What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to Network Vulnerability Scanning, introduces basic network components and their architecture. It also explains the methods and methodologies of network vulnerability scanning and the complexities involved in it, and looks at mitigation planning for identified vulnerabilities.

Chapter 2, Understanding Network Scanning Tools, consists of recipes that will give you a basic understanding of the Nessus and Nmap tools, including the technical requirements to install these tools and the details of their workings. The chapter then dives into the installation and removal instructions for Nessus and Nmap. 

Chapter 3, Port Scanning, consists of recipes on techniques for performing port scanning. It begins with instructions and details regarding host discovery, moving to open ports, scripts, and version scanning. It also gives insights into evading network protection systems while performing port scans.

Chapter 4, Vulnerability Scanning, consists of recipes on managing the features of Nessus, such as policies, settings, and user accounts. You will also get get to grips with the steps for performing a network vulnerability scan using Nessus before then managing the scan results.

Chapter 5, Configuration Audit, consists of recipes for performing configuration audits and gap analyses on multiple platforms using Nessus. It takes you through a step-by-step process for creating, selecting, and configuring policies to perform configuration audits on operating systems, databases, and web applications.

Chapter 6, Report Analysis and Confirmation, will teach you how to create effective reports by analyzing the results from Nmap and Nessus scans. The recipes in this chapter will give a detailed insight into the supported report types and the level of customization these tools allow. It also gives details on some techniques for confirming vulnerabilities reported by Nessus and Nmap using various tools. 

Chapter 7, Understanding the Customization and Optimization of Nessus and Nmap, teaches you about the creation of custom scripts and audit files for Nmap and Nessus. These recipes provide step-by-step procedures for replicating the method for the customization of audit files.

Chapter 8, Network Scanning for IoT, SCADA, and ICS, consists of recipes for understanding the network scanning procedure for SCADA and ICS systems. The recipes outline methods for using Nmap and Nessus to perform port scanning and network vulnerability scanning by ensuring the high availability of these critical systems.