Determine More Effective Countermeasures With Vulnerability Scanning

Many organizations today store their most important data on their network, which makes it of vital importance that it is as secure as possible.

Hackers will be looking to exploit any vulnerability they can find, yet there is at least one such vulnerability to be found in as many as 76% of all applications, according to the State of Software Security study by Veracode. The most common such flaws are information leakage, cryptographic issues, credentials management, CRLF injection and the quality of coding. Data also suggests that software is not tested for security issues by as many as one in five organizations and that 80% of all public exploits are published even before their CVEs have actually been released.

Vulnerability scanning is one of the most important methods that can be used to identify such weaknesses, together with the likes of penetration testing.

Vulnerability scanning – What Is It?

Vulnerability scanning is the term given to the process of identifying application, network, and security vulnerabilities in a proactive manner. Vulnerability scanning is usually performed either in-house by an organization’s own IT department or through a third-party service provider.

Attackers also make use of this method in order to try to find ways to get into a network.

A web vulnerability scanner looks for applications and operating systems that may be outdated and have recognized security vulnerabilities and bugs. A web application vulnerability scanner may also be able to find configuration errors including the likes of improper file sharing and a number of other such issues, depending on the degree of access that has been given to the vulnerability scanner.

The vulnerability scanning process includes the detection and classification of system weaknesses within communication equipment, computers, and networks.

Vulnerability scans can also help to determine whether countermeasures will be effective enough in the event of automated attacks or threats or if more effective countermeasures need to be developed.

A service that provides vulnerability testing makes use of a piece of software that runs from the standpoint of the organization or individual that is inspecting that specific attack site, with a database being used by the vulnerability scanner to make comparisons about the surface that is being targeted for attack.

The database can reference already identified flaws as well as coding bugs, default configurations, packet construction anomalies, and anyways that attackers might potentially be able to exploit sensitive data.

A report will be generated after the software has checked for any vulnerability in devices that fall within the scope of the scan. An analysis and interpretation of the resulting data can then be conducted to find ways for organizations to improve their security and develop more effective countermeasures.

Managed services are available that can scan network systems and detect vulnerabilities that could be exploited via network attacks and do so on a regular basis.

A service that provides vulnerability testing makes use of a piece of software that runs from the standpoint of the organization or individual that is inspecting that specific attack site, with a database being used by the vulnerability scanner to make comparisons about the surface that is being targeted for attack.

Types of Vulnerability Scanning Categories

There are a number of different types of vulnerability scanning categories that network vulnerability scans fall into based upon their use-cases.

The non-intrusive vulnerability scan identifies a potential vulnerability and creates a report to enable it to be fixed by the user. No actual exploitation of the vulnerability will take place during the process.

However, an intrusive vulnerability assessment attempts to exploit any vulnerability they may find during scanning and create an attack plan. The primary benefit of this assessment is that the security risk is highlighted along with the impact of any exploitation of that vulnerability, though it can cause disruption.

External Vulnerability Scans

These scans target all areas within an IT ecosystem that are not just for internal use. This includes web application security, website security, network vulnerability assessment, ports, services, and externally accessible systems.

Internal Vulnerability Scans

These scans target the internal enterprise network, searching and conducting a network vulnerability assessment to avoid damage.

Environmental Vulnerability Scans

These scans depend on the technology operations of an enterprise’s specific environment and are specialized to be deployed for various technologies including cloud-based services, mobile devices, and websites.

How Vulnerability Scanning Works?

There are a number of tactics and techniques that can be employed to gain a response from a device that is inside the target scope, depending on the particular type of scanning that is being used by the vulnerability platform.

Based on the reactions of those devices, the scanner can then try to match those results to a database, and risk ratings will be assigned.

It is possible to configure vulnerability scanners to be able to scan all ports within a network, to detect and identify password breaches in addition to applications and services of a suspicious nature.

The scanning service will report any missing service packs or security fixes and is also capable of spotting malware and coding errors while also monitoring remote access.

What You Need To Do?

Vulnerability testing and scanning is a vital first step for all organizations to take to harden their security defenses and create more effective countermeasures.

The discovery of information and vulnerabilities by scanning and subsequent analysis can help with the fine-tuning of a penetration test and provide an organization with the best possible return on their investment in a security testing process. For a fully managed application for risk detection, Indusface is the only place to go.