Introduction
As the hacking and vulnerability incidents are increasing every day, there is a need for vulnerability scanning tool which can scan our workstations, web servers, web applications, networks, etc. on a regular basis and point out the vulnerabilities associated with these systems. Not only this but such scanning tool should able to do the assessment of the following vulnerability associated with any system.
- Tracking of existing security measures.
- The network inspection against any kind of vulnerability.
- Classification of physical as well as virtual servers against security attacks.
- Tracking of system sensitive data, and application sensitive data against the vulnerability.
- Identify the security approach followed by a particular enterprise, agency, government organization, etc.
- Examination of an unobserved data sources which is capable to allow simple entry to the protected information.
Top 10 Vulnerability Assessment Scanning Tools: Given below are the top 10 vulnerability Assessment scanning tools which are frequently used by many organizations.
Netsparker (Recommended):
Netsparker is Vulnerability Assessment Tools, use to find and report vulnerabilities like check web applications for Cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection and other exploitable vulnerabilities. It is language doesn’t care about technology or platform used to developed web application like JAVA, .NET, PHP or any other language. Along with that, it supports modern HTML5, Web 2.0 or custom made Web applications. It reports all security vulnerabilities which may come due to an error in the web application code. It performs dead accurate Proof-based Scanning technology does not just report vulnerabilities.
It also produces a Proof of Concept to confirm they are not false positives. It helps you to double sure that reports are 100% correct. Netsparker is very easy to use as this is fully automated. Very fast to scan your websites and get results within a few minutes. It provides the scan result where you can easily take actions on it.
Link: Netsparker
Acunetix:
Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner (WVS) is an automated web application security testing, founded to combat the rise in attacks at the web application layer. It automatically scans your web applications/website (shopping carts, forms, dynamic content, etc.) and web services for vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, Blind SQL Injection, Cross site scripting, Google hacking, CRLF Injection & other web attacks. Acunetix crawls and analyzes websites including flash content, AJAX / Web 2.0. Also includes reporting for PCI Compliance, OWASP & more.
Acunetix WVS audits a website’s security by launching a series of attacks against the site. It then provides concise reports of any vulnerabilities it found and will even offer suggestions on how to fix them.
Aircrack Tool:
It is a set of tools which is employed to assess the security of a Wi-Fi network. It is also known as Aircrack-NG tool. The following are the key features of Aircrack tool.
- The tool is supported by various operating systems such as NetBSD, OS X, Linux, Windows, etc.
- It is very helpful is performing network auditing.
- It helps to monitor and test the data, packets, cards, drivers, cracking, replying attacks, etc.
- It also helps to retrieve the lost keys during the data packets capturing.
Download: Aircrack
Comodo’s HackerProof Tool:
It is known as one of the revolutionary trust building and vulnerability scanning tool which is capable to overcome the security concerns from the visitors. It also provides a visual indicator to ensure safe transactions by the visitors. Comodo modernizes to help you to test your website’s security. It is one of the best-designed Trustmark in the industry utilizes exclusive Comodo technology. With the no charge it incorporates a PCI scanning. Proven site inspector technology gives us the next dimension in website scanning. Provide the daily vulnerability scanning which makes sure that no any security holes in the website and maintain hacker proof standard on the website. Apart from this HackerProof provides the much visual indicator to feel your customers safe while doing transactions.
The following are the key features of Comodo HackerProof tool.
- The tool is capable to perform daily vulnerability scanning.
- It is capable to prevent Drive-by attack.
- It can reduce cart abandonment.
- The tool has PCI scanning included.
- The tool helps to build valuable trust from the visitors which can help the organization to convert them into buyers.
Download: Hackerproof Comodo
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA):
It is a free scanning tool provided by Microsoft. It helps to secure a Windows OS based computer system as per the guidelines or specifications supplied by Microsoft. The following are the key features of MBSA tool.
- The tool is capable to scan service packs, security updates, update rollups, optional updates, etc.
- It can help to analyze the computers for missing updates, misconfiguration, security patches, etc.
- The tool is good enough to be used by small-sized to medium-sized organizations for the security network management.
- Post-scanning, MBSA can suggest the solutions related to the fixing of the system vulnerabilities.
Download: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
Nessus Professional Tool:
It is a patented vulnerability scanner tool supplied by Tenable Network Security. The following are the key features of Nessus Professional tool.
- The tool is capable to scan vulnerabilities associated with the remote hacking of the system’s sensitive data.
