set to include additional features and functionalities.
Potential Issues with Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Software
Testing coverage — While DAST technologies have come a long way, DAST tools alone are unable to discover the majority of vulnerabilities. This is why most experts suggest pairing them with SAST solutions. Combining the two can decrease the rate at which false positives occur. They can also be used to simplify the continuous testing process for agile teams. While no tool will detect every vulnerability, DAST may be less efficient than other testing tools if used alone.
Late-stage issues — DAST tools will require code to be compiled for each individual test because they rely on simulated functionality to test responses. This can be a roadblock for agile teams constantly integrating new code into an application. Reports are usually static and result from single tests. For agile teams, those reports can become outdated and lose value very quickly. This is just one more reason DAST tools should be used as a component of an all-encompassing security testing stack rather than a standalone solution.
Testing capabilities — Because DAST tools do not access an application's underlying source code, there are a number of flaws DAST tools will be unable to detect. For example, DAST tools are most effective at simulating reflection, or call-and-response, attacks where they can simulate an input and receive a response. They are not, however, highly effective in discovering smaller vulnerabilities or flaws in areas of the application that are rarely touched by users. These issues, as well as vulnerabilities in the original source code, will need to be addressed by additional security testing technologies.
