Top 10 vulnerability scanners for hackers and researchers

Top 10 vulnerability scanners for hackers to find flaws, holes and bugs

Hacking is an art of finding bugs and flaws in a perfect software which will allow cyber criminals to exploit it for their own malicious gains. Hackers are mostly able to spot the flaws and bugs on their own but sometimes it is worthwhile to use a automated software to find these bugs and holes. A vulnerability scanner is such a automated software which has specifically been written to find such flaw.

Vulnerability Scanner is a specialised software build with a sole purpose of helping security researchers, hackers, system admins and developers to find faults in a particular software, computer system, network and servers. A hacker or security researcher is complemented in his manual testing of software or computer by using such vulnerability scanner making the hackers assessment efficient.

This article brings out such top 10 vulnerability scanner tools available to help hackers and security researchers in their security testing mission.

OpenVAS

The Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS) is a framework of several services and tools offering a comprehensive and powerful vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management solution.  The actual security scanner is accompanied with a daily updated feed of Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs), over 33,000 in total (as of December 2013).

All OpenVAS products are Free Software. Most components are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). The OpenVAS is available for FREE and for Linux, Windows and other operating systems.

MBSA

The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer provides a streamlined method to identify missing security updates and common security misconfigurations. MBSA 2.3 release adds support for Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2012. Windows 2000 will no longer be supported with this release.

MBSA is a FREEWARE and is available only for Windows operating system.

Secunia PSI

Don’t let one vulnerable PC open your corporate network up to cyber attacks – Combining private and corporate Patch Management provides a 360° overview of all vulnerability threats.

The Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is a free security tool designed to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs and plug-ins, which expose your PC to attacks. Once installed, the Secunia PSI can help you patch vulnerable programs and stay secure.

Secunia PSI is available for free and works only with Windows operating system

Nipper

Nipper (short for Network Infrastructure Parser, previously known as Cisco Parse) audits the security of network devices such as switches, routers, and firewalls. It works by parsing and analyzing device configuration file which the Nipper user must supply. This was an open source tool until its developer (Titania) released a commercial version and tried to hide their old GPL releases (including the GPLv2 version 0.10 source tarball).

Nipper is available for Windows, Apple MAC OSX, Linux and is a PAID software.

Retina

With over 10,000 deployments since 1998, Beyond Trust Retina Network Security Scanner is the most sophisticated vulnerability assessment solution on the market. Available as a standalone application or as part of the Retina CS unified vulnerability management platform.

Retina Security Scanner enables you to efficiently identify IT exposures and prioritize remediation enterprise-wide. Retina Network Security Scanner, the industry’s most mature and effective vulnerability scanning technology, identifies the vulnerabilities – missing patches, configuration weaknesses, and industry best practices – to protect an organization’s IT assets.

Retina is a PAID vulnerability scanner tool and only available for Windows operating system.

Nexpose

Nexpose, the vulnerability management software, proactively scans your environment for mis-configurations, vulnerabilities, and malware and provides guidance for mitigating risks. Experience the power of Nexpose vulnerability management solutions by knowing the security risk of your entire IT environment including networks, operating systems, web applications, databases, and virtualization.

Exposing security threats including vulnerabilities, mis-configurations and malware.

Prioritizing threats and getting specific remediation guidance for each issue. Integrating with Metasploit to validate security risk in your environment.

Nexpose is available for Windows and Linux operating systems and is a paid software.

GFI Lan Guard

Research consistently demonstrates that many of the vulnerabilities cybercriminals exploit can be prevented with updated software patches, and addressing of misconfigured network gear and unauthorized devices on the network.

GFI LanGuard scans and detects network vulnerabilities before they are exposed, reducing the time required to patch machines on your network. GFI LanGuard patches Microsoft ®, Mac® OS X®, Linux® and more than 50 third-party operating systems and applications, and deploys both security and non-security patches.

GFI Lan Guard is a paid software and only works on Windows operating.

Core Impact

As network security continues to harden, it’s no surprise that cyber criminals have shifted their attack techniques to focus on applications and end users.

With the release of version 12.5, CORE Impact Pro takes vulnerability assessment and testing far beyond traditional exploitation — allowing commercial and government organizations to actively and accurately test the security of their network and application infrastructure using the same Advanced Persistent Threat and password-based techniques employed by cyber attackers.

Core Impact is a paid software is available for Windows operating system.

Qualys Cloud Platform

The Qualys Cloud Platform is an award-winning cloud-based security and compliance platform. It helps global businesses reduce cost by consolidating multiple solutions in one portal delivered via the cloud (shared or private). It delivers continuous visibility to on-premise, cloud-based or endpoint assets, and automates the full spectrum of auditing, compliance and protection for Internet perimeter systems, internal networks, and web applications.

Qualys Cloud Platform is a paid software and works on Windows, Linux, Mac and elastic cloud environments.
Nessus

The Nessus vulnerability scanner provides patch, configuration, and compliance auditing; mobile, malware, and botnet discovery; sensitive data identification and many other features.

• Nessus and Nessus Perimeter Service™ subscriptions for commercial organizations and enterprises
• Nessus evaluations for commercial organizations
• Nessus Home for personal use in a non-commercial, home network

Nessus is a multi platform PAID software and works with Windows, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, and/or other UNIX variants.