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Scan Scheduling



Purpose

This document provides users with an overview of the Scan Scheduling feature in OUTSCAN and HIAB.

Introduction

This document provide a step-by-step configuration setup guide for configuring the OUTSCAN/HIAB solution according to best practice. It takes into account the size of the organizations and provide information about why different options are taken over other in order to provide justification why the different paths where chosen.

Requirement

This document has been elaborated under the assumption that the reader has access to the OUTSCAN/HIAB account and Portal Interface with a Netsec subscription.

Scheduling

When it comes to scheduling in large organizations/networks, the best practice is to create schedule groups of targets as discussed in the Managed Targets and manage them from that section instead of the Maintain Schedule section.
Best practice includes that regular discovery scans should be performed on all network ranges to avoid having targets within the network that are not properly documented.

The event system (reference) can be used to notify the organization about these newly detected (or removed) assets in an automated way.


There are two ways of launching your applications.

  • From OUTSCAN

  • From a HIAB

OUTSCAN

To launch the OUTSCAN application, navigate to https://outscan.outpost24.com.

Use HTTPS protocol.
Ex. https://outscan.outpost24.com

Login OUTSCAN

Login OUTSCAN

Log in using your credentials.

HIAB

To connect to a HIAB, use the assigned network address.

Use HTTPS protocol.
Ex. https://your-appliance-ip.

Login HIAB

Login HIAB

Log in using your credentials.

To access the Scan Scheduling module, go to

Main Menu > Netsec > Scan Scheduling.

The Scan Scheduling window allows you to view and configure Scan Schedules, Scan Policies, Scan Status, and Scan History.

 

Scan Scheduling


 

General Grid Customization

The Scan Scheduling grid can be customized and allows for personalized views, filters, and choices on which columns to display. Along with the columns, attribute text columns can be added.

Icon List

Option


Description

New

New

Creates a new scan schedule.

Delete

Delete

Deletes the selected scan schedule.

 

Scan Now

Scan Now

Immediately initiates the selected scan schedules.

Disable

Disable

Disables the next scan of the selected scan schedules (if any).

Edit

Edit

Edit the settings of a scan schedule.

Copy

Copy

Make a copy of a saved scan schedule.

Audit Log

Audit Log

Shows the changes made to a certain entry.

Export

Export

Exports data as HTML or CSV. This opens either a HTML page or a CSV file from which data can be saved or copied from.

Resume

Resume

Resume paused scans.

Pause

Pause

Pause running scans.

Stop

Stop

Stop running scans.

Settings

Settings

Open the global settings for this module.

Column Menu

Column Menu

Opens a menu to configure grid columns.


Global Settings

The global settings can be accessed by clicking the settings icon available in the top right corner. This displays the Settings window where the default values for the Scan Scheduling can be configured.  

Settings
 

Target Handling

Option

Description

Force Target Groups in Scan Scheduling

If checked, user cannot add target list in the Edit Scan Schedule window, enforcing to select a target group instead. 


Scan Scheduling

Option

Description

Show Groups in Scan Scheduling

Checking this makes the Groups section visible in the Scan Scheduling grid. It can be used to group scan schedules.

Enable compliance scanning only

If checked, Compliance Only Scanning is enabled and available in Scan Mode list. 


Default Values

These settings can be changed later in the Scan Schedule module, but only within the scope of the values configured here.

Option

Description

Limit Concurrent Scans

Set the maximum limit on how many concurrent scans can be done. Limit concurrent scans determines how many targets within a scan the system run simultaneously.

Scan Policy

Any scan policy can be selected from this field.

Max Scan Window (Hours)

Set number of hours for the scan window. This feature allows you to run a scan over multiple time slots.

Max Scan Window determines for how long the scheduled scan can continue. Once the scan window ends, all scans that are not finished either timeout or continue in the next scan window.

Note

In HIAB, set this value to 0 to run the scan until it is finished.

Global Ignore Target List

The Global Ignore Target List lets you create a default ignore list of targets that is excluded from scanning. 

Global Ignore Target List

Host names given in the Global Ignore Targets List are not resolved in the Scan Schedule Ignore Target List.


Select the Use the list by default for new schedules check box to make the Global Ignore Targets Lists default for new scan schedules.

Changes to the Global Ignore Target List do not affect older schedules that has already been saved.


Ignore Target List
FormatDescription
fc00::23IPv6
192.168.200.1/24IPv4 subnet
192.168.200.3-192.168.200.15IPv4 range
192.168.1.20-192.168.1.30 % This is a comment.Add a comment by adding a %-sign after the address.
host.domain.comFully Qualified Domain Name
192.168.200.23< scanner name

There could be multiple targets with same IP/hostname linked to different scanners.

For example:

192.168.0.1 on Scanner01
192.168.0.1 on Scanner02

When adding an IP connected to multiple scanners, the scanner name should be provided along with the target using the format given below:

192.168.0.1<Scanner01
@instance-id Instance ID for Amazon Web Service targets.
\\netbios_hostNetwork Basic Input/Output System name.


The default values entered here cannot be changed from the Scan Schedule. However, values can be added to the default list in the Scan Schedule. These added values can be changed or deleted in the Scan Schedule window. 

