Businesses today rely on digital systems to store, process, and share sensitive information, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals. From customer data and financial records to intellectual property and business-critical systems, any vulnerability can create opportunities for attackers to gain access, disrupt operations, or steal valuable information.
That's why vulnerability scanning is a critical part of a proactive cybersecurity strategy. By continuously identifying security weaknesses across networks, applications, and systems, organizations can address risks before they are exploited.
Unfortunately, many organizations struggle to keep pace with evolving threats and expanding attack surfaces. Vulnerability scanners help security teams uncover and prioritize weaknesses efficiently, enabling them to strengthen defenses, reduce risk, and protect valuable digital assets without placing additional strain on IT resources.
Top VM Security Questions
What Are Vulnerability Scanning Applications?
Vulnerability scanners are easy-to-use tools and applications that large and small sized businesses use to provide and evaluate the efficiency and security of their systems, networks, and web applications. With vulnerability scanning tools -- also known as vulnerability assessment applications -- security teams can detect holes, flaws, or a vulnerability anywhere in the system, network, or web applications like:
- Firewalls
- printers
- Fax machines
- Routers
- Web server
- Operating systems
- Cloud-based vulnerability
- Open-source tool components
- Application security testing
A vulnerability scanner or assessment can find these web security weaknesses that can be seen as the available entry vulnerability points that unauthorized users use to infiltrate system applications and exploit them by viewing traffic in and out of the network applications. Many can do so by releasing sensitive data (thus causing a breach) and taking control of the network applications, effectively locking out the organization's security team, leaders, and employees.
Vulnerability scanning tools use a systematic, automated assessment process that streamlines the ability to scan for:
- Application security testing loopholes
- Vulnerability gaps
- Old web apps
- Other operating system vulnerabilities
- Other web application vulnerability
- Open-source web-based vulnerability
They significantly reduce the risk of vulnerability to unauthorized access available in many systems and applications (web application, networks, cloud-based enterprise, software, open-source tool, web server, etc.) by regularly testing the applications to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of a business and its systems.
Many vulnerability tools, applications, and software are available to assist with vulnerability scanning. They all cover specific assets to help companies develop an available vulnerability management program. With a vulnerability management program, the organization will have a clear, overall understanding of how weak or robust its networks are and help available to improve them.
Using vulnerability scanning tools offers several advantages for organizations, including:
- Improved efficiency: Automated vulnerability scanners can quickly assess networks, systems, and applications for known security weaknesses, helping teams identify risks faster than manual reviews alone. Security professionals can then focus their efforts on validating findings, investigating critical issues, and prioritizing remediation
- Reduced risk and remediation costs: Identifying vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them helps organizations minimize the likelihood of security incidents, avoid costly downtime, and reduce the resources required to respond to breaches or other cyber events
- Continuous visibility into security posture: Regular vulnerability scanning provides ongoing insight into an organization's attack surface, helping teams uncover newly introduced weaknesses and address them before they become significant risks
- Faster assessments at scale: Modern vulnerability scanners can evaluate large and complex environments in a matter of hours, enabling organizations to maintain security coverage without placing excessive demands on IT and security teams
- Support for compliance efforts: Vulnerability scanning can help organizations demonstrate due diligence, identify security gaps, and support compliance with regulatory and industry security requirements
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What are the Causes of Security Vulnerabilities?
Though hackers can infiltrate systems in a wide range of ways, businesses should consider several security weaknesses in particular. Vulnerability scanning tools alone will not be enough to address each of these flaws, but you can use many available software tools to help you prioritize the threat risks each one poses.
Account Abuse: Inadequate available security training, a lack of policies, and ill intent are the most common ways vulnerabilities develop within an organization's network and their devices. The following factors can contribute to a weakness:
- Server configuration issues
- Data leaks
- Failure to follow security protocols
- Default credentials
- Failing to remove old users from systems
Web Configuration Mistakes: Misconfigured or outdated web applications can contribute to a web application vulnerability. Examples of web application misconfiguration use cases include:
- Expired SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certification
- Incorrect HTTP configuration
- Insecure coding
Other use cases include third-party apps: Adding too many third-party applications or plugins into the network devices leaves them open to security gaps. Not every available application is up to date with its software, and many can become outdated. Threat actors will use holes within these plugins as another backdoor into your organization's systems.
Poor Network Structure: Leaving networks open by not requiring personalized passwords or user credentials may be convenient for workers and clients, but this can be disastrous for the company. Open networks have minimal security and are easy targets for unauthorized users. You can address this vulnerability by segmenting the system and only giving enough privileges to end-users to do their assigned work.
