Using Strobes DAST (ZAP Integration): Configuring Dynamic Application Security Testing

Security teams often run automated scans to test how applications behave in real-world runtime conditions.

ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy), maintained by OWASP, is one of the most trusted tools for simulating attack vectors across web applications and APIs. But once a scan is complete, the real challenge begins: parsing through ZAP findings, filtering what’s exploitable, and converting them into actionable outcomes.

This is where Strobes fits in. As part of its Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) capabilities, Strobes integrates tightly with ZAP to convert scan noise into structured, context-rich, prioritized vulnerability workflows.

What Is ZAP?

ZAP is a proxy-based scanner that performs Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) to identify vulnerabilities that show up only when a web app or API is running. It detects a wide range of security issues, such as:

• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• SQL Injection
• Open redirects
• Misconfigured headers
• Broken authentication

ZAP is used by both red and blue teams in CI/CD pipelines or standalone audits, but it has limitations:

• It produces large volumes of raw data.
• It lacks built-in risk prioritization.
• It doesn’t support ticketing or structured remediation workflows.
• There’s no direct integration into asset management or SLA tracking.

This leads to isolated findings that often go unreviewed.

What Is Strobes?

Strobes is a CTEM platform that acts as a control hub for vulnerability data across scanners, asset types, and teams. It delivers unified visibility, prioritized risk assessment, and full-cycle remediation.

Strobes connects with tools like ZAP to:

• Pull in raw runtime vulnerability data
• Enrich it with exploit intelligence and business context
• Rank issues based on impact, not just severity
• Route tasks through integrated workflows (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow)
• Track status through dashboards and compliance reports

The result? Less backlog, faster remediation, and smarter decision-making.

Purpose of the ZAP Integration with Strobes

This integration is purpose-built for teams who:

• Use ZAP for API or web app testing
• Require structured visibility of runtime threats
• Need automation in remediation and ticketing
• Want risk-driven insights rather than just raw outputs

ZAP provides detection. Strobes ensures response.

What Does ZAP Integration with Strobes Enables

1. Ingesting ZAP Findings into Strobes

ZAP Integration with Strobes connects directly with your ZAP instance, local or remote. Strobes imports:

• Affected endpoints (URL, method)
• Vulnerability metadata (CWE ID, plugin ID, title, severity)
• Request/response payloads for technical verification
• Detection timestamp, evidence, and remediation suggestions

This sync can be configured to run manually, on a schedule, or triggered via CI/CD events.

2. Data Normalization and Deduplication

Once ZAP data enters Strobes:

• Duplicate alerts across repeated scans are deduplicated.
• Known false positives are suppressed based on prior triage.
• Findings are correlated with similar issues from other scanners (e.g., SAST, SCA).

This ensures analysts don’t waste time reprocessing the same findings repeatedly.

3. Contextual Prioritization and Scoring

ZAP provides severity levels, but not context. Strobes recalculates risk scores using:

• Public exploit availability
• CVSS mapping (if available)
• Endpoint sensitivity (e.g., exposed login vs. internal dashboard)
• Business-critical asset classification

A vulnerability on a production-facing payment page will be prioritized over the same issue on a staging server.

4. Automated Remediation Workflows

Based on your rule sets, Strobes can:

• Automatically create Jira or ServiceNow tickets
• Assign remediation to Dev, QA, or AppSec teams
• Attach full request/response logs for reproduction
• Start SLA clocks on ticket creation
• Close tickets upon revalidation after a fix is deployed

You move from static reporting to accountable workflows, without manual effort.

5. Centralized Dashboards and Reporting

ZAP’s default output is either console logs or HTML reports. With Strobes, runtime issues from ZAP are embedded into a unified view:

• Filter by environment, app, or severity
• Cross-reference ZAP findings with SAST/SCA results
• Track time-to-remediate, SLA breaches, and reopen rates
• Generate exportable reports for compliance, audits, and retrospectives

Teams no longer bounce between multiple tool UIs to track remediation progress.

Key Advantages of Connecting These Tools

1. Reduces Manual Sorting of ZAP Outputs

ZAP scans often produce dozens of alerts per app. Without filtering or deduplication, teams are forced to export, sort, and manually triage findings. Strobes:

• Groups duplicates from identical findings across multiple scans
• Identifies recurring issues to highlight persistent flaws
• Ignores alerts from retired endpoints or decommissioned systems

This cuts review time and eliminates redundant reporting loops.

2. Adds Intelligence to Raw Findings

ZAP doesn’t indicate whether an issue is being exploited in the wild or if it exists on a business-critical asset. Strobes fills that gap by:

• Checking threat intel sources for active exploit tags
• Mapping findings to business units and owners
• Scoring impact based on asset exposure and app sensitivity

So teams don’t just fix bugs, they fix the right bugs.

3. Enables Remediation by the Right Team, at the Right Time

ZAP findings often get buried in exported spreadsheets. With Strobes, they:

• Trigger tickets based on defined rules (e.g., “All high-severity issues on prod APIs → QA Team”)
• Carry SLA expectations embedded in workflows
• Get automatically closed after validation

This removes the burden of manual handoffs or SLA tracking.

4. Improves Communication Across Stakeholders

Security teams, developers, QA, and management each need different levels of information. Strobes allows:

• Developers to get tickets with exact request/response pairs
• AppSec leads to monitor SLA compliance
• Executives to view risk trends without technical jargon

You replace confusion with aligned visibility.

5. Scales Across Apps and Pipelines

Whether you run one ZAP instance on staging or dozens across product lines, Strobes:

• Integrates multiple ZAP configurations under one workspace
• Supports tagging by app name, business unit, or environment
• Provides CI/CD integration for post-deploy scans
• Works with hybrid teams and multi-cloud environments

The platform grows with your security maturity.

Summary Table

Final Note

ZAP tests your apps. Strobes tells you what to do with the results and ensures it gets done.

The ZAP Integration with Strobes brings runtime vulnerability testing into your broader exposure management process. It removes bottlenecks, reduces noise, and ensures the issues that matter are never lost in logs.

Want to see the ZAP integration in action?

Book a walk-through with us.