A Comprehensive Guide to Vulnerability Scanning
What is Vulnerability Scanning?
The process of detecting, assessing, and reporting on security defects and vulnerabilities is known as vulnerability scanning. Automated vulnerability scanning technologies are used to identify potential risk exposures and attack vectors throughout an organization’s networks, hardware, software, and systems. The scanning and assessment of vulnerabilities is a critical phase in the vulnerability management lifecycle.
Once vulnerabilities have been detected and reviewed, a company can proceed with remediation efforts such as patching vulnerabilities, blocking unsafe ports, correcting misconfigurations, and even changing default passwords on the Internet of Things (IoT) and other devices.
Advantages of Vulnerability Scanning
Vulnerability scanning is an essential component of your security team’s overall IT risk management strategy for various reasons.
- Vulnerability scanning enables you to be proactive in fixing any gaps and protecting the security of your devices, data, employees, and customers. Unpatched vulnerabilities are frequently the cause of data breaches, therefore finding and patching these security holes removes that attack route.
- Cybersecurity standards and compliance necessitate secure systems. NIST, PCI DSS, and HIPAA, for example, all prioritize vulnerability scanning to protect sensitive data.
- It is crucial to perform scans and take corrective measures before hackers may exploit any security vulnerabilities because cybercriminals also have access to vulnerability scanning tools.
The Main Types of Vulnerability Scans
Some vulnerability scanning technologies are capable of performing multiple types of scans across heterogeneous settings such as on-premises, Unix, Linux, Windows, cloud, off-site, and onsite. Other scanning equipment fills specific niches, thus it’s always important to properly investigate your use cases before investing in a scanner.
Let’s look at some different sorts of vulnerability scans, each of which has a place based on your use cases.
Credentialed Scans vs. Non-Credentialed Scans
The two major types of vulnerability scanning are credentialed and non-credentialed scans (also known as authenticated and non-authenticated scans).
Non-credentialed scans, as their name suggests, do not require credentials and do not have authorized access to the systems they are inspecting. Although they offer an outsider’s viewpoint on a situation, they frequently overlook the majority of weaknesses in a target environment. As a result, while non-credentialed scans can provide some helpful data to a potential attacker as well as a security expert attempting to assess risk from the outside, they provide a highly incomplete picture of vulnerability exposure.
In contrast, credentialed scans require logging in using a particular set of credentials. These authenticated scans are performed using a trustworthy user’s perspective on the environment. Credentialed scans discover several vulnerabilities that non-credentialed scans may miss. Because credentialed scans require privileged credentials to gain scanning access, organizations should consider integrating an automated privileged password management tool with the vulnerability scanning tool to ensure this process is streamlined and secure (for example, by ensuring scan credentials do not expire).
Here are some alternative methods to organize scans based on the use case.
- External Vulnerability Scans
These scans focus on aspects of your IT ecosystem that are accessible via the internet or are not restricted to internal users or systems. Websites, ports, services, networks, systems, and applications that must be accessed by external users or customers are examples.
- Internal Vulnerability Scans
Monitor and target your company’s internal network. They can detect flaws that expose you to harm whenever a cyber attacker or piece of malware gains access to your system. These scans enable you to harden and defend applications and systems that might otherwise be vulnerable to external scans.
- Environmental Scans
These scans are performed based on the environment in which your technology operates. Cloud-based, IoT devices, mobile devices, websites, and other technological deployments can all benefit from specialized inspections.
- Intrusive Versus Non-Intrusive Scans
Non-intrusive scans only find and report vulnerabilities so that they can be fixed. When a vulnerability is discovered, intrusive scans attempt to exploit it. This can highlight the potential risk and effect of a vulnerability, but it can also interrupt your operating systems and processes, as well as cause problems for your employees and customers – thus use intrusive scanning with caution.
Vulnerability Scanning Challenges
The process of vulnerability scanning presents a number of difficulties:
- A scan primarily represents a single instant in time
The majority of scans are “snapshots,” not continuous. Because your systems are constantly evolving, you should run scans on a frequent basis as your IT ecosystem evolves.
- For a scan to be useful, human input or other integrations could be required
Although the scanning process can be easily automated, a security professional may still be required to examine the results, execute repairs, and follow up to ensure risks are minimized. Many firms also combine vulnerability assessment with automated patch management and other technologies to lessen the administrative burden on employees. In any case, the scan is merely the first step in the vulnerability management lifecycle.
- Numerous privileged access credentials needed for a credentialed scan
Depending on how comprehensive a scan is wanted. As a result, automating management and integrating these credentials with scanners should be addressed in order to maximize both scan depth and privileged access security.
- A scan only identifies known vulnerabilities
A vulnerability scanning tool’s database of known flaws and signatures is only as good as it is. Because new vulnerabilities develop all the time, your tool will need to be updated on a regular basis.
What to Look for in Risk Assessment and Vulnerability Scanning Tools
When evaluating the applicability of a vulnerability scanning solution for your company, the four capabilities listed below should be prioritized:
- Integrations: Your security management system’s other components, such as patch management and other solutions, should be used in conjunction with your vulnerability scanner.
- Frequency of updates: The most current vulnerabilities found should be kept up to date in your vulnerability scanner database.
- Quality and quantity of vulnerabilities: Your scanner should be able to accurately identify all vulnerabilities while minimizing false positives and negatives, and it should provide high-quality details on errors, threat prioritization, and remediation options.
- Actionable results: Your scanning program should generate thorough findings that enable you to take action.
