2. Step 1: Performing an audit 2.1 Introduction Security scans/audits enable you to identify and assess possible risks within a network. Auditing operations imply any type of checking performed during a network security audit. This includes open port checks, missing Microsoft patches and vulnerabilities, service information, user or process information and more. Overview of the scanning process The automated scanning process has three distinct stages. Stage 1 Determine availability of target computer Determining whether target computers, is reachable and available for vulnerability scanning. This is determined through connection requests, sent in the form of NETBIOS queries, SNMP queries and/or ICMP pings. Stage 2 Establish connection with target device Establish a direct connection with the target computer, by remotely logging on to it. To execute a scan, GFI LANguard must logon target computers with administrator privileges. Stage 3 Execute vulnerability checks Execute the vulnerability checks configured within the selected scanning profile and identify present security weaknesses.
