VULNVISION APP

Project Title: Vulnvision

Summary/Introduction

Vulnvision is a web-based platform designed to perform automated security scans on websites and network infrastructure to identify and report potential vulnerabilities. It's built to help developers and system administrators proactively secure their digital assets and prevent cyber-attacks.

Problem Statement

Many small to medium-sized businesses and independent developers lack the resources or expertise to conduct regular security audits. My goal was to create an accessible, user-friendly tool that automates the process of finding security weaknesses, making it easier for them to protect their data and their users.

Technologies Used

• Frontend: React, Redux, Tailwind CSS

• Backend: Go / Python

• Database: PostgreSQL

• Deployment: Docker

Key Features

• Vulnerability Scanning: Users can input a URL or IP address to run a comprehensive scan for common security flaws (e.g., SQL injection, XSS, insecure headers).

• Detailed Reports: The platform generates easy-to-understand reports that prioritize vulnerabilities by severity and provide remediation steps.

• Asset Discovery: Automatically maps and catalogs an organization's digital assets, including subdomains and open ports.

• Continuous Monitoring: Users can schedule scans to run automatically, receiving real-time alerts on new vulnerabilities.

• User Authentication & Authorization: Secure user accounts with different permission levels (e.g., admin, user).

Challenges & Solutions

• Challenge: Integrating multiple third-party security tools (like Nmap and Nikto) into a single, cohesive web application was complex. The tools have different outputs and can be resource-intensive.

• Solution: I created a microservices-based architecture using Docker. Each scanning tool runs in its own container, which isolates it from the main application and allows for efficient resource management. This also made it easier to parse and standardize the output from each tool before storing it in the database.

• Challenge: Ensuring the performance of the application during long and resource-intensive scans was a major hurdle.

• Solution: I implemented a job queue system to handle scanning tasks asynchronously. This prevented the server from becoming unresponsive and allowed users to check the status of their scans in real-time.

What I Learned

Building Vulnvision was an incredible learning experience. I gained practical knowledge in a wide range of areas, including cybersecurity fundamentals, integrating multiple APIs and command-line tools, and designing a scalable, microservices-based architecture. It also taught me the importance of building robust error handling and a seamless user experience for a technical product.