Businesses are always at risk of cyber-attacks. Hackers constantly search for weak points in systems that they can exploit to gain access to sensitive information. This is why it is so important for businesses to have vulnerability assessment tools in place. These tools will help you to identify any weak points in your system so that you can fix them before they are exploited. In this article, we will discuss the different classifications of vulnerabilities and the tools that can help you find them.
What are the Different Classifications of Vulnerabilities?
The severity of a vulnerability is based on several conditions, such as how easy it is to exploit and the damage it could cause. This combination rating is given on a scale from 0.0 to 10.0, with higher numbers meaning greater danger. The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) helps assess risk by classifying vulnerabilities as high, medium or low importance.
A vulnerability’s CVSS score is determined out of three different metric categories: base, tempora, and environment. The CVSS base score is calculated by assessing a vulnerability’s inherent qualities that do not change over time or with the user’s context.
The base score is modifiable according to time metrics, which correspond to facets of a vulnerability that are prone to change. Next, the user’s environment is factored in order to assess the environmental score. These scores help determine the final CVSS score.
Those vulnerabilities given a score from 0 to 3.9 are found to be low severities, 4 to 6.9 fall into the category of medium severity, and 7 to 10 are classified as highly severe scores. By categorizing the vulnerabilities in this way, developers and security experts can prioritize which ones need immediate attention based on their level of threat.
List of Best Vulnerability Assessment Tools
- Astra’s Pentest
- Wireshark
- Burp Suite
- Qualys Guard
- Nessus
Why Vulnerability Assessment Tools are Considered Crucial
As we have seen, vulnerability assessment tools can help you assess the severity of vulnerabilities in your system. But why do you need these tools?
There are many reasons why vulnerability assessment tools are so important. First, they can help you save time by identifying potential threats quickly and efficiently. By using these tools, you can also avoid false positives, which can waste valuable time and resources.
Additionally, vulnerability assessment tools can help improve your overall security posture. By pinpointing vulnerabilities in your system, these tools try to fix them before somebody exploits them. These tools can also help you keep track of changes in your system so that you can quickly respond to any new threats.
How Vulnerability Assessment Tools Work
An attack signature is a vector used by criminals to penetrate networks or applications. A vulnerability scanner compares the behaviour of a network or application against known attack signatures in order to check for vulnerabilities. It is similar to diagnosing patients via their symptoms.
After the scan completes, a report detailing the vulnerabilities and assigning risk scores to them is generated. This report might include guidance on how to fix the code bugs or configuration errors that caused these vulnerabilities for developers. With this shift-left approach, analysts can pass on their findings to developers so they’re aware of potential holes in their code before moving forward.
Top 5 Vulnerability Assessment Tools on the Market
Astra’s Pentest
The best vulnerability assessment scanning solution is Astra Pentest. It includes a sophisticated continuously updated scanner capable of executing over 3000 tests to discover flaws. Other characteristics include:
- Enhanced security: Since Astra Pentest’s scanners are constantly improving, they can detect even minuscule vulnerabilities. By taking this preventative measure, you will make your security more efficient and be able to address any issues that arise immediately.
- Maintain compliance: Astra’s Vulnerability Scanning service aids you in discovering security misconfigurations within your company that could have would result in severe penalties, such as not following GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS. By resolving these problems immediately, you can bypass heavy fines later on.
- Intuitive dashboard: Those using Astra Pentest will find it easy to see any discovered vulnerabilities and their CVSS scores via the dashboard. A great way to communicate between pentesters and members of the target organization, you can also leave comments directly on the site.
- Seamless collaboration: The dashboard is an area where pentesters and development team members can work together efficiently to resolve problems using each other’s input.
- Expert customer care: Astra is a global cybersecurity company that specializes in Penetration Testing and Proof of Concept videos to assist clients to repair any discovered security loopholes.
Wireshark
Wireshark is a popular open-source network packet analyzer that is used by a large number of security testers. Its advantages include:
- This tool monitors your website live and captures data even when you’re offline.
- The software can be used on Windows, Linux, and other commonly-used platforms.
- To more easily monitor your network for any issues, as well as develop new protocols.
- However, it is not adept at finding and reporting external threats.
Burp Suite
BurpSuite is always updating its security features, making it one of the best vulnerability scanning tools available. You can also easily generate tickets for any potential issues. Other great features include:
- This company offers both manual and automated pentesting services.
- Provides step-by-step instructions for each vulnerability discovered.
- It’s possible to crawl through complex targets quickly and easily by analyzing the URLs and content.
- Commercialized solutions are more costly and may require a large initial investment.
Qualys Guard
QualysGuard is an integrated application designed to make cloud security management easy and efficient for organizations. Specifically, it offers:
- A complete spectrum of auditing that is fully automated.
- Services like cloud and on-premise protection for IT assets.
- Compatible with AWS, Azure, and GCP cloud services.
Nessus
With a wide scanning coverage, Nessus is a well-known vulnerability scanner. It has the following characteristics:
- Allows for a speedy discovery of assets.
- It lowers your chance of being attacked and makes sure you follow industry regulations.
- This tool also detects malware and discovers sensitive data.
- When scanning a large number of documents, you may find that the scanner slows down or becomes unresponsive.
To Conclude
There are many types of vulnerability scanners available, each designed to serve a specific purpose. When choosing a vulnerability scanner for your organization, it’s important to take into account what type of vulnerabilities you’re looking for and what features are most important to you.
Author Bio-
Ankit Pahuja is the Marketing Lead & Security Evangelist at Astra Security. He is on a legit mission to help businesses uncover security loopholes before hackers do. Ankit is an avid speaker in the security space and has delivered various talks in top companies, early-age startups, and online events.
