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OWASP Amass VS Shodan

Compare OWASP Amass VS Shodan and see what are their differences

OWASP Amass logo OWASP Amass

An advanced open source tool to help information security professionals perform network mapping of attack surfaces and external asset discovery using open source information gathering and active reconnaissance techniques!

Shodan logo Shodan

Shodan is the world's first search engine for Internet-connected devices.
  • OWASP Amass Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-14
  • Shodan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-16

OWASP Amass features and specs

  • Comprehensiveness
    OWASP Amass provides comprehensive visibility into external asset exposure by mapping the attack surface, helping organizations to identify all the domains, IP addresses, and other related resources.
  • Open-Source
    Being an open-source project, Amass allows users to inspect its source code, contribute improvements, and leverage a community of developers and users for support and enhancements.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Amass can be integrated with other security tools and systems via its APIs and outputs, enhancing an organization's security infrastructure with seamless data sharing and operational workflows.
  • Automation
    The tool offers the ability to automate the discovery of network infrastructure and domain enumeration, reducing the manual workload required for these tasks.
  • Scalability
    Amass can be scaled to handle large datasets and complicated network structures, making it suitable for enterprise-level organizations handling extensive domains and subdomains.

Possible disadvantages of OWASP Amass

  • Complexity
    Due to its vast functionality and numerous configuration options, Amass can have a steep learning curve, requiring time and expertise to use effectively.
  • Resource Intensive
    Conducting comprehensive scans with Amass can consume significant computational resources and time, which might be a limitation for organizations with constrained resources.
  • Noise Generation
    Amass can create a considerable amount of data ('noise'), which can make it challenging for users to distinguish between critical and non-critical information without proper filtering mechanisms.
  • Potential Coverage Gaps
    Despite its comprehensive nature, Amass might not always discover every asset, especially if assets are well-hidden or if there are restrictive network conditions, which might result in incomplete asset visibility.
  • Community Support
    As with many open-source projects, the level of community support can be variable, sometimes leading to delays in feature updates or bug fixes compared to commercial solutions.

Shodan features and specs

  • Comprehensive Data Collection
    Shodan extensively scans the internet, collecting data from a wide range of devices and services, which provides users with a thorough overview of their network exposure.
  • Security Awareness
    It helps organizations identify and address security vulnerabilities by revealing exposed devices and services that might otherwise go unnoticed.
  • Automation Capabilities
    The platform offers an API that allows users to automate searches and integrate Shodan data into their own tools and workflows.
  • Detailed Search Filters
    Shodan provides advanced search filters that allow users to narrow down results based on specific criteria such as geographic location, device type, or operating system.
  • Real-Time Monitoring
    Users can set up real-time alerts to monitor for new exposures, ensuring timely response to potential threats.

Possible disadvantages of Shodan

  • Ethical and Legal Concerns
    Shodan can be used by malicious actors to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, raising ethical and legal questions about its use and data collection practices.
  • Complex UI
    The user interface can be overwhelming for beginners due to its complexity and the vast amount of data available, making it difficult to navigate without prior experience.
  • Subscription Costs
    While Shodan offers a free tier, accessing advanced features and extensive search capabilities requires a subscription, which might be costly for some users.
  • Potential for False Positives
    The data collected by Shodan might include false positives, where benign devices are flagged as vulnerabilities, thus requiring users to manually verify each finding.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Since Shodan indexes devices connected to the internet, this can include personal and residential hardware, leading to privacy concerns for individuals whose devices are inadvertently exposed.

Analysis of Shodan

Overall verdict

  • Shodan can be a valuable tool when used appropriately. It is particularly beneficial for cybersecurity experts seeking to analyze and secure networked devices. However, it can also be used for malicious purposes if accessed by individuals with harmful intent. Therefore, ethical considerations and legal compliance must guide its use.

Why this product is good

  • Shodan is often considered useful because it acts as a search engine for Internet-connected devices. It allows cybersecurity professionals to discover and assess the exposure of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and networks. Shodan's extensive database enables users to gather information on devices' IP addresses, operating systems, open ports, and potential vulnerabilities. This data can be instrumental in cybersecurity research and in developing strategies to protect against potential threats.

Recommended for

  • Cybersecurity professionals
  • Network administrators
  • Security researchers
  • IoT developers seeking to understand device exposure
  • Organizations conducting security audits

OWASP Amass videos

LevelUp 0x04 - OWASP Amass – Discovering Internet Exposure

More videos:

  • Review - Jeff Foley - Advanced Recon with OWASP Amass video - DEF CON 27 Recon Village
  • Review - OWASP Amass Red Team Village Training - by Jeff Foley (Cafffix)

Shodan videos

Searching the Internet with Shodan (Seen in Mr. Robot)

More videos:

  • Review - Bestech Shodan Unboxing & First Impressions
  • Review - Bestech Shodan FULL Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OWASP Amass and Shodan)
Cyber Security
53 53%
47% 47
Security
0 0%
100% 100
Domains
100 100%
0% 0
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Shodan seems to be a lot more popular than OWASP Amass. While we know about 92 links to Shodan, we've tracked only 1 mention of OWASP Amass. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OWASP Amass mentions (1)

  • OWASP Amass
    The Amass tool is a perfect fit for the sub-techniques in the Search Open Technical Databases category which is part of the reconnaissance phase from the matrix above. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago

Shodan mentions (92)

  • Introducing OSINT Template Engine: An open source OSINT Tool.
    Transform OSINT sources such as shodan, bgpview & urlscan into templates which you can use to query & store any and each of the API endpoints they provide. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Some outgoing ports (e.g, port 22) are blocked
    I'm a little surprised you're asking this but as you don't know - if you set the rulebase correctly, you won't get hammered by "public". A lot of people (of course not people here) don't do that which is why shodan.io is full of servers with SSH exposed to the world. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Does anyone want to vet this job opportunity?
    Eh, request a full demo before signing anything. If they make you buy before you can try, move on. Just be advised that data they collect from your site may be used in a database that puts a target on your back. Similar to how shodan.io works. I would probe them on how they handle customer data and if data is shared, partitioned, or isolated to ensure safety from a platform leak. They want to be a security... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Security issue or coincidence?
    My network is being hit by China and Russia many times per hour. Make sure your firewall is up-to-date and not have any services available on the Internet (WAN). Look at shodan.io which shows you _everything_ is searched on the Internet. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Onion sites crawling: Weird mass "HTTP/1.1 200 " HTTP status line returning?
    In the cases of nginx or apache, I suspect they may be acting as proxies to some backend that also chooses not to send a reason phrase back. Searching for "Reason Phrase" yields a number of bug reports/frameworks that may omit it, and shodan.io shows apache tomcat and a few other services/software that omit the code as well. Source: almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing OWASP Amass and Shodan, you can also consider the following products

Sublist3r - Sublist3r is a python tool designed to enumerate subdomains of websites using OSINT.

Acunetix - Audit your website security and web applications for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other...

SubdomainRadar.io - Use SubdomainRadar to find and explore subdomains of any target domain. Perfect for subdomain discovery and domain research.

Censys - Censys helps organizations, individuals, and researchers find and monitor every server on the Internet to reduce exposure and improve security.

Subfinder - Subfinder is a subdomain discovery tool that discovers valid subdomains for websites. Designed as a passive framework to be useful for bug bounties and safe for penetration testing. - GitHub - proj...

Intruder - Intruder is a security monitoring platform for internet-facing systems.