Nessus Scanner
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Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OS X,
OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, and/or other UNIX variants
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Nessus was a popular free
and open source vulnerability scanner until they closed the source code in 2005 and removed the free “registered feed” version in 2008. A limited “Home
Feed” is still available, though it is only licensed for home network use.
Some people avoid paying by violating the “Home Feed” license, or by avoiding
feeds entirely and using just the plugins included with each release. But for
most users, the cost has increased from free to $1200/year. Despite this,
Nessus is still the best UNIX vulnerability scanner available and among the
best to run on Windows. Nessus is constantly updated, with more than 20,000
plugins. Key features include remote and local (authenticated) security
checks, a client/server architecture with a GTK graphical interface, and an
embedded scripting language for writing your own plugins or understanding the
existing ones.
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Premier UNIX vulnerability
assessment tool
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GFI LANguard
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Operating Systems: Windows
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GFI LANguard scans IP
networks to detect what machines are running. Then it tries to discern the
host OS and what applications are running. I also tries to collect Windows
machine’s service pack level, missing security patches, wireless access
points, USB devices, open shares, open ports, services/applications active on
the computer, key registry entries, weak passwords, users and groups, and
more. Scan results are saved to an HTML report, which can be
customized/queried. It also includes a patch manager which detects and
installs missing patches. A free trial version is available, though it only
works for up to 30 days.
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A commercial network
security scanner for Windows
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Retina CS
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Operating Systems: Windows
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Like Nessus, Retina’s function is to scan all the hosts
on a network and report on any vulnerabilities found. It was written by eEye,
who are well known for their security research.
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Commercial vulnerability
assessment scanner by eEye
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Core Impact
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Operating Systems: Windows
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Core Impact isn’t cheap (be
prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars), but it is widely considered
to be the most powerful exploitation tool available. It sports a large,
regularly updated database of professional exploits, and can do neat tricks
like exploiting one machine and then establishing an encrypted tunnel through
that machine to reach and exploit other boxes. If you can’t afford Impact,
take a look at the cheaper Canvas or the excellent and free Metasploit Framework. Your best bet is to use
all three.
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An automated, comprehensive
penetration testing product
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ISS Security Scanner
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Operating Systems: Windows
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Internet Scanner started
off in ’92 as a tiny open source scanner by Christopher Klaus. Now he has
grown ISS into a billion-dollar company with a myriad of security products.
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Application-level
vulnerability assessment
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X-scan Vulnerability Scanner
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Operating Systems: Windows
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A multi-threaded,
plug-in-supported vulnerability scanner. X-Scan includes many features,
including full NASL support, detecting service types, remote OS type/version
detection, weak user/password pairs, and more. You may be able to find newer
versions available here if you can deal with most
of the page being written in Chinese.
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A general scanner for
scanning network vulnerabilities
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SARA Vulnerability Scanner
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Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OS X,
OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, and/or other UNIX variants
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SARA is a vulnerability
assessment tool derived from the infamous (at least in 1995) SATAN scanner.
They ceased development after releasing version 7.9.1 in June 2009.
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Security Auditor’s Research
Assistant
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QualysGuard
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Delivered as a service over
the Web, QualysGuard eliminates the burden of deploying, maintaining, and
updating vulnerability management software or implementing ad-hoc security
applications. Clients securely access QualysGuard through an easy-to-use Web
interface. QualysGuard features 5,000+ unique vulnerability checks, an
Inference-based scanning engine, and automated daily updates to the
QualysGuard vulnerability KnowledgeBase.
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A web-based vulnerability
scanner
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SAINT Vulnerability Scanner
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Operating Systems: Linux, Mac OS X, OpenBSD,
FreeBSD, Solaris, and/or other UNIX variants
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SAINT is another commercial
vulnerability assessment tool (like Nessus, ISS Internet Scanner, or Retina). It runs on UNIX and used to be free and
open source, but is now a commercial product.
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Security Administrator’s
Integrated Network Tool
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MBSA
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Operating Systems: Windows
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Microsoft Baseline Security
Analyzer (MBSA) is an easy-to-use tool designed for the IT professional that
helps small and medium-sized businesses determine their security state in
accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific
remediation guidance. Built on the Windows Update Agent and Microsoft Update
infrastructure, MBSA ensures consistency with other Microsoft management
products including Microsoft Update (MU), Windows Server Update Services
(WSUS), Systems Management Server (SMS) and Microsoft Operations Manager
(MOM). Apparently MBSA on average scans over 3 million computers each week.
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Microsoft Baseline Security
Analyzer
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XCodeExploitScanner
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Havij-Advanced SQL Injection
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Web Cruiser Scanner
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Acutinex Web Vulnerability Scanner
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