Vulnerability scanning got its start as a tool for the bad guys; now
it's helping companies find exposed network ports and at-risk
applications.
For something that can be such an effective weapon against those who
want to do damage to a network it’s ironic that vulnerability
scanning got its start as a tool for the bad guys. Before they can get
into networks hackers need to know where the most vulnerable spots
are in an enterprise’s security. That means using scanning tools to
trawl for such things as open network ports or poorly secured
applications and operating systems.
In the past few years these intentions have been turned around, to where scanning tools now give the guys in the white hats a good idea of where the vulnerabilities are and a chance to repair them before the hackers get there.
At least they provide the potential for that. The fact is, many companies don’t seem to be taking advantage of these tools or if they do have them, they are not making much use of them.
Gartner Research believes as many as 85% of the network attacks
that successfully penetrate network defenses are made through
vulnerabilities for which patches and fixes have already been
released.
Read more informations.
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