How Does Vulnerability Scanning Work?
The exact procedures the vulnerability scanner software tool uses will depend on the organization's IT department and security team since many tools and functions are at its disposal. This team will choose the best vulnerability scanning tool for its organization.
Regardless of the choice, the team members will use vulnerability scanners in conjunction with other tactics to generate a response from network devices. They will match the answers they receive against well-known vulnerabilities within a database to determine the security gap's severity.
The steps for how a vulnerability scanner software tool can identify and aid IT professionals are:
- Identify any vulnerabilities
- Identify any valuation of risk
- Treatment of any identified vulnerabilities
- Reporting on vulnerabilities
How are Vulnerabilities Identified?
Vulnerability scanning relies on three key capabilities working together to identify and prioritize security risks:
- Asset discovery and identification: A vulnerability scanner must first identify the devices, applications, services, operating systems, and open ports that exist across the environment to understand what needs to be assessed
- Data collection and vulnerability detection: The scanner gathers information about system configurations, software versions, and exposed services, then compares those findings against known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security weaknesses
- Analysis and correlation: The scanner correlates collected data with threat intelligence and vulnerability databases to determine whether a discovered asset is affected by a known vulnerability and to assess its potential risk
Together, these capabilities enable organizations to gain visibility into their attack surface, identify security gaps, and prioritize remediation efforts before vulnerabilities can be exploited.
Vulnerability scanners can be configured to suit an organization's environment and security requirements. While more comprehensive scans provide deeper visibility into potential risks, they may consume additional network resources during the assessment process. To minimize operational impact, many organizations schedule scans during maintenance windows or off-peak hours.
For effective coverage, security teams should regularly scan all assets that connect to the network, including endpoints, servers, applications, and other connected devices. Maintaining a complete and accurate inventory is essential for identifying vulnerabilities across the entire attack surface.
Many organizations also deploy endpoint agents or continuous monitoring solutions to improve visibility and automate assessments. These tools can detect newly connected devices and initiate scans automatically, helping security teams identify vulnerabilities as environments change. This continuous approach enables organizations to uncover security gaps more quickly, prioritize remediation efforts, and reduce the risk associated with unmanaged or newly introduced assets.
How is Risk Evaluated?
Vulnerability scanning services will often use a generated extensive list of identified vulnerabilities. Attempting to mitigate the entire list, if it is too long, can take up too many IT resources, and it is not practical. Mitigating some network vulnerabilities will cost businesses more than to do nothing and allow a threat actor to exploit the flaws.
Evaluating the risks of all the vulnerabilities will alert security teams to those that pose the highest threats and the one that is least problematic. During this stage, IT professionals can determine:
- The severity of the security holes and how they could impact the organization if manipulated successfully
- The ease with which an attacker could exploit the vulnerability, including whether or not they could do it from the internet or if they must be physically present to access a network device directly connected to the system
- Whether they can reconfigure current security controls to reduce the available risk of exploitation
- If the vulnerabilities are false positives
Through risk evaluation, the team can determine which weaknesses need the most urgent attention and which is one they can ignore.
How Are Identified Vulnerabilities Treated?
The ultimate goal of vulnerability assessment services is to patch or fix a known network vulnerability and eliminate its available risks to the business. Unfortunately, not all security vulnerabilities have immediate fixes, so IT admins generally mitigate the vulnerability by adding more protections to make it more difficult for a threat actor to exploit. Mitigation is not a permanent fix, but it is an effective way to reduce a potential threat until a viable patch can secure the gap in network security.
During this stage, the organization may accept the vulnerability and do nothing to prevent an attack. This option is usually the best vulnerability option, as it is important to make sure the risk of danger to the company is low, and the costs to remedy the problem are greater than the damage it could cause.
How are Vulnerabilities Reported?
After the IT team addresses all the identified vulnerabilities, it must comply with any regulations governing the organization by documenting what they find and treat.
A vulnerability scanner’s software tool can generate and provide customizable reports, which help the team understand which treatments work best for specific vulnerabilities without requiring too many resources. The reports also allow the IT department to monitor the ebb and flow of vulnerability trends over time. The more knowledge it has about specific vulnerabilities, the more successfully it will guard the systems.
What VM Techniques Are Used?
Using a vulnerability scanner software tool on your systems and networks will provide IT departments and organization admins with valuable information about their infrastructure's strengths and vulnerabilities. Including additional vulnerability management techniques into the business's strategy will give further network insights:
- Penetration Testing: Penetration testing and vulnerability scanners work together to allow vulnerability management security personnel to view the network from a hacker's perspective. Penetration testing is a management procedure in which security experts simulate a hack on a network on behalf of a company. Penetration testing allows you to use well-known hacking methods to identify the wide range of ways an attack or threat actor could sneak into the system. Penetration testing can provide an overview of real-world consequences the vulnerabilities might have on the company if one should successfully exploit the flaw.
