SkillRary

Vulnerability assessments are often carried out to help assure organizations are protected from well-known vulnerabilities (low hanging fruit). As the term implies a vulnerability assessment is a methodology used for identifying security loopholes within IT applications and infrastructure and their subsequent remediation. It involves robust scanning of components either by individual security experts or network security admins in an organization.

Vulnerability scanning, assessment and management all share a fundamental cybersecurity principle: the bad guys can’t get in if they don’t have a way. To that end, an essential IT security practice is to scan for vulnerabilities and then patch them, typically via a patch management system.

Vulnerability scanning tools can make that process easier by finding and even patching vulnerabilities for you, reducing the burden on security staff and operations centres. Vulnerability scanners detect and classify system weaknesses to prioritize fixes and sometimes predict the effectiveness of countermeasures. Scans can be performed by the IT department or via a service provider. Typically, the scan compares the details of the target attack surface to a database of information about known security holes in services and ports, as well as anomalies in packet construction, and paths that may exist to exploitable programs or scripts.

Some scans are done by logging in as an authorized user while others are done externally and attempt to find holes that may be exploitable by those operating outside the network. Vulnerability scanning should not be confused with penetration testing, which is about exploiting vulnerabilities rather than indicating where potential vulnerabilities may lie. Vulnerability management is a broader product that incorporates vulnerability scanning capabilities, and a complementary technology is breach and attack simulation, which allows for continuous automated vulnerability assessment.

Depending on the areas of the infrastructure under review a vulnerability assessment can be classified into three broad types.

External Scans - Scanning those components of the IT ecosystem that directly face the internet and are accessible to external users. For instance, ports, networks, websites, apps, and other systems used by external users or customers.

Internal Scans - Finding loopholes in the internal network of an organization (not exposed to external scans) that may damage the enterprise network.

Environmental Scans - Environmental vulnerability scans focus on specified operational technology of an organization, such as cloud services, IoT, and mobile devices.

Vulnerability Assessment Methodology

The methodology for vulnerability assessments include the following steps, regardless of whether it is done by different vulnerability assessment tools or manually.

• Initial Planning – Identifying the specific area of the organization’s IT infrastructure to assess for bugs.
• Scanning – Manual or automated scanning of the target areas for possible or potential security vulnerabilities, flaws, exploitable bugs, and false positives.
• Analysis – Analyzing the detected vulnerabilities for their potential impact, suggesting remedies, and quantifying the bugs to mark their severity and urgency of remediation.
• Remediation – Applying various security measures to fix glitches by introducing product updates or system upgrades.

Top 10 vulnerability assessment tools:

Nikto2:  It is an open-source vulnerability scanning assessment software pivoting on web application security. Nikto2 can detect around 6700 malicious files causing a threat to web servers disclosing obsolete servers. Nikto2 watches on server configuration issues by performing web server scans within a short time. Nikto2 does not have any expedients to vulnerabilities detected, and also does not provide risk assessment features. Nikto2 is updated now and then for covering broader vulnerabilities.

Netsparker:  A tool with web application vulnerability embedded with an automated feature for detecting vulnerabilities. This tool is proficient in assessing vulnerabilities in several web applications within a specified time.

Open VAS:  A robust vulnerability scanning tool supporting large-scale scans suited for organizations. This tool is beneficial in detecting vulnerabilities in the web application or web servers and databases, operating systems, networks, and virtual machines. Open VAS has daily access to updates widening the vulnerability detection coverage. It is useful in risk assessment recommending expedients for detecting vulnerabilities.

W3AF: An untethered and open-source tool also known as web-application-attack and framework. An open-source assessment tool for web applications. It forms a framework for securing web applications by detecting and making use of the vulnerabilities. A user-friendly tool with features of vulnerability scanning, W3AF has additional facilities for penetration testing purposes. Furthermore, W3AF has a varied collection of vulnerabilities. This tool is highly beneficial for domains that are at stake frequently with vulnerabilities that are recently identified.

Arachni: An unwavering vulnerability tool for web applications and is regularly updated. This has a broader coverage of vulnerabilities and has options for risk assessment recommending tips and counter features for the vulnerabilities detected.

Acunetix: A paid web assessment application security tool that is open-source with many purposes. This tool has a broader vulnerability scanning range covering 6500 vulnerabilities. It can detect network vulnerabilities along with web applications. A tool that allows automating your assessment. This is appropriate for large-scale organizations as it can manoeuvre several devices.

Nmap:   A popular and free open-source network assessment tool among many security professionals. Nmap maps by examining hosts in the network for identifying the operating systems. This feature is useful in finding vulnerabilities in single or multiple networks.

Openscap:  A structured assistance of tools that is useful in vulnerability scanning, assessment, measurement, forming a security measure. A community developed tool supporting Linux platforms. Openscap framework provides strength to the vulnerability assessment on web applications, servers, databases, operating systems, networks, and virtual machines. They also assess risk and counteract threats.

Golismero:  An unpaid open-source tool for assessing vulnerability. A tool specialized in detecting vulnerabilities on web applications and networks. A tool of convenience performing with the output provided by other vulnerability tools such as OpenVAS that combines output with the feedback. It also covers database and network vulnerabilities.

Intruder: A paid tool for vulnerability assessment designed to assess cloud-based storage. Intruder software assesses the vulnerability instantly after it releases. An intruder has automated scanning features that persistently monitors for vulnerability, by providing quality reports.