Alternatives · Argus Pentest

An alternative to an annual-pentest-only programme

An alternative to an annual-pentest-only programme: a local, on-prem alternative for Azerbaijani business — see how Argus Pentest compares.

Continuous Authenticated Security Scanning

Traditional annual penetration testing often provides only a snapshot of security at a single point in time, leaving gaps between audits. Argus Pentest transforms this approach by offering a continuous, self-hosted alternative that integrates authenticated dynamic security scanning for enterprise web applications and their APIs directly into your own infrastructure. As one of the three core engines of the Argus AI testing platform, it leverages a shared runtime, model layer, credential store, and cost ledger, ensuring a unified operational framework alongside QA and AI engines. The primary differentiator of the platform is its ability to perform deep authenticated scanning. By utilizing scripted logins through an encrypted credential store, the system obtains session cookies and bearer tokens, allowing the scanner to operate as a real logged-in user. This ensures that the scan reaches the authenticated surface of the application—where critical business logic resides—rather than stopping at the login page, providing a comprehensive view of the security posture that unauthenticated tools simply cannot achieve.

Capabilities

Advantages of Self-Hosted Continuous Testing

Complete data sovereignty by keeping all scan data, credentials, and reports on your own infrastructure.

Deep visibility into authenticated application surfaces through synthesized API specifications.

Elimination of external SaaS dependencies, removing third-party risks for sensitive security data.

Operational efficiency via a shared credential store and model layer integrated with the broader Argus platform.

Strict security governance through an explicit allow-list, ensuring scans only run against approved targets.

Actionable intelligence delivered through severity-based reporting in both HTML and JSON formats.

Core Technical Capabilities

Authenticated Scanning

Utilizes scripted logins through an encrypted credential store to obtain session cookies and bearer tokens, allowing the scanner to operate as a real logged-in user.

Synthesized API Discovery

Endpoints discovered during login and crawling seed a synthesized API spec, ensuring the scan reaches the authenticated surface instead of stopping at the login page.

Modular Engine Architecture

Driven by the Deep Eye open-source engine via CLI contract, allowing the scanner to be upgraded or replaced without affecting the broader platform.

AI-Driven Payload Generation

Employs a text-based model specifically for payload generation and finding triage to enhance detection accuracy without using vision-based processing.

Enterprise-Grade Privacy

All scan data, credentials, and reports remain on your own infrastructure, ensuring no data leaves your environment.

The Scanning Workflow

1Define an explicit allow-list of approved targets to be scanned.
2Execute a scripted login using the platform's encrypted credential store.
3Crawl the application to synthesize an API specification from discovered endpoints.
4Perform dynamic security scanning across the authenticated surface.
5Triage findings using the AI model and generate severity-based reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this differ from standard unauthenticated scanners?

Unlike tools that stop at the login page, Argus Pentest uses authenticated scanning to reach the internal surfaces of your application where most business logic resides, using session cookies and bearer tokens to mimic a real user.

Where is my data stored during the scan?

The platform is entirely self-hosted; all scan data, credentials, and reports stay on your own infrastructure, ensuring there is no external SaaS dependency.

How are findings reported and triaged?

Findings are categorized by severity and delivered through HTML and JSON reports. An AI model is used specifically for payload generation and finding triage (text-in, text-out).

What happens if the scanner cannot authenticate?

Following a strict 'honest-failure' rule, a scanner that cannot authenticate is treated as an environment failure rather than a security finding, mirroring the logic used by the QA engine.

Can the scanning engine be updated or replaced?

Yes. Because the platform uses the Deep Eye open-source engine driven only through its CLI contract, the scanner can be upgraded or replaced without touching the rest of the platform.

Modernize Your Security Testing

Move from annual snapshots to continuous, authenticated security scanning with Argus Pentest.

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