In the modern digital era, every device, system, and individual is connected, which makes this environment a hyper-connected environment. In this hyper-connected environment, the attack surface expands exponentially, creating new entry points that traditional security measures often fail to detect. As the attack vectors are constantly innovating and implementing new strategies to bypass the traditional security system. The malicious actors constantly search for hidden attack surfaces, such as open ports and outdated protocols, which are overlooked by the security teams. In such a scenario, Network Vulnerability Scanners come into play as they play a critical role in identifying these blind spots before attackers can exploit them.

What are Network Vulnerability scanners?

Network Vulnerabilities are specialised software that are used to analyse an organisation's network to identify security vulnerabilities which can be exploited by attackers to launch large-scale attacks. The Network Vulnerability Scanners simulate the reconnaissance phase of a real cyber-attack to look for misconfigurations, insecure and outdated protocols, and other vulnerabilities that can be exploited to get unauthorised access to the system.

In a network infrastructure, the Network Vulnerability Scanners look for network components that are not properly secured or monitored, which may include:

Types of vulnerability scans

To detect hidden surface attacks, the network vulnerability scanners perform two types of scans to search for vulnerabilities in the network infrastructure. The two types of scans offered by the network vulnerability scanners are:

  • Authenticated scans: The authenticated scans require access rights to the target system. As the authenticated scans require access, these scans provide deeper insight into the system, as they can identify vulnerabilities that may be hidden or inaccessible to unauthenticated scans.
  • Unauthenticated scans: Unauthenticated scans do not require any access rights to the system, as the unauthenticated scans focus on the vulnerabilities visible from the outside, such as open ports, outdated software versions, and firewall misconfigurations.

How vulnerability scanners detect hidden attack surface

The network vulnerability scanners detect hidden attack surfaces by uncovering flaws and weaknesses that are not visible or documented. The techniques used by vulnerability scanners to detect hidden attack surface are:

1. Network Discovery

This is the first step performed by the network vulnerability scanners to detect the hidden surface attacks. In this step, the scanner performs advanced scans like ARP scanning, TCP/UDP port probing, and other scans to identify the devices on the network. In the network discovery phase, every device in the network, including unauthorised and shadow IT devices, is detected.

2. Port Scanning

This is the second phase of the detection phase. In the network discovery phase, once all the devices are detected, the network vulnerability scanners perform port scanning to identify the running services. Port Scanning helps in identifying running services like databases, web servers, and remote access protocols

3. Vulnerability Detection

Once all the running services are detected, the network vulnerability scanners compare the services against the continuously updated database, containing the details of all the vulnerabilities. In this phase, the software versions are checked, missing patches are detected, and network misconfigurations are detected.

4. Configuration Analysis

The network vulnerability scanners also look for improper network segmentation and insecure firewalls to detect the flaws early, which later can be exploited by malicious actors. A network vulnerability scanner also helps in finding the internal vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers to cause data breaches.

5. Detection of Shadow IT Devices

Shadow IT devices are the devices that are personally used by employees, such as IoT devices or cloud services. A network vulnerability scanner helps in identifying the devices by looking at and analysing the MAC address and OS fingerprints. Detecting the shadow IT devices helps the security team to make proper decisions, as Shadow IT devices can be the source of hidden attacks.

6. Continuous Scanning

The latest network vulnerability scanners come with continuous scanning, and integrating the network vulnerability scanners with the CI/CD pipeline ensures an immediate assessment of the assets, which helps in securing the network infrastructure and reducing the attack surface. Continuous scanning helps security teams to secure the infrastructure from attackers who constantly look for newly exposed weaknesses.

7. Risk Prioritisation and Analysis

The network vulnerability scanners not only detect the vulnerabilities but also prioritise them based on the risk they pose. This prioritisation helps the security teams to address the critical vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by the attackers.

Conclusion

In a hyper-connected era, Network Vulnerability Scanners are indispensable for eliminating security blind spots. By automating the discovery of Shadow IT and prioritizing risks through deep-dive analysis, these tools transform overwhelming data into actionable intelligence. They allow security teams to proactively harden their infrastructure and stay one step ahead of evolving threats.