Book Image

Network Scanning Cookbook

By : Sairam Jetty
Book Image

Network Scanning Cookbook

By: Sairam Jetty

Overview of this book

Network scanning is a discipline of network security that identifies active hosts on networks and determining whether there are any vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Nessus and Nmap are among the top tools that enable you to scan your network for vulnerabilities and open ports, which can be used as back doors into a network. Network Scanning Cookbook contains recipes for configuring these tools in your infrastructure that get you started with scanning ports, services, and devices in your network. As you progress through the chapters, you will learn how to carry out various key scanning tasks, such as firewall detection, OS detection, and access management, and will look at problems related to vulnerability scanning and exploitation in the network. The book also contains recipes for assessing remote services and the security risks that they bring to a network infrastructure. By the end of the book, you will be familiar with industry-grade tools for network scanning, and techniques for vulnerability scanning and network protection.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)

Updating Nessus

Nessus can be updated either manually, or by scheduling automatic updates. The software update option can be found as a part of the Settings menu. This can be used to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly updates for Nessus software or even just the plugins. By default, Nessus uses its cloud server to download and install the updates, but you can also configure a custom server to download these updates.

Getting ready

You can update Nessus while connected to the internet or offline. If you want a hassle-free update or a quick one, you can ensure that the system is connected to the internet.

However, in order to update Nessus offline, you will have to download the update package from the Nessus website.

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