Enabling the Use the list by default for new schedules ensures that new schedules uses the default Global Ignore Target List

Filters

Specific filtering is explained for each tab in the corresponding sections. To enable filtering, click on the arrow next to the name of any column and select Filters. Depending on the existing kind of data, various options are displayed.

Note

The expand arrow for the columns is only visible when hovering the mouse pointer over the column name.

For information regarding general filters, see Netsec Filters document.

Scan Schedules

In the Scan Schedules tab,  scans can be configured to run against a specific target, a group of targets, or a preconfigured target group. A schedule can be set to repeat at a certain interval. This section consists of all defined Scan Schedules, along with information about each schedule.

There are four options, New, Delete, Scan Now, and Disable. Right clicking on a specific schedule/entry reveals further options such as Edit, Copy, Audit Log, and Export.

Customizing Scan Schedule Grid

In addition to the general customization in section General Grid Customization, each tab allows for specific customization for each tab.

Columns

The displayed information varies upon selecting different columns. By clicking the arrow next to the name of any grid column, the below options are provided:


Column

Description

Average Scan Duration

Shows the average scan duration for each scan schedule.

Compliance Scan

Shows if compliance scanning is enabled in the scan schedule.

Final Scan

Displays a date when the final scan is scheduled, if it is set in Run Scan Schedule Until field.

Frequency

Frequency of how often the scan schedule should run.

Latest Scan Date

Displays the date of the latest performed scan.

Latest Scan Duration

Displays the duration of the latest scan.

Latest Scan Status

Displays the status of the latest scan.

Maintainer

Displays which user is the maintainer of that scan schedule.

Max Scan Time (Hours)

Displays the defined maximum length of the scan window in hours.

Name

The name of the scan schedule.

Next Scan

Displays the date of the next scan (if scheduled).

Priority

User can set priority to the scan schedule.

Scan Mode

Displays what kind of scanning mode the scan schedule is using.

Scan Policy

Displays which scan policy is set for the scans.

Scanner (HIAB only)

Displays which scanner is used during the scans when the mode is set to Discovery or Discovery/Scan. The scanner set on target is used during scanning if mode is set to Scan.

Targets

Displays the number of targets in the specific scan schedule.

Attribute

Along with the above columns, up to 10 more attribute text columns can be added to personalize the view.

To add additional columns:

  1. Go to Main Menu > Settings > Account.
  2. Select Attributes tab.
  3. Right click on any undefined fields, and click Edit.

    Edit Attribute


  4. Provide a name for the column to be added.
  5. Enable Active field.
  6. Enable Scheduling field to add this column to the Scan Scheduling window.  

Scan Mode Filters

For general filter settings, refer to Filters

To enable filtering, click on the arrow next to the name of any column and select Filters. Depending on the existing kind of data, various options are presented. 

Filter based on the scan modes. 

OptionDescription

Discovery

Filter entries with mode Discovery.

Discovery/Scan

Filter entries with mode Discovery/Scan.

Scan

Filter entries with mode Scan.

Compliance only

Filter entries with mode Compliance only.

Create a Schedule

Click on +New to add a scan schedule. The Maintaining Scan Schedule window is displayed.

 

Maintainign Scan Schedule


Option

Description

Name

Provide a name for the scan schedule. 

Scan Mode

Choose a mode from the drop-down list.

  • Scan
  • Discovery
  • Discovery/Scan
  • Compliance Scanning Only (Available if Enable compliance scanning only is enabled in Settings.)

    Note

    While setting this, a warning is displayed stating not everything will run.


Schedule Timing

Option

Description

Next scan

Choose date and time when the next scan should run.

Info

With the new time zone selector, you can now schedule a scan at a certain time regardless of daylight saving changes. 

Scanning Frequency

Choose how frequently a scan should run. The available options are:

  • Scan Now
  • Once
  • Weekly
  • Monthly
  • Bimonthly
  • Quarterly
  • Fortnightly
  • Daily
  • Every other day


Note

The scan frequency can be changed manually at any time.

Scan Targets Tab

Option

Description

Target Group

Choose a target group that should be scanned.

Target List

Add targets or target lists to scan.

Ignore Targets

The target(s) added in the Ignore Targets section are excluded from the scan. This tab is only active when choosing Discovery or Discovery/Scan in Scan Mode. See Target List table.


Target List

In the Target List tab, targets can be added to the scan schedule.

The Target List tab uses the same format as the Global Ignore Target List to add targets that should be scanned.

See Target List table for accepted formats.

Target list


Ignore Targets

In the Ignore Targets tab, targets can be added to the Global Ignore Target List to be excluded from the scanning process.

The Ignore Targets tab uses the same format as the Global Ignore Target List. See Target List Table for accepted formats.

Ignore list

Host names given in the Ignore List tab isl only resolved and removed from the Target List for discovery scans.

Scan hosts given in Ignore Targets List will only be removed from the Target List by exact match of their host name and not by resolving to IPs


If the Scan schedule was created with a Global Ignore Target List active, the Also ignore targets in the global ignore list check box is selected by default. Unselecting the check box results in disengaging the Global Ignore Target List from this schedule. See Global Ignore Target List.

Schedule Settings Tab

Option

Description

Day in Week/Month

(depending on Scanning Frequency)

  • Day of week - same day in the week when the scan should run.
  • Day of month - same day (date) every month.
  • Day of week in month - same day each x week in month.

