Nessus Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners Nessus is the best free network vulnerability scanner available, and the best to run on UNIX at any price. It is constantly updated, with more than 11,000 plugins for the free (but registration and EULA-acceptance required) feed. Key features include remote and local (authenticated) security checks, a client/server architecture with a GTK graphical interface, and an embedded scripting language for writing your own plugins or understanding the existing ones.
Nikto Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners Nikto is an open source (GPL) web server scanner which performs comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 3200 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 625 servers, and version specific problems on over 230 servers. Scan items and plugins are frequently updated and can be automatically updated (if desired). It uses Whisker/libwhisker for much of its underlying functionality.
PorkBind - Nameserver Security Scanner Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners PorkBind retrieves version information for the nameservers of a domain and produces a report that describes possible vulnerabilities of each. Vulnerability information is configurable through a configuration file; the default is porkbind.conf. Each nameserver is tested for recursive queries and zone transfers. The code is parallelized with libpthread.
QualysGuard Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners Delivered as a service over the Web, QualysGuard eliminates the burden of deploying, maintaining, and updating vulnerability management software or implementing ad-hoc security applications. Clients securely access QualysGuard through an easy-to-use Web interface. QualysGuard features 5,000+ unique vulnerability checks, an Inference-based scanning engine, and automated daily updates to the QualysGuard vulnerability KnowledgeBase.
Retina Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners Like Nessus, Retina's function is to scan all the hosts on a network and report on any vulnerabilities found. It was written by eEye, who are well known for their security research.
Sara Category: Tools & Software: Vulnerability scanners SARA is a vulnerability assessment tool that was derived from the infamous SATAN scanner. They try to release updates twice a month and try to leverage other software created by the open source community (such as Nmap and Samba).
