Vulnerability Scans

A vulnerability scan is an attempt to find the security weaknesses in a computer by using known security attacks (known as exploits) in a controlled manner.

ISS ( ISS Internet Scanner)

Provides comprehensive network vulnerability assessment for measuring online security risks. Internet Scanner performs scheduled and selective probes of communication services, operating systems, applications and routers to uncover and report systems vulnerabilities that might be open to attack.

NMap (Network Mapper)

Nmap is an open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, although it works fine against single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (ports) they are offering, what operating system (and OS version) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. Nmap runs on most types of computers, and both console and graphical versions are available. Nmap is free software, available with full source code under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Nessus

Nessus is a FREE powerful remote security scanner which will audit remotely a given network and determine whether bad guys (aka 'crackers') may break into it, or misuse it in some way. This free product should be in everyone's security tool box. This article is an example of how to install and configur Nessus on Solaris 7.