Example

Should you schedule a scan for the 10th of August, it would be on Wednesday the 2nd week of the month.

Day of week - in 30 days it will schedule the next scan to run on the closed Wednesday so the next scan will likely be on the 7th of the 14th of September.

Day of month - the scan will run on the 10th every month so the next scan will be 10th of September which is a Saturday.

Day of week in month - it will run on Wednesday on the second week of the month and the next scan would be on 7th of September.

Run Scan Schedule Until

Set date until when the scheduled scan should run.

The Run Scan Schedule Until indicates the last day that the job will execute, once this day has passed, the job is considered inactive. To allow the job to continue forever, leave this field blank.

Max Scan Window (Hours)

Set number of hours for the scan window. This feature allows you to run a scan over multiple time slots.

Max Scan Window determines how long the scheduled scan can continue. Once the scan window ends, all scans that are not finished either timeout or continue in the next scan window.

Note

Scans running on OUTSCAN are limited to 12 hours.

Scan windows

The number of Scan Windows.

Scans that are not finished within the specified number of scan windows are reported as timeouts.

Scan window delay (Days)

Mention the interval between two scan windows.

The delay between scan windows in presented in days. This together with Scan windows, allows for scanning a target in a specified scan window and resuming the next time the scan window occurs.

Maintainer

The Maintainer field is used to define who should be the owner of this scanning job. This affects who is alerted when or if scan notifications are set up in the Event system.


Advanced  Settings Options

Depending on which Scanning Frequency you select in the Schedule Timing area, the settings options differs.

Settings OptionScan NowOnceWeeklyMonthlyBimonthlyQuarterlyFortnightlyDailyEvery other day
Day in week/month





Run Scan Schedule Until

Max Scan Window (Hours)

Scan windows

Scan window delay

Maintainer


Tip

You can always create the schedule with one of the settings and open the schedule overview in the bottom of the schedules to see when it will run the coming scans.


Scan Settings Tab

The Scan Settings tab allows you to set up the scan procedure by selecting which policy to use, number of concurrent scans, priority level and so on.

Scan Settings tab


Option

Description

Scan Policy

Select any scan policy from the drop-down menu.

  • New checks
  • New checks and most recent findings
  • Normal
  • Normal with webapp
  • PCI (preview)
  • Port scan
  • Test Credentials
  • Unsafe
  • Webapp

See Scan Policy section on how to create new scan policies.

Limit Concurrent Scans

Limiting concurrent scans determines how many targets within a scan the system run simultaneously. Recommended to leave it empty.

Priority
(HIAB only)

Set the priority of the scan.

Wake on LAN Delay
(HIAB only)

Delay in minutes to start scanning after Wake on LAN Delay signal to the target.

Daily Updates (SLS)

Check this box to enable SLS feature.
This option enables the Scanning-Less Scanning (SLS) feature, which updates the report daily, to match the server's fingerprint against any new vulnerability checks that have been made available. If the server is considered to match the vulnerability criteria, a new entry is added to that report.
For more information see SLS Information document.

Compliance Scanning

Check this box to enable Compliance Scanning.

Note

When compliance scanning is enabled, all scripts are executed during scanning and all ports are tested.

Policies

Default Value: All policies are selected.

Deselect All and select one or more policies from the available options. 

Note

When a compliance policy is selected, the scanner only performs the checks specific to that policy.


Discovery Settings Tab

Selecting Discovery reveals the Discovery Settings tab. Under the Discovery Settings tab you can define the settings to use when detecting targets and what actions should be taken upon the found targets.


OptionDescription

Import Targets from LDAP/AD

(HIAB only)

When selected, LDAP/AD Configuration area is displayed instead of Protocols.

 Discovery Settings tab

  • Base DN - Base Distinguished Name
  • Search filter - See above reference

Amazon Discovery

When selected, AWS Configuration area is displayed instead of Protocols.

 Discovery Settings tab

ARN - Amazon Resource Name

Agent DiscoverySelect Agent Discovery to do a discovery scan for enrolled agents.
Protocols

In the protocol section you can choose to disable or enable specific protocols to be utilized during the discovery. If you have a switch which answers to all ARP requests then it is recommended that you disable this protocol since otherwise every target that you scan will be considered alive. The ICMP protocol is also known as ping.

Select which protocol to use during the discovery scan

  • ARP
  • ICMP
  • TCP
  • UDP
Ports to scan

The ports to scan field allow you to define additional ports which the discovery will test against. The currently tested ports (TCP)are as follows:
21, 22, 23, 25, 53, 70, 79, 80, 88, 110, 111, 123, 135, 139, 143, 170, 250, 264, 389, 443, 445, 500, 993, 1080, 1454, 1723, 3128, 3389, 5432, 8080
UDP will test the following ports: 53, 500 and 3 random ports in the range 50000-65000.

Format: 443, 110-143. Use def to include the currently tested ports.

Ignore RST Packets

The discovery scan will omit RST responses (which may originate from another device on behalf of the scanned end-point) when determining if the end-point is alive.

