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Security Intermediate

What is Vulnerability Scanning?

Automated testing that identifies known security weaknesses in systems, applications, and network infrastructure.

Vulnerability scanners check systems against databases of known vulnerabilities (CVEs). They test for missing patches, misconfigurations, default credentials, outdated software, and known exploits. Scans can be authenticated (with credentials) or unauthenticated.

Tools include Nessus, OpenVAS, Qualys, and Trivy (containers). Regular scanning is required by PCI DSS, HIPAA, and other compliance standards. Scanners report findings with severity ratings (CVSS scores) and remediation guidance. Integrate scanning into CI/CD pipelines for continuous security.

Related Terms

Firewall Rules
Configuration entries that define which network traffic is allowed or blocked based on source, destination, port, and protocol.
Certificate Pinning
A security technique that associates a host with its expected TLS certificate or public key, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks with fraudulent certificates.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)
An attack that floods a target server or network with traffic from multiple sources to overwhelm it and deny service to legitimate users.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
A strategy and set of tools that detect and prevent unauthorized transmission of sensitive data outside an organization.
CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery)
An attack that tricks authenticated users into submitting unwanted requests to a web application they are logged into.
Secret Management
The practice of securely storing, accessing, and rotating sensitive credentials like API keys, passwords, and certificates.
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