Work Notes 7/18/22

 Credentialed Vulnerability Scans

To do a credentialed or uncredentialed vulnerability scan as part of a security assessment?

Pros: 

  • Will find more vulnerabilities.
  • Finds vulnerabilities that are not only network attack paths (browser insecurity, OS patch levels, etc.)
  • Required by the CIS Framework.
  • Pretty easy if you are using an agent-based scanner.

Cons:

  • Take a decent amount of work to set up. Also can be quite difficult if there are some/all devices that are not tied to AD/RMM/other type of central management.
  • Creates another potential attack path if you are performing this on the network and not with an agent. If you can perform the scan, so can the attackers. Loose admin accounts are also a problem. You'll have to remember to roll back these changes when you're not actively scanning.
  • Doesn't mimic an attacker scanning your network. If the attackers have admin credentials, they don't need to scan much.
  • Agent-based scanning is expensive for small and medium businesses.
  • Not required by most regulations and frameworks.

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