Operational Modes

Pantera has two main operational modes: Cache and Project Session. Each mode has its pros and cons but most likely you as a professional application assessment expert will prefer to use the Project Session mode.

Cache Mode

The cache mode is the default mode when Pantera is executed. Under this mode all the pages you visit will be saved on Pantera's Cache and you can perform basic stuff like, but not limited to:

- Rudimentary page analisys.
- Intercept pages.
- Rewrite / Modify pages and resend them.

As said before the Cache Mode can be used to perform basic assessment of the target and you don't need to set up the MYSQL server. This mode is faster due to no analysis is been done on the pages you visit. Figure 1 illustrates this mode:

Figure. 1

Notice that under this mode the Project Name is not set and there arent Visual Resource Icons and timestamp.

Project Session Mode

The Session Mode is probably the mode you will prefer most as you can do almost anything you want :) Under this mode all the pages you visit are stored under the MYSQL server. Also it offers many features to perform analysis. In short, this is the Cache Mode "extended" . Some of the features are:

- Pantera Passive Analysis (PPA - each page is passively analyzed while you are visiting the target, just like 24, real time action ;)
- Application Scanning
- Data Mining on data obtained from the target
- Project Statistics
- Visual Resource Icons
- Much more...

The sky is the limit as showed in the following figure:

Figure. 2

Home

2006 (C) http://www.roseslabs.com