ScannerIf the HIAB has distributed scanners registered you also get the option to select which node should run the discovery scan by selecting Scanner. Selecting Local will run the discovery scan on the current HIAB, the other names are defined when registering a scanner. Targets created during a scan will be created with the associated scanner node that performs the discovery scan.
Advanced Report Filters

This section is used to further filter the packages before marking the target as alive. Write a BPF expression to add an advanced filter. See below reference:

Advanced filter

Example

Even if you do not of send an ARP message, you may still get an ARP response which marks the target as alive. By setting a filter to remove the ARP messages, the scanner will not report on ARP responses.

For further information, see Advanced Filters. 

Add found Targets to Target GroupAdd Found Targets To Target Group is used to select a target group to add the targets that are found to be alive to. 
Add Only Not Existing TargetsTargets not already defined in the system will be added to the selected group, in other words, if the target already is in a different group, then it will not be added to this specific group when this option is enabled.
Empty Target  Group Before Adding

To clear the target group before adding the targets, select Empty Target Group Before Adding

This option should be enabled if you only want the group to contain targets that were determined to be alive at the last time of scan. If you instead would like to have the group contain all targets ever being alive within the given range, then disable this option.

NetBIOS lookup on targetsThis will perform a NetBIOS lookup of the target (only available if a WINS server is defined in the settings - HIAB only).
Customize Targets

There are additional attributes which can be configured here, they are:

  • Update Already Existing Targets - This option allows you to re-define custom attribute on any already available assets if they should be determined to be alive in the given discovery range. Disable this option if you would like the assets that are already present to retain their configured attributes (no update).
  • Collateral Damage Potential - The targets collateral damage potential, used for CVSS score calculation.
  • Target Distribution - The targets distribution, used for CVSS score calculation.
  • Security Requirements - Availability - The targets availability, used for CVSS score calculation.
  • Security Requirements - Integrity - The targets integrity, used for CVSS score calculation.
  • Security Requirements - Confidentiality - The targets confidentiality, used for CVSS score calculation.

Note

A discovery/scan runs a discovery first and then scans the discovered targets. If it does not run an Agent discovery it will not discover any agents and thus will not scan them. This is an expected behavior.

Warning

Scanning a target with too many vhosts may lead to scan timeout. In case of faulty target, for example more than max vhost a warning message is displayed added to the discovery scan as follows:

Warning: <faulty-target-number> target(s) with more than <vhost-max> virtual hosts, target_name:vhost_number, <target-name>:<vhost-number>

Attributes Tab

The Attributes tab is visible only if there are any custom attributes defined on the schedule objects. 

Comment Tab

Add any comment in the field. 

Click Save to save the current settings. 

Create Scan Schedule on a Single Target

To set up a scan schedule from a single target:

  1. Go to Main Meny > Netsec > Manage Targets.
  2. Select the target you want to scan
  3. Right click a target and select Scan
  4. In the Create Scan Schedule window, fill in:

    OptionDescription
    NameName of the schedule.
    Scan Mode

    Select scan mode:

    • Scan
    • Discovery
    • Discovery/Scan
    Scan PolicyScan Policy enables you to configure each scan to suit your network environment.
    See Scan Policy section on how to create Scan Policies.
    Scanning FrequencyScanning Frequency defines how often the scan schedule should run.
    Next ScanDisplays the date of the next scan (if scheduled).
    Use Global Ignore ListThe Global Ignore List is a default ignore list of targets that is excluded from scanning.
    See Global Settings section on how to create a Global Ignore Target List.

Scan Policy 

The Scan Policy tab enables you to configure each scan to suit your network environment. 


Scan Policy tab


The scan policies with type System are predefined and available by default. These cannot be delete or edited directly without providing a new name.

To create a customer policy:

  1. Right click on any entry and select Edit.
  2. Provide a new name before saving since it is a system policy.
  3. The newly defined policy is added to the list with Type: User defined.
  4. Click on + sign located to left of policy name to view detailed information regarding that scan policy.

To create a scan policy:

  1. Click on + New button.

To edit an existing policy:

  1. Right click on it and select Edit. The Maintaining Scan Policy window is opened.


Checks 

All vulnerability checks are divided into families. In the Vulnerability Families area, select which script families should be included in the policy. All families can be selected/deselected once by enabling the Script Family Name field.


Option

Description

Filter Checks

Perform Safe Vulnerability checks only

Enable this field to stop checks from exploiting vulnerabilities to find them. Disabling safe checks can exploit a vulnerable target.

Filter new checks

This is used to enable only those checks which have been added since the last scan.

Filter most recent findings

Adds all of the checks which were found during the last scan.

Filter Potential False Positives

By enabling this field, all findings which are marked as a potential false positive are excluded from the scan report.

Disable Logins

Allows the scan policy to disable all default logins. If any authentication is added to a host or scan policy, it is still used for authenticated scanning.

Filter out fallback kernels

Only evaluates vulnerabilities for the current running kernel and filters all the findings related to older but installed kernel packages.

Complementary authentication scan
Run complementary authentication scan

The scanner checks for any available default credentials on various services from a list of different vendors.

For more information, see Complementary Authenticated Scan on Default Credentials.

Virtual host list
IP

Add IP as a virtual host

Hostname

Add hostname as a virtual host.

Reverse DNS

Add reverse DNS as a virtual host.


In the Vulnerability Checks, you can choose checks which are to be included in the report. The search bar at the top allows you to search the vulnerabilities to easily find the checks you are looking for. 

Portscan 

 Contains the setup for the port scanner, which is used to scan the targets for open ports.


