Tenable Blog

Penetration tests and vulnerability assessments make for an excellent tandem approach to cybersecurity. 

While similar — and sometimes confused for each other — penetration tests and vulnerability assessments are decidedly not the same thing. There are important, fundamental differences that actually allow these two tactics to be used in tandem.

This is the third installment in our three-part series exploring how to use Tenable products to protect credentials used for network assessments. Here, we focus on ’nix style systems: Linux, Unix and macOS.

This is the second installment in our three-part series exploring how to use Tenable products to protect credentials used for network assessments. Here, we provide specific guidance for Microsoft Windows systems.

In my last post, I covered general best practices for protecting credentials when performing network assessments. When it comes to protecting credentials in a Microsoft Windows Active Directory environment, though, we have specific guidance.

Running remote vulnerability scans of your network? This three-part blog series will equip you with tips on how to keep your scanning credentials safe.

Assessing systems remotely on a network has been a tried-and-true method of open-source and commercial vulnerability scanning since its inception over 20 years ago. External assessments like this are excellent for automatically testing visible network services and finding vulnerabilities or misconfigurations that may expose sensitive information.

Identifying software vulnerabilities is essential in protecting your business against cybersecurity threats. From ransomware to data heists, a wide range of attack types use software vulnerabilities as an entry point into IT configurations.

Dealing with security vulnerabilities requires identifying them in the first place. Before you can start to develop strategies for identifying weak points in your configuration, it's important to first assess the different types of weak points that commonly emerge and how you can stay on top of them.

Vulnerability assessments are one of the best methods to take the pulse of your organization’s network security.

Consider for a moment the lifecycle of a vulnerability – of any size – in the security of the network infrastructure that your organization relies upon. If discovered by malicious online actors, they may choose to exploit it. They can implement everything from dedicated denials of service, which stun your organization's activities, to rootkits that allow more subtle, gradually destructive access. 

Do you ever wonder if your smart home is vulnerable to cyber threats? As we place more and more connected devices in our homes to automate simple tasks that used to be done manually, we also place more and more risk for unwanted attackers to compromise our personal lives.

What if you had a way to find out whether there are vulnerabilities in your home systems that attackers can exploit?

So, your boss asked you to do a vulnerability assessment. You hardly remember anything about the topic from your security classes. Since it is about finding vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, it must be something like penetration testing…or is it?

Formally, vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying, classifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities in computer systems, applications and network infrastructures. It helps the organization doing the assessment understand the threats to its environment and react appropriately.

Today’s cyber landscape changes in the blink of an eye. It’s critical to understand why your business is vulnerable – so you can take the right steps to protect it.

According to Ponemon Institute’s report, Measuring & Managing the Cyber Risks to Business Operations, 91% of surveyed organizations have suffered cyberattacks in the past 24 months. And 60% have experienced two or more business-disrupting cyber events in that same time period.  

Get your Nessus vulnerability assessment tool up and running with these five easy steps.

With Nessus, you can gain full visibility into your network by conducting a vulnerability assessment. Read on as we guide you through the five steps to run your first Nessus scan. (If you have not yet installed Nessus, please click here to see the installation guide.)