Patent ID: 8341711

Claim:
A method, using a computer and/or a network-connected computing device, for managing session state during a security scan of a web site, a web site being a collection of electronically accessible content and/or functionality accessible via a web server over a network, the web site comprising at least one or more web pages, wherein a web page is representable as content stored electronically and capable of being served by the web server over the network, the method comprising: analyzing content of a first web page of the web site received in response to a first request of the web server for the first web page of the web site to determine if the state of a session is valid, the state indicating whether a user is currently logged in to the web site; and when the state of the session is not valid, thereby indicating that the user is not currently logged in to the web site, performing the steps of: (a) determining login information for the web site; (b) causing an interface to send a second request, the second request being for a login page of the web site; (c) receiving the login page in response to the second request; (d) causing the interface to send a third request, wherein the third request includes the login information for the web site, and wherein the third request is a request for logging into the web site; and (e) receiving a response for the third request, the response including credential information, the credential information useable to establish a valid session state with the web site.