A financial services company has just deployed a major update to its customer-facing web portal. The CISO has mandated a comprehensive vulnerability scan before the end of the day. The primary requirements are to identify common web application vulnerabilities (like those in the OWASP Top 10), check for insecure service configurations, and use a tool with the most rapidly updated vulnerability database to catch newly discovered threats. Which of the following tools is best suited to meet all these requirements in a time-sensitive corporate environment?
Nessus is the best option because it is a comprehensive vulnerability scanner known for its extensive and rapidly updated plugin library, which is crucial for identifying newly discovered threats in a time-sensitive manner. It effectively scans for web application vulnerabilities, insecure configurations, and outdated software, meeting all the scenario's requirements. While OpenVAS is a capable open-source vulnerability scanner, its community vulnerability feed may not be updated as frequently as the commercial feed for Nessus, making Nessus a more reliable choice for catching the very latest threats in a high-pressure corporate environment. GNU Debugger (GDB) is a tool for code-level debugging and reverse engineering, not vulnerability scanning. Prowler is a specialized tool for assessing and hardening cloud infrastructure environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, not a general-purpose vulnerability scanner.
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What is Nessus and why is it widely used for vulnerability scanning?
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How does Nessus compare to OpenVAS in terms of use cases?
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What types of vulnerabilities does Nessus identify that other tools like Prowler may not?