WhatWeb: Discover What lies Behind a Website
Analysis of WhatWeb and its use in identifying web technologies.
Introduction
WhatWeb is a command-line tool introduced by web developer and security researcher Andrew Horton in 2009. It has since become a popular tool for web security among security professionals, developers and researchers. WhatWeb is a next generation web scanner written in Ruby. It is basically used for identifying softwares and technology stacks used by a website to strengthen the website’s features. These technologies may include content management system (CMS), blogging platforms, Operating systems, JavaScript libraries, web servers, et al. It is also a powerful tool for scanning a website’s potential vulnerabilities. Several updates and improvements have been made since its initial release, as well as many contributions from other developers.
Following is a detailed look at the workings, applications, pros and cons of WhatWeb:
How it works
In order to identify a website’s infrastructure, email addresses, SQL codes and technologies, WhatWeb sends HTTP requests to the target website. Then it analyzes the response headers, cookies and content to detect various technologies. Headers are analyzed to identify software and versions. Cookies are examined to identify tracking and analytical tools. It scans HTML and JavaScript code to detect libraries, frameworks and other technologies. After that, it generates a report of gathered information. If someone wants to save the report generated by WhatWeb, he can use the following command: whatweb example.com -v -o report.txt. This command will provide a verbose output after scanning the website and will save the report to a file. WhatWeb contains more than 180 modules and each module grabs particular information from the target website. However, WhatWeb uses several other techniques to gather information, such as pattern matching, heuristics, fingerprinting, etc.
Application
Cybersecurity
As a Cybersecurity tool, WhatWeb has various applications, including security assessments to identify vulnerabilities and outdated software, penetration testing to aid in stimulating cyber attacks to test defenses, and getting insights into competitors’ technology stacks and strategies.
Web-development
It is also used in web development by identifying technologies used by websites, inspiring new ideas or informing development decisions.
Efficiency
It quickly gathers information about affected systems during security incidents.
These applications demonstrate WhatWeb’s versatility and value in various fields, including cybersecurity, web development and market research. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can also be integrated with other tools and frameworks, such as Namp or Burp Suite, to enhance its capabilities.
Pros and Cons
Every tool has many advantages, as well as some loopholes. WhatWeb is also beneficial in many fields of technology but also has some faults. Some of the pros of WhatWeb are as follows:
It provides cybersecurity by accurately detecting technologies, web servers, SQR code, email addresses, CMS, frameworks, libraries and more.
It is quick and efficient, which provides results within time, as well as it is open- and free to use, modify and distribute.
It has a command-line interface and is easy to use and automate with scripts.
It is user-friendly and easy to use for beginners. Users can create custom plugins and signatures. It is actively maintained and updated.
Although it is beneficial and easy to use, it has some cons that are discussed below:
Occasionally, it can generate false reports about vulnerabilities that do not really exist.
It has some restrictions and limitations, particularly when it is compared to other cybersecurity tools.
It cannot detect non-web technologies. It requires some technical knowledge to learn in order to use it.
It can only detect vulnerabilities but cannot exploit them.
It is also dependent on updated signatures to identify new technologies.
Conclusion
To sum up, WhatWeb is a powerful tool for detecting different vulnerabilities and gathering important information about the infrastructure, software technologies and operating system of a target website. Its accuracy, speed and customization options make it an essential resource for the cybersecurity department. It can be integrated with other frameworks to enhance its capabilities. It has an active community of users and contributors who share knowledge, plugins and signatures. WhatWeb’s development team is working on new features, such as improved JavaScript analysis and machine learning-based detection. It will help in the future to shape the tool’s evolution. With its wide range of applications, WhatWeb has proven itself to be a valuable asset in today’s digital landscape. With the evolution of technology, WhatWeb’s team ensures that it remains a cutting-edge solution for addressing web-based security threats.
