how to use nessus to protect the network

Local onsite scanning consists of Nessus running on a system that is local, on the network being scanned (or on a subnet that is physically connected). There are two common methods for scanning with Nessus Professional, both with several variations according to capabilities and preference.

How scans are performed is a matter of preference and convenience. Once Nessus is successfully installed, a login page such as the one below will be presented. Purchase of the necessary license, usage instructions, and support can all be obtained from Tenable and are outside the scope of this article. Nessus can be downloaded from Tenable’s website at. PLEASE NOTE: Most organizations use Nessus Professional, and the Nessus scanning engine is common throughout the Tenable products therefore, this guide will focus on Nessus Professional use and requirements. Tenable.sc also uses the Nessus scanning engine and the vulnerability scanning results are the same. It’s essentially a centrally managed enterprise version of distributed Nessus with many additional features. The primary advantage with Tenable.io is convenience however, it is much more expensive for active consultants or large organizations because pricing is based upon the number of IP addresses/hosts scanned. Scans can be run and managed from the cloud and the vulnerability scanning results are essentially the same as a Nessus client installation. Tenable.io uses Nessus from a cloud instance and comes with several additional data visualizations. The primary advantage with Nessus is that it can be run against an unlimited number of IP addresses/hosts. Nessus can be installed on a client system (workstation or server, physical or virtual) and run locally on a network or remotely through a virtual private network (VPN). Nessus is the vulnerability scanning program as well as the engine used by other Tenable products. All three of these products use the Nessus scanning engine and produce the necessary data for ingestion into the S2 platform. Tenable has several products, but there are three that are most relevant to vulnerability scanning: Nessus, Tenable.io, and Tenable.sc. Tenable was the first vulnerability scanning solution integrated into SecurityStudio, starting in 2010, and is still the preferred option for the S2Org assessment. Use the S2_Default_Phase3Internal Scan Policy

The scan requirement can be disabled however, you are highly encouraged to perform the scan to ensure the most accurate and complete S2Score. Within the S2Org assessment, there’s the option to ingest and process vulnerability scanning data from your client's network.

How to use nessus to protect the network