LinuxSecurity.com: Security Scanners

"A scanner is a program that automatically detects security weaknesses in a remote or localhost. Scanners are important to Internet security because they reveal weaknesses in the network."

"System administrators can strengthen the security of networks by scanning their own networks. The primary attributes of a scanner should be:

• The capability to find a machine or network.
• The capability to find out what services are being run on the host ( once having found the machine).
• The capability to test those services for known holes."

"There are various tools available for Linux system scanning and intrusion detection. I will explain some of the very famous tools available. I have divided the scanners into three categories: Host Scanners, Network Scanners, and Intrusion Scanners."

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• Security Portal: Weekly Security Tools Digest 2000/09/01 to 2000/09/07(Sep 09, 2000)
• SecurityFocus: Focus On Linux: Intrusion Detection on Linux(May 23, 2000)
• SunWorld: Hacker's toolchest; Techniques and tools for penetration testing(May 13, 2000)
• LinuxPR: Insecure.Org announces immediate, free availability of Nmap Security Scanner 2.50(May 01, 2000)
• LinuxSecurity.com: Intrusion Detection Primer(Mar 13, 2000)
• Security Portal: Filling Network Holes(Mar 07, 2000)
• LinuxSecurity.com: Scanning and Defending Networks with Nmap(Feb 18, 2000)
• Security Portal: Some thoughts on (network) intrusion detection systems(Jan 16, 2000)
• Network Associates Delivers First Commercial Security Vulnerability Scanner for Linux(Feb 08, 1999)