Portscan tab

 

Option

Description

Select portscan speed

Three different modes are available which initiates the scan in different packets per second (pps) rates:

  • Normal (200 pps)
  • Fast (400 pps)
  • Very Fast (600 pps)

TCP Port Range

Enter the port range in the following format: 443, -250, 65000-, 110-143, !80. This translates into scanning ports 443, 1-79, 81-250, 65000-65535, and 110-143.

Valid keywords to put into this field are def and none.

To exclude ports, add an exclamation mark (!) followed by the port number, for example 1-100, !22 scan ports 1-100 but exclude 22.

The default value def tells OUTSCAN to portscan its default port list of approximately 5500 TCP ports. 

UDP Port Range

Enter the port range in the following format: 443, -250, 65000-, 110-143, !80. This translates into scanning ports 443, 1-79, 81-250, 65000-65535, and 110-143. Valid keywords to put into this field are def and none.

To exclude ports, add an exclamation mark (!) followed by the port number, for example 1-100, !22 scan ports 1-100 but exclude 22.

The default value def tells OUTSCAN to portscan its default port list of approximately 100 UDP ports.

Caution!

Scheduling more than 10000 ports in UDP scanning will influence the overall scan time. Roughly it can take over an hour per 20000 ports.

Default unscanned port state

Ports that were not included in the TCP or UDP port range are to be considered to be in this state by the vulnerability scanner:

  • Closed - No test will be conducted against this port.
  • Open - Tests will be conducted regardless if the port is closed. Overall test time will increase.

UDP port unreachable scan

Supplements the UDP port scanning by processing ICMP port unreachable packets (enabling this option and selecting many UDP ports may result in the scan timing out).

Use netstat details

Use netstat details when determining if ports are open on the device. The quick option use the open port details without a verification scan to confirm that the ports are open.

The verify option run a port scan against the ports found when running the netstat details to determine that the port is available externally on the device.

Include normal portscan

If no ports were determined by using the netstat information the scanner falls back to the defined scanning range for this schedule/target. 

Use details from SSH port

From which open port (if multiple) is the port details used in the scan gathered. 

  

SSL 

Contains the settings for any SSL service found when scanning targets with this policy.

SSL tab

 

Option

Description

Client Certificate Authentication

Private key file

An SSL private key to use when negotiating SSL with the remote host. 

Private key passphrase

A passphrase to use with the SSL private key provided to use when negotiating SSL with the remote host.

Certificate file

SSL Certificate file to use when negotiating SSL with the remote host. The certificate must be in PEM format.

CA Bundle

Trusted CAs file

An SSL client Certificate Authority file to use when negotiating SSL with the remote host. The certificate must be in PEM format.

  

To upload the SSL private key file, SSL client ca file, and SSL certificate file:

  1. Click on the + symbol located to the right of each drop-down menu to open the Maintaining Files window.

    Upload file


  2. Click +New to open the Upload File window.
  3. Click on the + symbol to the right of File row to choose your file.
  4. Click Save and followed by Close.


Mail 

 Contains the settings for the different mail protocols available when scanning targets with this policy.

Mail tab


Option

Description

SMTP sender address

The sender address when scanning SMTP mail servers. 

SMTP recipient

The recipient address when using SMTP mail servers. 

SMTP 3rd party domain

A third-party domain to use when scanning SMTP mail servers. 

IMAP username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via IMAP. 

IMAP password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via IMAP. 

POP2 username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via POP2. 

POP2 password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via POP2. 

POP3 username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via POP3. 

POP3 password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via POP3. 

NNTP 

Contains the settings for any news server found when scanning targets with this policy.

NNTP tab

 

Option

Description

NNTP sender address

The sender address to use when scanning NNTP servers.

NNTP test regular expression

A regular expression for an NNTP newsgroup name that the remote host may be aware of.

NNTP crossposting limit

The maximum number of newsgroups allowed to post to simultaneously.

NNTP local distribution

If the scanner should set the Distribution field to local or not.

NNTP archive

If the scanner should use archiving in NNTP transactions.

NNTP username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via NNTP.

NNTP password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via NNTP.

  

SNMP 

Contains the authentication settings and credentials used to enable Authenticated Scanning using SNMP.

SNMP tab

 

Option

Description

SNMP version

The SNMP version on the remote host.

  • v1
  • v2c
  • v3

SNMP community name

The community string or user to use when scanning the remote host.

SNMP UDP port

The UDP port to use when scanning SNMP.

SNMP password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via SNMP.

SNMP hash algorithm

The hash algorithm to use while negotiating with remote host via SNMP.

  • sha
  • md5

SNMP encryption algorithm

The encryption algorithm to use while negotiating with remote host via SNMP.

  • aes
  • des
  • none

SNMP encryption key

The encryption key (passphrase) to use while negotiating with remote host via SNMP. 


vSphere

Note

vSphere credentials are only used if a compliance scan is running. In addition, the target must have a ESXI compliance policy enabled.

Contains the authentication/configuration settings for the VMware vSphere.  If configured, they are used when scanning targets running this service.

 

vSphere tab


OptionDescription
vSphere usernameThe username to use when attempting to log on to vSphere.
vSphere passwordThe password to use when attempting to log on to vSphere.
Ignore certificate validation

Allows the authentication and operations to continue even if the vSphere certificate is not valid.

