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Tools
This section explains how to use additional tools provided with HCL AppScan Standard.
PowerTools
AppScan offers access to five utilities (PowerTools), each providing a specific feature to help you manage your application security or to help you use AppScan.
Authentication Tester
The Authentication Tester PowerTool is a testing utility that uses the "brute-force" technique to reveal weak username-password combinations that could be used to gain access to your web application. (A brute force attack is an automated process of trial and error used to guess authentication credentials, causing a server to acknowledge an imposter as a legitimate user.)
Authentication methods

Tools
This section explains how to use additional tools provided with HCL AppScan Standard.
- Options dialog box
  This section describes options you can control, to customize AppScan, from the Options dialog box (Tools > Options).
- Web Services Wizard extension
  This extension lets you scan using Open API description files. It is available from Tools > Extensions > Web Services Wizard (Open API), and the extension is enabled by default.
- Scan Scheduler
- User-Defined Tests
- PowerTools
  AppScan offers access to five utilities (PowerTools), each providing a specific feature to help you manage your application security or to help you use AppScan.
  - Authentication Tester
    The Authentication Tester PowerTool is a testing utility that uses the "brute-force" technique to reveal weak username-password combinations that could be used to gain access to your web application. (A brute force attack is an automated process of trial and error used to guess authentication credentials, causing a server to acknowledge an imposter as a legitimate user.)
  - Connection Test
    The Connection Test PowerTool enables you to ping web sites without using the Ping protocol, which is blocked by many firewalls.
  - Encode/Decode
    The Encode/Decode PowerTool encodes and decodes strings you put into it, to and from the format of your choice.
  - Expression Test
    Writing precise regular expressions can be a tedious trial-and-error process. You can use the Expression Test PowerTool to help accelerate the process.
  - HTTP Request Editor
    The HTTP Request Editor PowerTool enables you to send a fully-controlled HTTP request to your site, to test how your site responds to different kinds of HTTP request.
- Customizing the Tools menu
- Extensions
- Logs
  Logs can help you troubleshooting.
- Searching Results
  You can filter the Result List in any of the views, for specific data.

Authentication methods

In the Authentication Tester main window, you choose the authentication method used by your web application. Options are:

Form Authentication: (authentication is performed by a custom web-page)
Form authentication
HTTP Authentication: (authentication as defined in the protocol)
HTTP authentication

The scan options available change depending on which method you select.

Note: If the application uses both types of authentication (e.g. HTTP authentication in general and Form authentication for specific administrator pages), you must provide Authentication Tester with the actual username and password for the HTTP authentication, to enable it to test the Form authentication on these pages. (See HTTP authentication over form authentication for details.)