When you’re launching your business, the focus is often on growth and innovation, meaning cybersecurity might not be at the top of your priority list, especially with limited resources.
However, neglecting cybersecurity can put your business at significant risk from the get-go – and the numbers paint a stark picture.
In 2023 alone, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 880,000 reports of cybercrime, with estimated losses exceeding $12.5 billion. Small businesses were far from immune, facing threats like ransomware attacks (2,825 reported cases with $59.6 million in losses) and Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes (21,489 complaints resulting in staggering losses of over $2.9 billion).
As a result, the average cost of a data breach to small businesses ranges from $120,000 to $1.24M.
This article will walk you through leveraging free and open source cybersecurity tools to kickstart your security journey.
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Understanding The "Free" In Cybersecurity Tools
In the context of cybersecurity, “free” refers to tools and services that are completely cost-free or require minimal time and resources for implementation.
While open-source cybersecurity tools offer powerful capabilities, they often demand significant development effort and resources, which could exceed the cost of commercial solutions.
Getting Started With The Best Free Cybersecurity Tools
For new or small business owners, determining where to start with cybersecurity can be overwhelming. A sensible approach is to take advantage of free assessments available for your critical technology, data, and supporting platforms, based on your specific business needs.
Learn More: How To Improve Cybersecurity: Best Practices For Small Businesses
As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, staying informed about new threats and cybersecurity tools is key. By doing so, you not only protect your business from immediate threats but also ensure its long-term security and success.
Consider the following free and open source cybersecurity tools that can help maximize your cybersecurity budget:
- OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy)
- OpenAPI.Security
- Qualys FreeScan
- OpenVas
- GraphQL.Security
- Trivy
- Kube-bench
- Prowler
- Duo Security Free Edition
- Comodo EDR
- Hugging Face Model Hub
These tools cover various aspects of cybersecurity, from vulnerability scanning and network security to API protection and container security. By leveraging these free and open source cybersecurity tools, you can significantly enhance your security posture without straining your budget or human resources.
In the following sections, we’ll dive deeper into each of these free tools, exploring how they can be used to detect vulnerabilities, strengthen your network security, and protect your business from various cyber threats.
We’ll also discuss how to implement these free cybersecurity tools for startups effectively, ensuring you get the most value from your cybersecurity efforts.
Remember, while these free and open source security tools provide a solid foundation, they should be part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that includes regular updates, employee training, and a culture of security awareness.
Free Web Application And Network Security Scanners
With an online business, safeguarding your website and customer data becomes paramount. Vulnerabilities in web applications can lead to serious issues like data breaches, defacements, or even total system takeovers, impacting your revenue, legal standing, and reputation.
Web application attacks were the leading cause of data breaches in 2022, making up 35% of incidents, but declined to 8% in 2024 as reported by Verizon.
Despite this, 31% of breaches in the last decade involved stolen credentials. This is because credential stuffing and brute force attacks remain common ways to gain unauthorized access
It’s recommended to address vulnerabilities identified through these scans before considering more in-depth penetration testing for further security insights. For maturing organizations, we recommend establishing a formal vulnerability management program.
OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy)
OWASP ZAP is a powerful free cybersecurity tool known for its detailed scanning capabilities.
It’s an essential tool for identifying a wide array of web application vulnerabilities, especially those on the OWASP Top 10 list, which is updated every 4 years.
Out of the box, it contains everything you’ll need to fingerprint, scan, and validate vulnerabilities found on your web applications or external sites.
To use ZAP for red teaming and penetration testing, you’ll need to start building or finding test payloads and other plugins to get the most value out of the tool.
One great place to start is the ZAP Community Scripts Github.
OpenAPI.Security
OpenAPI.Security specializes in REST API scanning, providing critical insights for these common interfaces. automate the vulnerability discovery process for your REST APIs. This tool is essential for protecting your API endpoints against common threats such as:
- Injection flaws.
- Broken authentication.
- Excessive data exposure.
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GraphQL.Security
GraphQL.Security addresses the unique needs of GraphQL APIs, ensuring thorough protection for modern API architectures. It automates the vulnerability discovery process for your GraphQL APIs, helping to identify and mitigate potential security risks.
These open source security tools can significantly enhance your API security posture, automating the vulnerability discovery process for both REST and GraphQL APIs.
OpenVas
OpenVas is what Tenable’s Nessus was originally built on.
It is still a useful open source tool for essential vulnerability scanning. Note that while it does have its own library of CVE data, it is the intelligence that gives Nessus the value over Openvas, as well as a lot more work on the UI and UX.
You will have to do some work to get better vulnerability data, such as implementing the CISA Know Exploitable Vulnerability database that is free via their website or API at
These initial scans offer a solid baseline understanding of your security posture before moving to more detailed testing.
While free scans are invaluable, they are not a replacement for professional penetration testing services. It’s advisable to address vulnerabilities identified through these scans before considering more in-depth penetration testing for further security insights.
Qualys FreeScan
Qualys FreeScan is a powerful entry point into enterprise-grade vulnerability scanning.