SMB 

Contains the authentication settings and credentials used to enable Authenticated Scanning using SMB. For more information, see Authenticated Scanning Using SMB document.

Note

Thycotic SMB is now available as an additional option if Thycotic integration has been configured. For more information, see Thycotic document. 

SMB tab
 

Click on +New to add the SMB credentials. 

 

SMB credentials

Click Add after providing the details. 

Option

Description

SMB domain

The SMB domain to use when scanning the remote host. 

SMB username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via SMB. 

SMB password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via SMB. 

SMB allow NTLMv1

Whether to allow authentication using NTLMv1. 

SMB allow plain-text password transmission

Whether to allow scanning using plain-text password transmission. 

Enable remote registry

If this option is checked, the scanner starts the Remote Registry Service using the provided user details and once finished, disable the service again. 

Target Credentials

Target

Enter a Target to test the credentials and click Test Credentials.

Note

There could be multiple targets with same IP/hostname which must be linked to different scanners.

For example:

192.168.0.1 on Scanner01
192.168.0.1 on Scanner02

To test the credentials on one of these targets, the scanner name should be provided along with the target to run a successful test using the format given below:

192.168.0.1<Scanner01

Warning

Multiple attempts to login with the same account or on the same domain can cause account lockout and should be avoided.

SSH 

Contains the authentication settings and credentials used to enable Authenticated Scanning using SSH.  For more information, see Authenticated Scanning Using SSH document.

Note

Thycotic SSH is now available as an additional option if Thycotic integration has been configured. For more information, see Thycotic document. 

Thycotic SSH

 

Option

Description

SSH username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via SSH. 

SSH password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via SSH. 

SSH substitute user command

If the system requires the use of escalated privileges to run commands, select the desired method.

  • None
  • sudo
  • doas
  • sesu
  • dzdo
  • pfexec
  • Custom

SSH custom user command

Sets a custom command for escalating privileges. 

SSH public key

The public key file to use when negotiating SSH with the remote host. 

SSH private key

The private key file to use when negotiating SSH with the remote host. 

SSH private key passphrase

The private key passphrase to use when negotiating SSH with the remote host. 

Target Credentials

Target

Enter a Target and a Port to test the credentials and click Test Credentials

Note

There could be multiple targets with same IP/hostname which must be linked to different scanners.

For example:

192.168.0.1 on Scanner01
192.168.0.1 on Scanner02

To test the credentials on one of these targets, the scanner name should be provided along with the target to run a successful test using the format given below:

192.168.0.1<Scanner01

  

FTP 

Contains the authentication/configuration settings for FTP.  If configured, they are used when scanning targets running this service.

FTP


Option

Description

FTP username

The username to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via FTP. 

FTP password

The password to use when attempting to log on to the remote host via FTP. 

  

Bruteforce 

Contains the settings for the Bruteforce and the different protocols which the Bruteforce can operate on.

Bruteforce

  

Option

Description

Username/password dictionary

Selects a dictionary to use for bruteforcing services that require a username and password pair as authentication token.

  • common-userpass-pairs
  • (upload)

Upload username/password dictionary

A username dictionary is a regular ASCII text file in the following format:

[username0]:[password0]

[username1]:[password1]

[usernameN]:[passwordN]


A few special keywords are accepted in the password field:

(none) is replaced with a blank password

(user) is replaced with the username that are currently bruteforced.


Example:

alice:system results in username alice and password system

bob:(none) results in username bob and a blank password

charles:(user)1 results in username charles and password charles1

Password dictionary

Selects a dictionary to use for bruteforcing services that require a password as authentication token.

  • common-passwords
  • (upload)

Upload password dictionary

A password dictionary is a regular ASCII text file in the following format:

[password0]

[password1]

[passwordN]


A special keyword (none) can also be used to signify a blank password.

Targeted username

A username to specifically target when performing account bruteforcing tests. 

Targeted password

Configures the bruteforce tests to look for a specific password.

FTP bruteforcing

Enables bruteforcing of FTP accounts.

FTP time window

Restricts the amount of time the engine is allowed to spend performing FTP bruteforce tests. Specified in minutes.

FTP concurrency

Number of concurrent threads used while performing the bruteforce.

HTTP bruteforcing

Enables bruteforcing of HTTP accounts on all ports configured for HTTP. HTTP Basic authorization is the only currently supported authentication type. The dictionary selected in the Password dictionary is used.

HTTP time window

Restricts the amount of time the engine is allowed to spend performing HTTP bruteforce tests. Specified in minutes.

HTTP concurrency

Number of concurrent threads used while performing the bruteforce.

HTTP target URL

The URL to a password protected web page. The keyword ‘%TARGET_IP%’ is replaced at runtime with the IP address of the scanned host.

SSH bruteforcing

Enables bruteforcing of SSH accounts.

SSH time window

Restricts the amount of time the engine is allowed to spend performing SSH bruteforce tests. Specified in minutes. 

SSH concurrency

Number of concurrent threads used while performing the bruteforce.

Telnet bruteforcing

Enables bruteforcing of Telnet accounts. 

Telnet time window

Restricts the amount of time the engine is allowed to spend performing Telnet bruteforce tests. Specified in minutes. 

