A smoke alarm is not a fire engine
A smoke alarm tells you there is smoke. It does not put out the fire. It can also go off when you burn toast.
Scanners are like smoke alarms. They are very useful. They are not perfect.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Scanner | a tool that checks systems for known weak points |
| Infrastructure | the hosts, network devices and Wi-Fi an organisation runs |
| Network | computers and devices joined so they can share data |
| Patch | an update that fixes a flaw |
| Unsupported | old, and no longer given updates by its maker |
| Hardening | turning off or removing what is not needed to make a system safer |
| False positive | a warning about a problem that is not there |
| False negative | no warning about a problem that is there |
| Vendor | the company that makes or sells a product |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can list what infrastructure and software scanners do well and where they fall short.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Infrastructure scanners: six strengths
An infrastructure scanner checks hosts, networks and wireless. It is good at six jobs.
It finds missing patches and unsupported systems. It discovers weak passwords. It shows which services are exposed. It finds missing hardening. It spots wrong access controls, such as a shared folder anyone can open.
Six strengths, with a case each
| Strength | A case |
|---|---|
| Missing patches | A server is two updates behind |
| Unsupported systems | A PC still runs a system its maker stopped updating |
| Weak passwords | An account uses the word password |
| Exposed services | A remote login service is open to the whole internet |
| Missing hardening | A spare service is left switched on |
| Wrong access controls | Every student can open the staff folder |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check
Have a go
Check
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.