Vulnerability Scanning: Enterprise Security Assessment Guide

Professional Approaches:

• Authenticated Scanning: Agent-based checks with admin credentials
• Unauthenticated Scanning: External attacker perspective
• Passive Scanning: Traffic analysis without active probing

Scan Frequency:

• External: Weekly
• Internal: Monthly
• Critical Systems: Continuous monitoring

Compliance Note:

PCI DSS requires quarterly internal/external scans by ASV

Top Solutions:

Tool	Strength	Best For
Nessus Professional	70,000+ plugins	Internal networks
Qualys Cloud Platform	Asset inventory	Distributed enterprises
OpenVAS	Open-source	Budget-conscious teams

Configuration Example:

# Nessus scan policy template
{
  "credentials": {
    "windows": {"username": "scan_user", "password": "S3cure*123"}
  },
  "plugins": {
    "enable": ["CIS Benchmarks", "Microsoft Hotfixes"],
    "disable": ["Denial of Service"]
  },
  "scan_type": "aggressive"
}
        

Prioritization Framework:

• CVSS Scoring: Base 4.0-10.0 (Critical)
• EPSS: Exploit Prediction Scoring System
• Asset Criticality: Business impact analysis

Remediation Workflow:

1. Automated ticket creation (Jira, ServiceNow)
2. Patch verification scanning
3. Exception documentation

Enterprise Example:

Microsoft uses "Patch Tuesday" + emergency out-of-band updates

Advanced Techniques:

• Container Scanning: Trivy, Clair
• Cloud Config Audits: Scout Suite, Prowler
• API Security: Burp Suite, Postman

DevOps Integration:

# Trivy in CI/CD pipeline
trivy image --severity CRITICAL,HIGH myapp:latest

# AWS Prowler check
prowler -g cislevel1 -r us-east-1
        

Compliance Mapping:

Automate CIS Benchmark checks with OpenSCAP