Google Cloud Web Security Scanner
A tool for identifying and mitigating web application vulnerabilities in cloud deployments.
| Category | Vulnerability Management |
|---|---|
| This page updated | a month ago |
| Pricing Details | Pricing details available on the Google Cloud website. |
| Target Audience | Developers and security teams managing web applications on Google Cloud. |
The Google Cloud Web Security Scanner manages identifying and mitigating common web application vulnerabilities, a pervasive issue in cloud deployments. This tool is integrated with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and is particularly useful for applications hosted on App Engine, Compute Engine, and Kubernetes Engine.
Technically, the Web Security Scanner employs a multi-stage approach to scan web applications. It begins with a high-speed pass to crawl and parse HTML, followed by a more thorough full-page render to identify complex vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS), mixed content, and outdated software. The scanner uses a botnet of virtual Chrome workers to simulate user interactions, ensuring a comprehensive scan while limiting the scan speed to 20 requests per second to avoid overwhelming the application.
Operationally, the scanner can be configured to run managed scans, which are automatically executed weekly and managed by the Security Command Center. These scans are limited to public web endpoints and do not use authentication, sending only GET requests to avoid interfering with live websites. Custom scans offer more granular control, allowing for the definition of specific scan configurations and the use of authentication credentials to access protected areas of the application.
Key considerations include the scanner's limitations, such as its inability to scan internal network components or back-end systems, and the potential for false positives, especially in complex application configurations. Additionally, large applications can take significant time to scan, impacting performance and scan frequency. The scanner is also restricted to applications running on GCP, making it less versatile for multi-cloud environments.
From a technical standpoint, the scanner supports only applications using default ports (80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS) for managed scans, and custom scans are necessary for applications using non-default ports. The scanner also validates scan configurations before each scan to ensure correct setup and access credentials, helping to minimize errors during the scanning process.