- Internet or Web Application Scanning: Web applications need as much protection as internal networks, but businesses often overlook web application security testing. A web application vulnerability security scanner is similar to vulnerability scanners, and can check for weaknesses inside web-based apps for web-based vulnerability. Internet or Web application vulnerability scanners are tools that help catch various online issues, like SQL injection, command injection, insecure server configuration issues, cross-site scripting, and more. As such, they ensure web application security by testing and catching these configurations, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting.
- Configuration Management: Misconfigurations and a lack of patch management are some of the most common reasons for vulnerabilities. Application security testing and scans can bring these management risks to light, even though they could have gone unnoticed for months or years until the scan revealed them. Addressing these configuration issues through scans will often create consistency throughout your network and increase its security.
These additional vulnerability management techniques will give network insight into the business's vulnerability mitigation strategy.
Types of Vulnerability Scanning
IT professionals planning their vulnerability scanning approach have several options at their disposal. They can choose to combine several types of strategies to discover which version works best, or they could stick to the organization's preferred method. Internal and external vulnerability scans cover two distinct types of network locations, while authenticated and unauthenticated vulnerability scans break down the scope of the scan.
External vulnerability scan
External vulnerability scanning occurs outside the business's network. This external vulnerability detection scan searches for any possible intruder or security issues along the network's perimeter, including within its various defenses that it will provide like network or web application security firewalls.
The way a hacker or intruder attempts to invade systems is similar to how a burglar will enter a house. They try to get inside through the known entryways like doors and windows, but even if the homeowner locks them, it becomes more difficult for the intruder to burgle the residence.
External vulnerability scans are akin to locking all the doors and windows on a house to check its perimeter. These external detection scans are valuable tools that will test outside IP addresses and the edges of the system so that IT can patch any weaknesses they find to keep an intruder out.
Internal vulnerability scan
Most businesses understand that threat actors will try to find and gain access to their systems from outside their network perimeter, but the organization's internal network is also at risk for cyber-attacks. Use internal vulnerability scans to combat these threats.
Security threats already within a network include:
- Disgruntled employees with access to a network device or user information
- Malware downloaded onto a company laptop
- Intruder who has access to an unattended workstation on-premises
Any of these threats can result in systems with deleted, exported, or altered data that can be devastating to the organization when it leaves its once-secure parameters. Detection tools can be implemented to search for vulnerabilities in a network.
Internal vulnerability scanning and vulnerability detection tools search for vulnerabilities within the internal network. Finding and patching security flaws within the system, or "insider threats," are just as necessary as closing holes in the network's perimeter. If hackers discover and exploit an internal vulnerability in their scans, they can quickly move laterally within the system to its servers.
Unauthenticated and authenticated vulnerability scans
Authenticated vulnerability scanners use login credentials to find detailed information about the network's operating system, any web applications, and a software tool within the machine. Not all programs are accessible through the network devices, but they can still pose a security risk. For instance, one could find that the vulnerability is a carefully crafted malicious website that a user could click on, mistaking it for a legitimate page.
Vulnerability assessment solutions may include software agents who access network devices like computers and a network scanner software tool to understand the business's full security posture. It is important to understand the full security posture to gather further information for network agents.
Unauthenticated scans have the same purpose as authenticated vulnerability scans, but they do not use login credentials. Instead, the open services on a computer connected to the network receive packets on their open ports. This type of scan gleans specific information from the computer, including its version of the services' operating system, software tool, ability to open file shares, and other data that does not need company credentials.
The vulnerability scanner software tool can find and use this information to determine which version or types of vulnerability the systems may have.
Build a Stronger Vulnerability Management Program
Vulnerability scanning is a foundational component of any effective cybersecurity strategy. By continuously identifying security weaknesses across networks, systems, applications, and connected devices, organizations can prioritize remediation efforts, reduce risk, and improve overall security resilience. Regular scanning helps security teams stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain visibility into an ever-changing attack surface.
However, vulnerability scanning is only the first step. Organizations need a comprehensive vulnerability management program that helps them identify, prioritize, and address risks before they can be exploited.
Fortra helps organizations strengthen their security posture with scalable vulnerability management solutions, continuous visibility into security risks, and expert guidance to support proactive cyber defense. With the right tools and processes in place, security teams can make better-informed decisions, accelerate remediation, and reduce their exposure to cyber threats.
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