Telnet concurrency

Number of concurrent threads used while performing the bruteforce.

SNMP bruteforcing

Enables bruteforcing of SNMP accounts. 

SNMP time window

Restricts the amount of time the engine is allowed to spend performing SNMP bruteforce tests. Specified in minutes. 

SNMP concurrency

Number of concurrent threads used while performing the bruteforce.


Web App 

This option is used to enable or disable scanning web application related vulnerabilities.

Web app

  

Option

Description

Enabled

Undefined 

Only run web app

Skips the normal scan step. Products that are detected by the web application scanner are still checked for vulnerabilities. 


Description 

Contains a small description of the scan policy. Add a description when creating a scan policy. 

Customizing Scan Policy Grid

In addition to the general customization in section General Grid Customization, each tab allow specific customizations for each tab.

Filters

For general filter settings, see Netsec Filters.

To enable filtering, click on the arrow next to the name of any column and select Filters. Depending on the existing kind of data, various options are presented.

  • Type: Filter based on the type of Scan policy.
    • System: Display all entries that are predefined.
    • User defined: Display all entries that are user defined.

Scan Status 


Scan Status


The progress of all active scans is displayed in the Scan Status tab. Possible actions from this tab are:

OptionDescription
PausePause running scan against the selected target.
ResumeResume paused scan against the selected target.

Stop

Terminate the running scan against the selected target. When terminating a scan no reports will be generated.
Pause all scans

Pause all running scans.

Note

This feature only pauses the running scans at the time the button was pressed. If there are scans waiting in the queue, these scans are not paused and will run once a place in the queue becomes available.

Resume all scansResume all paused scans.
Stop all scansTerminate all running scans. When terminating a scan no reports will be generated.


Right click on any active scan to set its priority.

Choose between

  • Low priority
  • Normal priority
  • High priority


Note

This option is only available on HIAB.


Scan Stages

Discovery scan

The Discovery scan sends packages over multiple protocols. If the scanner gets anything back from the target, the target is confirmed to be alive.


Vulnerability scan

There are six stages.

  1. Portscan - Sends packages to approximately 5500 ports (default specified port range) for UDP and TCP protocols to find open ports on the target.
  2. Fingerprint - This stage uses the ports which were found open in the Portscan stage, to see which services are available on the target.
  3. Scanning - It collects the information from the target such as, platform, directories, and versions.
  4. Web scan (optional) - This is applicable only for web applications. It crawls over every link found and collects the information about it.
  5. Detection - Compares the information collected in the scanning phase with the Outpost24 vulnerability database.
  6. Report - Reports all findings found during the scan. 


Customizing Scan Status Grid Window

In addition to the general customization in section General Grid Customization, each tab allow specific customization as well. 

Columns

The displayed information varies upon selecting different columns. By clicking the arrow next to the name of any grid column, the options below are presented.


Column

Description

From HIAB (OUTSCAN only)

With HIAB External license, you can add OUTSCAN scanner to HIAB and send scans from your internal HIAB to OUTSCAN. This column shows if the scan was initiated from HIAB.

Host Name

Host name of the target.

Priority (HIAB only)

Displays the specified priority of the scan.

Progress

Displays the scan progress percentage.

Scan Policy

Displays the scan policy selected in scan schedule settings.

Scanner

Displays the name of the scanner where this scan has been sent for scanning.

Schedule

Displays the name of the scan schedule.

Scheduled End

Displays the scheduled end time of the scan irrespective of its status.

Scheduled Start

Displays when the currently running scan was initiated. If scan is paused and resumed, then it displays the time when the scan is resumed.

Service

Displays type of the currently running scan.

Status

Displays the status of the scan.

Target

Displays the target which is being scanned.

Service Filters

For general filter settings, see Filters

To enable filtering, click on the arrow next to the name of any column and select Filters. Depending on the data various options are presented.


Option

Description

Scan

Displays all scans that are currently running under scan mode.

Discovery

Displays all discovery scans.

LDAP Discovery

Displays all LDAP discovery scans.

Amazon Discovery

Displays all Amazon discovery scans.

Webapp

Displays all web app scanner scans.

Web App Discovery

Displays all web app scanner discovery scans.

Test Credentials

Displays the scan on test credentials.

Lookup

Displays all lookup scans.

Update

Displays all SLS scans.


Yes/No: Choose to filter on either Yes or No.

Scan History 

Scan History displays the history over all scans performed along with information about each scan.


Scan history


Right click on any entry to perform the below actions.

  • Show Scan Results: If a scan is ended successfully, the report for this scan is visible. This can be done both on individual targets and on complete scan schedules.
  • Scan: Starts a scan against the same target(s).
  • Download Blueprint (HIAB only): This option is available only for individual target scans. 

    Note

    For more information, see the Scan Blueprint document.

  • Audit Log: Select this option to see the changes made to a certain entry.

    Note

    Main user and Super user can also view the audit log.

  • Export: Select this option to export data as HTML or CSV. This open either a HTML page or a CSV file that you can save or copy data from. 

    Note

    The CSV export function in the grid has a limit of 100k rows.

Customizing Scan History

In addition to the general customization in section General Grid Customization, each tab allows for specific customization for each tab.

Columns

The displayed information varies upon selecting different columns. By clicking the arrow next to the name of any grid column then bellow options are displayed. 

