SECURITY PENETRATION TESTING Are Your Computer Secure Enough Now ?

Nmap Security Audits and Inventory

Nmap OS and version scanning can be an invaluable tool for recurring security audits. In the enterprise, we are frequently faced with mandatory security scans and audits for such federal regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley (SOX). This practice is something we should all strive to do, even if we do not have to satisfy SOX or other requirements. Scanning with Nmap can yield information such as open services, ports, and versions known to have exploits or otherwise malicious repercussions if left untouched. You may find that you have a rather easily exploited version of BIND running in a lab somewhere that you were not informed of.

For example, every year we have annual inventory. This helps us keep track of assets and manage them in a more proactive and financially beneficial way. Staying on top of asset inventory will help lessen employee theft as well as help you keep an eye on assets that are coming to the end of their life cycle.

Aside from equipment such as servers, Nmap can also discover information regarding appliances on the network. One common application could include staying up on network attached storage and its firmware and OS versions. An administrator could scan storage networks for OS and version information and yield a list of filers that are susceptible to a bug that could cause major issues regarding valuable data. Protecting high-risk or critical data is every admin's number one goal. We should all strive to maintain a properly documented, patched, and protected network to house this valuable and sensitive information

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SecurityOwned is My Personal Documentation about Computer Security