While it’s the free version of Qualys’s premium vulnerability management suite, it still provides comprehensive security assessment capabilities, including vulnerability detection, malware identification, and SSL/TLS configuration analysis.
The tool leverages Qualys’s extensive vulnerability database, though with some limitations compared to their paid offerings. The user interface is polished and intuitive, making it more accessible for small businesses without dedicated security teams.
Like OpenVas, Qualys FreeScan provides its own vulnerability database, but the free version has access to a more regularly updated feed through Qualys’s commercial threat intelligence.
While you won’t get all the advanced features of the paid version, the free scanner still offers detailed reporting and remediation guidance that can help prioritize your security efforts.
Free Cloud Security Tools
Container-based deployments, while efficient, introduce new security challenges. Misconfigurations or vulnerabilities within container images can open up your applications and data to potential threats.
Tools like Trivy and Kube-bench are invaluable for scanning container images and Kubernetes configurations, helping identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in these environments.
Trivy
Trivy is a free vulnerability scanner designed specifically for container security and offers the following features:
- Container Image Scanning: Detects vulnerabilities in container images before deployment.
- Filesystem Scanning: Identifies vulnerabilities in project dependencies.
- Git Repository Scanning: Checks for security issues in your code repositories.
By integrating Trivy into your development and deployment pipelines, you can proactively identify and address vulnerabilities, significantly reducing the risk of container-based attacks.
Kube-bench
Using Kube-bench helps ensure that your Kubernetes environments are configured securely, minimizing the risk of exploitation due to misconfigurations by:
- Checking your Kubernetes clusters against security best practices.
- Identifying misconfigurations that could lead to security vulnerabilities.
- Providing detailed reports on potential security issues.
Prowler
Prowler is an Open Source security tool to perform AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Kubernetes:
- Security best practices assessments.
- Audits.
- Incident response.
- Continuous monitoring.
- Hardening and forensics readiness.
- Remediations.
It’s a great out-of-the-box tool to quickly get started making sure your cloud environment has basic security controls applied.
To get more out of this tool, you will need to enable some integrations with additional platforms such as a SIEM or XDR platform, or other log aggregation service like Elastic.
You can also enrich your data with a connection to the Shodan API.
Free Cybersecurity Tools For Remote And BYOD Employees
The shift towards remote work and BYOD policies requires robust security measures to protect against unauthorized access and data breaches.
Duo Security Free Edition
Duo Security’s Free Edition provides essential two-factor authentication services for small businesses, enhancing security for remote access and significantly reducing the risk of account takeovers and breaches.
This tool provides:
- Strong Authentication: Adds an extra layer of security beyond passwords.
- User-Friendly Interface: Makes it easy for employees to adopt and use.
- Integration Capabilities: Works with many common business applications.
Free Detection And Response Tools
The previous set of solutions and tools will get you started on protecting your infrastructure and data. But what about the laptop you and your employees use to access this data?
Many small businesses are BYOD and don’t have control of or even policy for endpoint protection.
Windows Defender and antivirus are the most commonly accepted solutions for BYOD. Something more advanced like a self-hosted EDR solution is a better idea and gives you real security insight into threats that may be on systems accessing your infrastructure you worked so hard to secure.
Comodo EDR
Comodo EDR is one such self-hosted example you could setup to start detecting threats on your hosts. It is a great tool for getting complete visibility over the systems that are interacting with your organization’s data.
You’ll need to deploy the server in a secure way and it is recommended to host it in the cloud, though you could run it on-prem with traditional servers.
Once it’s deployed you’ll spend some time setting up visuals, dashboards, and saved searches.
AI Considerations: Safeguarding Future Technologies
As artificial intelligence integration becomes increasingly prevalent in business operations, ensuring the protection of sensitive data is paramount. The adoption of AI technologies introduces new cybersecurity challenges that businesses must address proactively.
Learn More: How LLMs Are Being Exploited
Hugging Face Model Hub
The Hugging Face Model Hub offers a secure platform for exploring and deploying AI models, emphasizing the importance of cybersecurity mindfulness in AI initiatives.
This platform offers:
- A secure environment for exploring and deploying AI models.
- Pre-trained models with built-in security features.
- Tools for model evaluation and fine-tuning.
By utilizing the Hugging Face Model Hub, businesses can access a range of AI models while maintaining a strong focus on cybersecurity. This approach helps mitigate risks associated with AI deployment, such as data leakage or model manipulation.
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Starting with foundational cybersecurity measures, such as leveraging the tools mentioned above, is crucial for any business. Addressing cyber threats proactively is far more cost-effective than dealing with the aftermath of a breach.
Once you’ve implemented these initial steps, you’ll have a lot of data and tools to manage.
Next, you’ll need to start conducting more comprehensive security operations such as threat hunting, alert tuning, incident response, and automation to evolve your security program into an efficient and modern program.
It’s time to consider comprehensive solutions for a more robust defense. PurpleSec’s Defiance XDR™, Penetration Testing, and Virtual CISO services will help you and your organization form a robust defense against the evolving threat landscape, and free you and your team up to focus on innovation and business enablement.
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