5 Free Network Security Vulnerability Scanners

You may always know the security measures that need to be implemented about your network and the website. But catching hold of all possible vulnerabilities is an important task ahead. This is when the Vulnerability Scanners play an important part in the IT security strategy, as they automate the security auditing system. A successful detection of the vulnerabilities will involve the inspection of the endpoints for ensuring that the configuration is secure as well as correct.

The known security threats at the endpoints are simply detected by the Security Vulnerability Scanners. But issues may arise due to frequent vulnerability detection. The Vulnerability Scanners will detect thousands of risks and also state the prioritized list of all those that need patches and offers remedial steps for the same.

Generally, the cost of the Vulnerability Scanners may be out of your budget constraints, but there are many free options available. Here are five free Network Security Vulnerability Scanners:

• Open VAS
• SecureCheq
• Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
• Retina CS Community
• Nexpose Community Edition

1. Open VAS

The other name for OpenVAS is Open Vulnerability Assessment System. It is one of the network security Vulnerability Scanner platforms, that has its components licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). The security scanner of OpenVAS works on the Linux environment. The intelligence of the scanner is provided by the OpenVAS Manager. It is the quickest and the easiest scanner to use. It is capable of detecting vulnerabilities and schedule the concurrent scan tasks.

2. SecureCheq

It is a very simple tool, that performs local scans on the Windows desktops as well as the servers. OS hardening, communication security, user account activity, data protection and audit logging are some of the areas in which it detects the configuration errors. However, the free versions have  limited capabilities. It scans the  advanced configuration settings but might miss on network based threats and Windows vulnerabilities.

3. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer(MBSA), a Vulnerable Security Scanner has the ability to perform both local and remote level scans for the Windows desktops and the servers. The purpose that is served is to track any common security misconfigurations, service packs and the security patches. MBSA is pretty easy to use. It is capable of scanning multiple machines too, encompassing domains or an entire range of IP addresses.

4. Retina CS Community

The Retina CS Community offers Vulnerability Scanner for Microsoft as well as Adobe and Firefox. The other areas that are covered by this are private clouds, web applications, mobile devices, servers and many more. Scanning and patching are available up to 256 IPs free. For scanning to be conducted, there are a range of scan and report templates. Additionally, the smart function is available, other than specifying the IP address.

5. Nexpose Community Edition

Networks, operating systems, databases, virtual environments and web applications are the areas in which the Nexpose Community Edition Vulnerability Scanner works. Nexpose operates through a web-based GUI and works on Virtual Machines, Linux and Windows platforms. Once the site is inspected, then a list of assets and vulnerabilities appear, along with details of vulnerabilities and ways and means for fixing them. Tracking compliance standards are made possible by setting policies.