VULNERABILITY SCANNING VIA NESSUS

VULNERABILITY SCANNING VIA NESSUS
Vulnerability Scanning is the stage where we utilize all the information we have garnered from the Reconnaissance and Port Scanning Stage.

After all shall you just keep mum after gaining a list of IPs,Open ports and its respective services???
Possibly Not.

The next step is quite logical.

”GO AHEAD AND SCAN THE TARGET FOR VULNERABILITIES.”

And to scan systems for vulnerabilities you need Vulnerability Scanners and NESSUS is just meant for that very purpose !!!

Nessus acts as an HTTP Server.So you need to use it via a Web Browser.

Nessus indeed does a fine job.But hey don't worry it's available for free.

It's available in different versions rather feeds I should say:

1.For Usage in the Home environment
2.For Usage in the Corporate environment

Yes you guessed it right!!!The Home one's free and the Corporate one costs you a bit.
But why bother?The Home Feed does the job for us.

STEPS FOR INSTALLING NESSUS:

1.Visit www.nessus.org



2.Hit the download button you see in the middle of the screen(Thats the Nessus Vulnerability Scanner you require).

3.Then you see the Nessus Download Agreement.You know what to do right?Click on Agree.

4.Then it asks you to select the Operating System in which you intend to install Nessus.Now Nessus can be used in almost every OS/Platform you could think of right down to even latest versions of IOS and Android (Only as Clients though but still its something cool).

5.Click on the required setup and the downloading will start.Now don't worry it wont cost you in terms of GBs.The Windows version is a mere 12 MB approx.

6.As the downloading goes on in the background,you can apply for the activation code from the same Web Page in which you are right now.Select the Home Feed and simply enter your Name and Email Address and WHOAA!!! you will have the activation code mailed right to your Inbox.

7.By this time I am sure the Download must have been completed.If not then have patience.After its complete go ahead and install Nessus.

8.After the installation is complete create a User alongwith its password and make it an Admin.You will be using this account to login to Nessus

9.Plugins are updated automatically after the Installation Process is over(Assuming you are using Windows).So wait for a while.

USING NESSUS:

1.You can access the Nessus Server by starting a browser and typing in the address bar:

https://127.0.0.1:8834/

Not HTTP but HTTPS because Nessus uses a Secure Connection to establish communication with the Server.

2.You will be presented with a Login Screen.Login with the username and password you created.

3.Before using Nessus you must create a Scan Policy.In the latest versions of Nessus you will find few policies already created but its always beneficial to create one for yourself depending upon your attack vector.

Click on the 'Policies' Tab.Then click on Add .Give a name to the Scan Policy.You can also type in something in the Description field.Then Select appropriate options depending upon your attack vector or leave it as it is if you just want to go ahead and test it on your own network.

Did you notice a checkbox adjacent to 'Safe Checks' Option?
The important point to note here is that Security Experts or Ethical Hackers usually create two Policies one having the 'Safe Checks' Checkbox checked and the other unchecked.

There are some scanning methods which infact exploits the Systems so much so that it can even lead to Denial of Service(DOS).Therefore if have set up policies with Safe Checks enabled as well as disabled respectively then you can perform the vulnerability scanning depending upon the authorization limit you possess which governs the extremes you can go to in conducting a Vulnerability Scan.

Click Next and you will see a wide range of options to set.Set it according to your requirement or if just testing it out on your network is the objective then just keep clicking Next and finally click on Submit.

4.Click on the 'Scans' Tab and then click on Add to set up a Scan.

5. Give a name to the Scan.Select the policy you just created or any other.Enter IP Address of your Target or range of IP Addresses if you wish to scan multiple targets.

6.After setting all the necessary scan options,hit the 'Launch Scan' button.

THE SCANNING BEGINS.

After the scanning is complete click on the Reports Tab,there you would find the report of the scan you conducted.

It enlists all the vulnerabilities that Nessus discovered and at the same time rates it as
either HIGH SEVERITY or MIDDLE SEVERITY etc.