Network Analyzer Report: Security Tools, Scenario Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of network security tools, specifically focusing on Nmap and Nessus. It begins with the download and installation processes of these tools, followed by detailed descriptions of their functionalities. Nmap is presented as a network mapper that aids in network analysis and security assessment, while Nessus is highlighted as a vulnerability detection tool. The report includes a demonstration of how each tool is used, comparing their strengths and weaknesses, such as Nmap's speed and broad scanning capabilities versus Nessus's ease of access and in-depth vulnerability checks. Furthermore, the report analyzes a case study involving an educational institute with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, recommending Nessus as a suitable tool to enhance the organization's network security. The report concludes with a bibliography of relevant sources.

Running head: NETWORK ANALYZER
Network Analyzer
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

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1. Download and Installation of the Security Tools
For the report the two tools selected are Nessus and Nmap.
The downloading and installation process of the tools are provided in this section of the report.
Nmap
Download

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Installation

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Nessus

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Download

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Installation

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2. Description of the Security Tools
Nmap:
Namp is basically a network mapper. The tools helps the users to perform the analysis of
the network and analyze the security constrains of the network. It provides the user with the

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ability to map the network and the tools detects the map from the anomalies. This tool also helps
in locating the victim machines for the hackers. The gathers important information from the
victim systems and provides them to the attackers. This useful software also provides various
other benefits regarding the security of a network.
Nessus:
The tool is similar to that of Nmap and the tool is generally used for the purpose of
detection of the vulnerabilities of system. The tool is easy to use for the users and provides
various other effective options for the users. The tool also helps the organization or the
individual user to scan the websites as well. This helps the users to be free from the malwares
affecting the system from the internet. The software can also be downloaded for free however the
trial period of the software ends after a certain period of time. It identifies the vulnerabilities
within the configuration of the computer as well.
3. Demonstration of Security Tools
Nmap
The use of the software is generally done for the mitigation of threat in the systems. It
makes use of the IP packets in the network to determine the host of the network, services offred
by the host and the operating systems that the machine is running on. The information about the
packet filters, firewalls and other characteristics of the system are also determined by the system.
The design of the system is made for the scanning of large networks however the scanning of
single hosts can also be done by the system.
Nessus

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The software can be used for detecting the vulnerabilities in the network devices and the
platform of the system. This is also used for strategizing the network of a particular organization
as well. The software also acts as a database scanner and also helps in the scanning applications
and source codes. This helps the users in detection of the anomalies of the system in the network.
In the tool the DROWN plug ins are also enabled and this helps the tool to easily detect the
CVE-2016-0800 vulnerability in a cross platform and helps the attacker to decrypt the TLS
connections by sending packets to the server that is connecting the client machine. This is done
by copying the same private key and using it in the server.
4. Comparison of the Tools
The comparison of the tools can be done in the following manner:
i. The primary function of Nessus is to perform software scans on the system and also
provide the system to vulnerability checks on the network, however Namp only provides
the users with the ability to scan and the network and map the network. Additionally
Namp provides the users with large scale scanning ability whereas the Nessus tool is
more efficient in providing the users with individual performances.
ii. The Nmap Tool is faster than the Nessus in terms of time consumption. This is because
the parsing the Nessus Tool.
iii. The Nessus provides a better ease of access for the uses as they provided an efficient
guidance for the users, however Namp is more of a primitive type of tool and the too is
not very easy for the user to use.

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5. Analysis of the provided scenario
The details of the UVW case study is provided in this report. It has been informed that the
organization is an educational institute that consists of a large number of staffs and student.
Additionally, it is also known that the individuals connected with the organization would be
considered as the BYOD owners. The users would be connected to the network with their own
devices and the network should be able to provide the individuals with the option of
communicating among themselves, however the students in the system want to connect to their
friends who are outside the network. Hence, organization is looking to implement a security
system of high level with that of the lower budget.
The staffs and the students bring their own device and the devices would be connected to the
network and this would create vulnerabilities in the network and the system would be hampered
either by viruses or by malwares. Additionally, the users also wants to connect to their friends
outside the network. Hence, this might also bring about a huge number if huge number of
vulnerabilities within the network.
The Nessus tool would be a more preferable tool for the organization as the tool would help the
organization in getting high amount of security. Although the tool is a bit costly however the tool
provides the user with the facility to secure their systems efficiently.
The vulnerability checking and scanning for the organization is very important. Nessus is mostly
an infrastructure vulnerability scanner, with an option for web application analysis as well.
Something like the Burp Suite Pro web scanner is specifically for web applications. It has a large
database of known vulnerabilities for a bunch of hardware/software and their corresponding
versions, and uses this to match against the target it is scanned on. Hence the use of Nessus as
the security for the organization is perfectly justified. Things like the nmap scripting engine

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gives the user the power of minute changes to the way it assesses a system, giving the user full
control against things like Firewalls, IDS/IPS etc. For a new starter, something like Nessus might
teach the user the reason why the vulnerability exists, in what version and how to mitigate it.

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Bibliography
[1] Antrobus, R., Frey, S., Green, B. and Rashid, A., August. Simaticscan: Towards a specialised
vulnerability scanner for industrial control systems. BCS, 2016.
[2] Arambatzis, T., Lazaridis, I. and Pouros, S., May. Modern Windows Server Operating
Systems Vulnerabilities. In The Third International Conference on Computer Science, Computer
Engineering, and Social Media (CSCESM2016) (p. 29), 2016.
[3] Calderon, P. Nmap: Network Exploration and Security Auditing Cookbook. Packt Publishing
Ltd, 2017.
[4] Coffey, K., Smith, R., Maglaras, L. and Janicke, H. Vulnerability Analysis of Network
Scanning on SCADA Systems. Security and Communication Networks, 2018.
[5] Fifield, D., Geana, A., MartinGarcia, L., Morbitzer, M. and Tygar, J.D. October. Remote
operating system classification over IPv6. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM Workshop on Artificial
Intelligence and Security (pp. 57-67). ACM, 2015.
[6] Genge, B. and Enăchescu, C. ShoVAT: Shodan‐based vulnerability assessment tool for
Internet‐facing services. Security and communication networks, 9(15), pp.2696-2714, 2016.
[7] Helms, J., Salazar, B., Scheibel, P., Engels, M. and Reiger, C. Safe Active Scanning for
Energy Delivery Systems Final Report (No. LLNL-TR-740556). Lawrence Livermore National
Lab.(LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States) , 2017.