Master Port Scanning with Nmap

"What's on your network and how vulnerable is it to a hacker attack? Having a clear picture of this is a vital part of effective network administration, and one way to build up such a picture is by network mapping using a port scanner.

"Port scanning is the art of sending packets onto the network and analyzing what comes back--and what doesn't. By sending packets to specific ports and IP addresses it's possible to build up a picture of the IP addresses of devices that are connected, what OSes they are running, what ports they have open, and the services running on those ports. (Of course there are other ways of doing this, but since port mapping is one of the first types of reconnaissance a hacker is likely to perform, doing your own port mapping will give you a clear idea of what hackers may find out...)"

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