Nessus is a vulnerability scanning tool that identifies security risks in systems and networks.

What is Nessus?

Nessus is a vulnerability scanner that identifies vulnerabilities, insecure configurations and security issues in systems and networks.

Main Features

Scanning

  • Vulnerabilities: Vulnerability detection
  • Configurations: Configuration analysis
  • Services: Service identification
  • Ports: Port scanning

Analysis

  • Severity: Severity classification
  • Impact: Impact assessment
  • Remediation: Remediation recommendations
  • Reports: Report generation

Integration

  • APIs: Programming interfaces
  • SIEM: SIEM integration
  • Ticketing: Ticketing integration
  • Workflows: Workflows

Scanning Types

Vulnerability Scanning

  • CVE: Known vulnerabilities
  • CVSS: Severity scoring
  • Patches: Patch analysis
  • Configurations: Insecure configurations

Network Scanning

  • Ports: Port scanning
  • Services: Service identification
  • Protocols: Protocol analysis
  • Topology: Network mapping

Application Scanning

  • Web: Web applications
  • APIs: APIs and services
  • Databases: Databases
  • Containers: Containers

Configuration

Basic Scanning

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# Basic scan configuration
nessus_scan --target 192.168.1.0/24 --policy "Basic Network Scan"

# Vulnerability scanning
nessus_scan --target 192.168.1.1 --policy "Vulnerability Scan"

# Configuration scanning
nessus_scan --target 192.168.1.1 --policy "Configuration Audit"

Custom Policies

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# Create custom policy
nessus_policy --create "Custom Policy" --template "Basic Network Scan"

# Configure policy
nessus_policy --edit "Custom Policy" --settings "custom_settings.xml"

# Apply policy
nessus_scan --target 192.168.1.0/24 --policy "Custom Policy"

Use Cases

Security Audit

  • Inventory: Asset inventory
  • Vulnerabilities: Vulnerability identification
  • Configurations: Configuration analysis
  • Compliance: Compliance verification

Vulnerability Management

  • Identification: Identify vulnerabilities
  • Prioritization: Prioritize vulnerabilities
  • Remediation: Track remediation
  • Verification: Verify fixes

Continuous Monitoring

  • Regular scans: Scheduled scans
  • Change detection: Change detection
  • Alerts: New vulnerability alerts
  • Reports: Automatic reports

Integration

  • SIEM: SIEM integration
  • Ticketing: Ticketing integration
  • APIs: Programming interfaces
  • Workflows: Workflows

Analysis

  • VulnDB: Vulnerability database
  • CVE: Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
  • CVSS: Common Vulnerability Scoring System
  • NVD: National Vulnerability Database

Best Practices

Configuration

  • Policies: Configure appropriate policies
  • Scheduling: Schedule regular scans
  • Filters: Implement appropriate filters
  • Alerts: Configure effective alerts

Analysis

  • Prioritization: Prioritize vulnerabilities
  • Context: Consider organizational context
  • Resources: Evaluate available resources
  • Time: Consider remediation time

Remediation

  • Patches: Apply patches quickly
  • Configuration: Fix configurations
  • Mitigation: Implement mitigations
  • Verification: Verify fixes

References