It is impossible to picture an organization operating without access to a network in this technological era. With the speedy advancement in technology, many organizations face new network attacks that threaten their existence as well as service delivery. Malicious attackers work day in day out to come up with new means of penetrating networks. As such, there is a need for network experts to work on the networks from time to time to ensure that the networks are shielded from such attempts. One of the best approaches to ensuring network safety is vulnerability scanning. It is thus necessary for network users to understand network vulnerability and how vulnerability scanning is useful in mitigating network threats.
A network vulnerability refers to a security hole or a potential point of an exploit that can be used by an unauthorized person to access an organization’s network. Vulnerability scanning is thus the process of network inspection that attempts to identify such potential points of exploitation (“Network Scanning,” 2020). During vulnerability scanning, every computer, communication equipment, and subnet in a network is investigated with the aim of identifying weak points. The identified weak points are classified, and the effectiveness of countermeasures in place predicted. Organizations can mandate their IT departments with the function of vulnerability scanning or refer to a security service provider. An example of a security service provider is an Approved Service Vendor (ASV) that scans payment card networks.
Having known about possible threats that may face the organization’s network, network administrators, employees, and the managers are expected to take necessary steps to shield their organizations from attacks. Time to time network scanning has been proven to be one of the measures that make it possible to identify potential points of exploitation and pave the way for countermeasures. Organizations are thus encouraged to examine their networks before they are attacks to prevent.
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