Columns

Description

Cause of Error

If a scan fails, its descriptive explanation can be found in the Cause of Error column. It is extremely valuable information for troubleshooting.

Download State

Displays the download status of the blueprint.

Scan End Date

Displays the end date and time of that specific scan.

Scan Policy

Displays the policy selected for that scan.

Scan Schedule

Displays the name of the scan schedule.

Scan Start Date

Displays the start date and time of that specific scan.

Scan Status

Displays the status of the scan.

Scan Time

Displays the total time taken for the scan to complete.

Scanner

Displays which scanner has been used.

Target

Displays the hostname of the target.

Target Group

Displays the target group name.

Scan Status Filters

For general filter settings, refer to Filters

To enable filtering, click on the arrow next to the name of any column and select Filters. Depending on the existing kind of data, various options are displayed.


Option

Description

Target Done

Displays all scans that are done and completed successfully.

Target Timeout

Displays all scans that could not finish within the given scan time.

Target Stopped

Displays all scans that were stopped during the scan.

Target Too many Findings

Displays all scans during which the scanner detected more than 100 ports opened on the target.

Note

This filter is only for versions older than xmlapi 4.1.148.* as newer versions do not report the scan as too many findings.

Too many Open Ports

Displays the scans during which the scanner has detected more than 50 open ports (50 UDP or 50 TCP)  on target.

Target Failed

Displays failed scans.

Scan Paused

Displays paused scans.

Scan resumed

Displays scan that are in resuming state.

Scan Job Timeout

Displays failed scan jobs that could not finish within the given scan time.

Scan Job Running

Displays scans jobs that are currently running.

Scan Job Done

Displays scans jobs that are successfully finished.

Scan Job Stopped

Displays scans jobs that were stopped.

Scan Job failed

Displays failed scans jobs. A scan job can contain several targets.

Compliance target done

Displays all compliance scans that completed successfully.

Compliance scan running

Displays all compliance scans that are currently running.

Compliance scan done

Displays all compliance scans that are successfully finished.

Discovery Running

Displays all discovery scans that are currently running.

Discovery Done

Displays all discovery scans that are successfully finished.

Discovery Timeout

Displays failed discovery scans that could not finish within the given scan time.

Discovery Stopped

Displays all discovery scans that were stopped.

Discovery Failed

Displays failed discovery scans.

Imported

Displays the scan history of imported reports.

Target Update Done

Displays all SLS scans that are done and completed successfully.

Target Update Timeout

Displays all SLS scans that could not finish within the given scan time.

Target Update Stopped

Displays all SLS scans that were stopped during the scan.

Target Update Failed

Displays SLS failed scans.

Note

When a scheduled discovery/scan is run where the discovery failed to find any targets, the scan will not be started and the scan history will show three statuses:

  • Scan Job Failed
  • Discovery Done
  • Scan Job Done

Scan Job Failed - with a cause of error stating that no targets were found

Discovery Done and Scan Job Done - even though no scans were actually started.

If the discovery does not find any targets, it could either be because the targets is down/does not exist, or the user not having access to the targets or the scanner.


Troubleshooting

Some of the possible causes of problem are listed below:

Problem

ProblemDescription
No scans were started as no targets were found in the scan schedule. This could be because the maintainer of the schedule does not have access to the targets or scanner.The schedule has been maintained by a sub-user who does not have access to either the added target or the selected scanner.
No targets were found during the discovery.The discovery could not find any of the added targets.

Error Messages

Error Message

Description

Virtual Host(s) does not resolve to the target IP

Scanner reports this error when you add virtual host(s) to the target that cannot be resolved to the target IP at the time of scan.

Instance XXX was not found

The Amazon instance is not reachable by the scanner or does not exists anymore.

Instance type XXX is not supported

Instance type is not supported by the Outpost24 scanner, for example, because of Amazon scanning policy.

Instance XXXX has no public IP

Public IP missing from the instance.

Error during web authentication procedure

The web authentication procedure failed.

Target is missing in the system

The target no longer exists in the system.

Report is missing in the system

The report for SLS no longer exists.

Maximum duration reached, terminated scan

Due to timed out scans.

Could not connect to scanner

When the system cannot connect to the scanner you have selected. In the Distribution section of the system it can be verified when the system was last able to successfully communicate with the scanner. Different level of information about the scanner are also available in the Distribution section.

Scans are already running against the targets

Scans are already running.

Scanner not approved or inactive

This may be reported when the scanner is not approved or have been removed from the system. In the Distribution section of the system it can be verified when the system was last able to successfully communicate with the scanner. Different level of information about the scanner are also available in the Distribution section.

Invalid AWS credentials

Check if your Amazon Web Service (AWS) setup under the Integrations section is up to date.

Could not start SLS, database missing

Unable to connect to the blueprint database for vulnerability correlation offered by the SLS functionality. The vulnerability report has not received its SLS updated details.

An error occurred during discovery, error code

Some error doing discovery. This is mostly reported when discovery scan fails or stopped.

Scan/IP license limit exceededReported whenever the IP license limit is less than the scans or no license is left for the scan to proceed.

No seed URLs found

URL seed missing.




Copyright

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Trademark

Outpost24® and OUTSCAN™ are trademarks of Outpost24® and its affiliated companies. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective owners.


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