Exam PT0-002 topic 1 question 141 discussion

The correct answer is D. OWASP ZAP. OWASP ZAP (Open Web Application Security Project Zed Attack Proxy) is a free and open source web application security scanner designed to help security professionals identify security vulnerabilities in web applications. It can be used to identify potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other security issues. It also provides a way for penetration testers to obtain information about the application without triggering alarms or other security measures.

It is less intrusive compared to automated vulnerability scanners like SQLmap or w3af. It identifies attack surfaces before performing actual exploitation. It can be configured to limit requests per second to avoid triggering security alarms

DirBuster: DirBuster is a directory traversal and file enumeration tool commonly used for discovering hidden directories and files on web servers. It performs dictionary-based brute force attacks against web servers, attempting to enumerate directories and files that are not explicitly linked from the application's visible interface. DirBuster's approach is non-intrusive, as it relies on directory and file enumeration rather than actively probing or interacting with the application's functionalities. By discovering hidden directories and files, the penetration tester can gather valuable information about the application's structure and potentially identify overlooked entry points or vulnerabilities.

The best tool for a penetration tester to use first to obtain relevant information from the application without triggering alarms is OWASP ZAP. This open-source tool is designed to detect security vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting, in web applications. SQLmap, DirBuster, and w3af are all useful tools, but are not meant to be used for passive reconnaissance.

D - OWASP ZAP has two modes of scanning. Active and Passive. By default it passively scans all HTTP messages (requests and responses) sent to the web application being tested without triggering any alarms. https://www.zaproxy.org/docs/desktop/start/features/pscan/

To obtain relevant information from the application without triggering alarms, the penetration tester should use a reconnaissance tool. Among the given options, DirBuster is a reconnaissance tool used to discover directories and files hidden on a web server. Therefore, the correct answer is B. DirBuster. SQLmap is used to test SQL injection vulnerabilities in a web application, w3af is a web application security scanner, and OWASP ZAP is a web application security scanner and vulnerability assessment tool. These tools may trigger alarms and should be used after a proper reconnaissance phase.

D. For sure.

W3AF, the Web Application Attack and Audit Framework, is an open source web application security scanner that includes directory and filename brute‐forcing in its list of capabilities.