Top 10 Vulnerability Scanning Tools

Vulnerability Scanners

The scanners which assess the vulnerability of a network or a computer to security attacks are known as Vulnerability Scanners. The tools might function differently, however all of them aim to provide an analysis on how vulnerable the system or a network is. Here is a list of the best ones:

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Nessus

Nessus is the world’s most popular vulnerable scanner topping the list in the years 2000, 2003 and in the year 2006 survey on security tools. It’s a free to use vulnerability scanner for personal use in the non enterprise environment.

OpenVAS

This scanner is tipped by many to be the most advanced vulnerability scanner in the world and is a powerful and comprehensive tool for scanning as well as providing solutions for vulnerability management. It is free software and is maintained daily.

Nipper

It is a parser for network infrastructure and its full form is Network Infrastructure Parser. This open source scanner helps with features like auditing, configuring and managing devices for network infrastructure as well as managing the computer networks.

Secunia PSI

Secunia is free computer security software which scans software on a computer system. It tracks those third party/non Microsoft programs which requires security updates to protect your computer against hackers and cyber-criminals.

Retina

Retina, with more than 10,000 deployments, is one of the most sophisticated vulnerability scanners in the market. It aids in efficient identifications of IT vulnerability and is also available as a standalone application as well. It essentially identifies weaknesses in the configuration and missing patches.

QualysGuard

QualysGuard is a vulnerability management scanner which provides solutions for vulnerability management by applications through the web. Designed by Qualys Inc., it’s available on demand. It helps the users by analyzing their vulnerability status.

Nexpose

Vulnerability management is one of the best security practices to protect the system or a network from security threats. Nexpose is a vulnerability management scanner which does different kind of vulnerability checks where there’s a risk in IT security.

Web Vulnerability Scanners

While vulnerability scanners are meant for your system, the web vulnerability scanners assess the vulnerability of web applications. It identifies the security vulnerabilities that your app might have by conducting various tests.

Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a tool for conducting the security test of web based applications. It has a collection of tools which work together and conduct the entire process of testing with an objective to find as well as exploit the vulnerabilities in the security.

Webscarab

It is a testing tool for web security applications and has been written in Java and thus is operating system independent. It acts as a proxy and lets users change web requests by web browsers and web server replies. Webscarab often records the traffic to conduct a further review.

Websecurify

Website security is a crucial factor for both personal as well as organization websites. The prime goal should be to detect the vulnerability of your website before an intruder detects it. Websecurify is a testing tool for website security and can be used to detect the vulnerability of your webs

Nikto

Nikto is a scanner for web servers and is available as an open source. It conducts detailed testing for several items against the web servers which include testing of more than 6700 files or programs which can be dangerous. It also tests for version specific problems of the web servers.

W3af

This tool exposes more than 200 potential vulnerabilities and thus minimizes security threats to your websites. Its written in the programming language Python. W3af has both console user interface as well as graphical user interface.

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Vulnerability Exploitation Tools

A tool which identifies whether a remote host is vulnerable to a security attack and tries to protect the host by providing a shell or other function remotely, is called a Vulnerability Exploitation tool. Here is a list of some o the popular ones:

Metasploit

Metasploit was released in the year 2004 and it was an instant hit in the world of computer security. Metasploit provides data on the vulnerabilities in the security system and it helps in conducting penetration testing too.

Sqlmap

SQLMap is a penetration testing tool which is available as an open source. Its goal is to automate the detection and exploitation process of the injection flaws in SQL and to take over the database servers.

Sqlninja

The main objective of this tool is to access a vulnerable DB server; it’s used for pen testing so that the procedure of controlling a DB server can be automated when the vulnerability of an SQL injection has been tracked.

NetSparker

NetSparker is a web based security scanner which has an exploitation engine to confirm the security vulnerabilities and makes the user concentrate on elimination of security threats with its False-Positive free feature.

BeEF

BeEF is the short term for The Browser Exploitation Framework. It is a tool for penetration testing which concentrates on a web browser and thus accesses the actual security position of the environment it’s targeting.

Dradis

Dradis stands for Direction, Range and Distance. It is an open source vulnerability scanner or application which provides the facility of information sharing effectively, especially during assessing the security of the system in a central repository.

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