Re: Vulnerability scanners

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Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 17:49:29 -0500 (EST)
From: "R. DuFresne" <dufresne@sysinfo.com>
To: "Jeff Williams @ Aspect" <jeff.williams@aspectsecurity.com>

Of course, also to consider, and it's somewhat refered to below in Jeff's
reply: Scanning is only the beginning, and provides pointers as to what
needs more attention. It's certainly not and end and a means to security,
but a point of reference. Once the scan is done and it's reports
submitted, then the real work begins. Security staff that merely scans
and hands off a *potential* vuln report are not doing any real work. It's
what they do after the report has been generated, if anything, that
determines their worth, and the value of the scan in the first place.

Thanks,

Ron DuFresne

On Thu, 27 Mar 2003, Jeff Williams @ Aspect wrote:

> Let's assume that you're talking about 256 IPs (based on Qualys' published
> pricing), and you want to scan weekly. That's at least a day a week of
> effort for someone (probably more to generate a very nice report and
> summaries). The cost of a full-time sysadmin (including salary, benefits,
> office, etc...) probably costs well north of $100K. You'd have to include
> some equipment costs in there. So I doubt you could do it much cheaper.
> I think vulnerability scanning is a reasonable thing to outsource for
> companies that are not in the security or networking field already.
>
> Still, the incremental cost of their service must be far less than that.
> Obviously they've invested in a significant amount in their scanning
> engine and report structure. And there will be some maintenance and
> network costs to consider. But the cost of adding one more customer
> should be fairly small. If their prices don't start approaching this
> incremental cost, then there's an opportunity for someone else to enter
> the market and provide the service for cheaper. Maybe you can push them
> on this point.
>
> Whatever you decide, you should also be sure to consider the cost of
> interpreting the results and making the changes to fix any problems
> uncovered. Simply having the scan done for you does not relieve you of
> the responsibility of going through the findings carefully and keeping
> systems hardened.
>
> Please let the list know how this comes out as there are probably many
> companies wrestling with this decision now.
>
> --Jeff
>
>
> Jeff Williams
> Aspect Security, Inc.
> http://www.aspectsecurity.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dan Lynch
> To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 6:46 PM
> Subject: Vulnerability scanners
>
>
> Greetings list,
>
> Yesterday some reps from Qualys came with a sales presentation for
> their QualysGuard appliance. I'd like to solicit your comments and
> opinions on that product. In particular, do you think it's $45,000 per
> year better than Nessus? (That's about the cost we'd face based on our
> IP address range.) They claim it costs as much in administration to run
> Nessus. Does Qualys' claim to more vulnerability signatures and
> faster/easier updates hold water?
>
> Any input you can offer is greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Dan Lynch
> Information Technology Analyst
> County of Placer
> Auburn, CA
>
> 530/889-4222
>
>
> Bureaucracy: the art of making the possible impossible.
>
>
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-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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