- It is capable to prevent network penetrations from hackers at earliest.
- It supports a wide range of Operating systems, databases, applications, and devices supplied as physical networks, cloud infrastructure, and virtual networks.
- Currently, the tool has a record of installation by millions of user worldwide.
Download: Nessus Professional
Nexpose Community Tool:
Nexpose community vulnerability tool is developed by Rapid7 which is an open source tool. It is widely used for vulnerability scanning and a wide range of network intrusion checks. The following are the key features of Nexpose Community tool.
- The tool is quite detailed in its scanning where it takes into account the age of the vulnerability such as malware kit employed, the advantages taken by the kit, etc.
- The tool can be easily combined with a Metaspoilt framework.
- The tool is capable to scan the new devices in order to detect the vulnerabilities and evaluate the network.
- It can monitor the vulnerabilities exposures real time and can familiarize itself to the latest hazards very efficiently.
- The tool categorizes the risks post scanning for vulnerability into low, medium, or high scale.
Download: Nexpose Community
Nikto Tool:
Nikto is an open source web scanner tool which is employed to assess the probable issues and vulnerabilities.
The following are the key features of Nikto tool.
- The tool can easily verify if the server version is outdated or not. Also, it can analyze for any problem which is affecting the server functions.
- It is capable to perform varieties of tests on web servers for detecting hazardous files or programs.
- It can help to scan various protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, etc. Also, it can scan multiple server ports for vulnerabilities.
- It can test and scan a web server for issues and vulnerabilities very quickly.
Download: Nikto
OpenVAS Tool:
As the name suggests that it is an open source tool which provides vulnerability assessment scanner as well as vulnerability manager. The full form of “OpenVAS” is Open Vulnerability Assessment System. The framework is part of Greenbone Networks commercial vulnerability management solution from which developments are contributed to the Open Source community since 2009.
The following are the key features of OpenVAS
- OpenVAS is Reliable and Sustainable.
- The scanner proficiently executes the genuine Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs) which are served through the commercial feed service.
- OpenVAS scanner is a complete vulnerability assessment tool identifying issues related to security in the servers and other devices of the network.
- The tool is supported by various operating systems such as Windows, Solaris, Linux, Windows, etc.
- It can identify issues related to server security and network security.
- The tool has a scan engine which is constantly updated with the Network Vulnerability tests.
- The services from OpenVAS tool are free of cost. They are usually licensed under GNU General Public License (GPL).
Download: OpenVAS
Retina CS Community Tool:
Retina CS is an open source tool which is a web-based console. It can help to perform the vulnerability management which is very simplified and centralized. The following are the key features of Retina CS Community tool.
- The tool saves both time and money required for network security management.
- It can perform automated vulnerability scans for workstations, web servers, web applications, and databases very swiftly.
- It can provide an assessment of cross-platform vulnerability.
- It has features to provide patching, configuration compliance, compliance reporting, etc.
- The tool supports virtual environments such as virtual app scanning, vCenter integration, etc.
Download: Retina CS Community
Tripwire IP360 Tool:
Tripwire IP360 tool is developed by Tripwire Inc. The tool is considered to be an important vulnerability assessment solution which is widely employed by different enterprises for security risks management. The following are the key features of Tripwire IP360 tool.
- The tool can easily spot network configurations, network hosts, applications, and vulnerabilities for any system.
- The tool uses open standards which can help in the risk management integration and vulnerability into multiple business processes.
Download:: Tripwire IP360
Wireshark Tool:
It is a widely used network protocol analyzer which is considered to be the most commanding tool in the security practitioners’ toolkit. The following are the key features of Wireshark tool.
- It can easily capture the online issues and it can execute the analysis offline.
- The tool is supported by various operating systems such as Solaris, Mac OS, Linux, Windows, etc.
- It is widely used by enterprises, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. for their network monitoring at a minute level.
Download: Wireshark
Conclusion:
In this article, we discussed the top 10 vulnerabilities scanning tools which are widely used by enterprises, government agencies, educational institutions, etc. in order to maintain their systems and networks well secured.
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1 thought on “Top 12 Vulnerability Assessment Scanning Tools”
Great article!
I would like to add –
Qualys WAS (Web application scanner) -cloud based subscription service.
We utilise this tool as an additional check when we move code into the production environment.
OWASP ZED (Zed attack proxy) -FREE
This is a great free tool that can be run locally so can be used on Devel environments. The big thing here is it is created and managed by the OWASP community.