What is a Vulnerability Scanner?

A vulnerability scanner is a software that can inspect the endpoints in an enterprise, to detect and display a detailed list of the software that functions in them along with all their vulnerabilities. As alarming as it sounds, discovered vulnerabilities have increased by 200% in the last 4 years, with this number soaring, manual attempts in spotting these vulnerabilities have repeatedly ended in a futile manner. The task of being aware of all discovered vulnerabilities, and being up to date with the patches that are released for these vulnerabilities, is beyond the handling capacity of even skilled IT admins. Hence, vulnerability scanners today are made to assist them by being inbuilt with the ability to detect and manage these software vulnerabilities.

What are vulnerabilities?

Vulnerabilities are security loopholes present in any software. If exploited, these flaws can allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information, or generally cause havoc putting entire organizations at risk. External security researchers and concerned vendors, are constantly scrutinizing publicly available software to identify the vulnerabilities in them. The discovered vulnerability is registered with a CVE ID and is assigned a CVSS score based on the damage its exploit might cost. The vendor is then given a deadline to come up with a patch to remediate the vulnerability, before it is exposed to the public. Once a vulnerability is disclosed publicly, anyone can try to exploit it. This is not the end, there are some players who might not abide by the rules at all. If a vulnerability is identified by them, they might disclose it without giving the vendor any warning or worse, they might just proceed to find an exploit. However, in any of these cases, if your organization contains a software with a disclosed vulnerability, you will be at risk.

Why is vulnerability scanning important?

Even if patches exist for these vulnerabilities, most of the organizations still fall prey because of their lack of awareness about them. If exploited, the vulnerabilities can further proliferate into large scale security breaches that might incur either financial losses or major data leaks in the affected organizations. Hence, the most important fragment in establishing a secure environment is to be informed of vulnerabilities always, after which you can decide how you prefer to mitigate them. With a proper vulnerability scanner installed in your enterprise, you can expediently discover and remediate these vulnerabilities as and when they are disclosed, giving you a solid edge at being ahead of the attackers in the fight against vulnerabilities. ManageEngine's Vulnerability Manager Plus is one such top notch Vulnerability Scanners, packed with a variety of interesting and robust features, certainly enabling you with the power to be on top of the vulnerability game.

Key functions of a vulnerability scanning software:

• Discover the assets to be scanned

  The first and the foremost attribute that a vulnerability scanner must satisfy is the ability to discover all types of assets. Vulnerability Manager Plus does a comprehensive job at this, by systematically identifying and managing local users, remote users and those that are constantly on the go, hence catering to all the requirements of a growing enterprise.

• Scan and detect the vulnerabilities

  The vulnerability scanner must be able to forage all the discovered endpoints, by scrutinizing the software present, to check for the existence of any of the disclosed vulnerabilities. Vulnerability Manager Plus acts as a wholesome solution, by detecting the presence of all types of software vulnerabilities, zero day vulnerabilities and also those that arise due to the presence of high risk software such as End of life software, Peer to peer software and the software used for Remote Desktop Sharing.

• Display and Patch the discovered vulnerabilities

  Now, that all the vulnerabilities are found, the vulnerability scanner must convey this data to the IT admins in the most composed and simplified way possible. Vulnerability Manager Plus does an innovative job at this, by displaying actionable data with easy to comprehend info-graphic dashboards, prompting the IT admin towards the vulnerabilities that are most severe and that have been existing in his network for the longest time. Our vulnerability scanner goes an extra mile in this fight, by assuring that these vulnerabilities are remediated with patches. Even if the vendor has failed to release a patch for a vulnerability, Vulnerability Manager plus will keep you covered by suggesting appropriate remediation to minimize the threat that it might cause.

• Assess and generate Vulnerability Reports:

  A good vulnerability scanner must not stop with just detecting and mitigating the vulnerabilities. It must assist the organizations to keep track of their network's security management efforts by generating detailed insightful reports, using which IT admins can come up with well constructed plans to manage such vulnerabilities in the future. Vulnerability Manager Plus performs this with precision, by making available ready to download Executive Asset Summaries, Executive Threat Summaries, Executive Patch Summaries, High Priority Reports and numerous other pre-defined reports.This vulnerability assessment tool also permits the users to customize and schedule reports, according to their organization's requirements. 

Why Vulnerability Manager Plus is the best vulnerability scanning tool for your enterprise?

ManageEngine's Vulnerability Manager Plus, an all in all vulnerability scanning software and management tool, works rather seamlessly requiring very little human intervention, reducing a huge chunk of the IT admin's security woes. Given below is the detailed breakdown of how Vulnerability Manager Plus works:

• Our team of vulnerability experts at ManageEngine meticulously probe the internet and sift through a myriad of sites, to find all possible vulnerabilities and threats that have recently been disclosed, along with the information of the patches required to mitigate them. These details are tested for accuracy and the vulnerability information is mapped to their respective patches. This is the most integral function of any vulnerability scanner and hence is done with utmost accuracy.
• The information regarding the vulnerabilities and their corresponding patches is hosted in the Central Vulnerability Database maintained by the security specialists at ManageEngine, after extensive and thorough testing.
• These vital details will be periodically synchronized with the vulnerability database, maintained in the Vulnerability Manager Plus server present in the user's enterprise. The interval at which this sync should happen can be scheduled by the IT admin, according to his convenience.
• Agents will be installed in all endpoints of the enterprise, using which they can be managed directly from the server console. However, enterprises today have multiple offices and their users are constantly on the go, further complicating a vulnerability scanner's tasks. Vulnerability Manager Plus can tackle this efficiently as it aims at being an all-inclusive vulnerability scanning tool. Endpoints in local as well remote offices can be managed efficiently by configuring the SOM policy. Roaming users who are always on the move will be assigned a default remote office, which will help in keeping them managed.
• The agents will then conduct a detailed vulnerability scan, based on the newly discovered vulnerability details got from the servers, repeatedly checking all your endpoints for the existence of those vulnerabilities. The results of this scan is listed to the IT admin and is automatically updated after every time a scan occurs.
• However, Vulnerability Manager Plus's scope as a vulnerability scanner doesn't end here, valuable information such as the exploit status, severity, patch availability and so on is displayed to the IT admin along with the vulnerability details, based on which he can strategically prioritize which vulnerability requires his immediate attention.
• The patches for these vulnerabilities can also be deployed automatically from the product console, as and when they are discovered, by using the Automated Patch Deployment feature. This vulnerability scanner unlike others doesn't compromise productivity for patching, as it comes inbuilt with the option to create flexible patch deployment policies. Vulnerability Manager Plus hence empowers the admin to efficiently squash out any vulnerability in his network with just a few clicks.

However, sadly, threats can still enter your enterprise through other loopholes. But, fret not. Vulnerability Manager Plus's vulnerability scanning solution has got you covered from all sides. With extensive features to manage Security and System Misconfigurations, you can keep all kinds of threats at bay.

Download Vulnerability Manager Plus now, you can use it as a free vulnerability scanner for a trial period of 30 days. Keep your guards up, steer clear of vulnerabilities and stay secure!