UPDATED PAGES VM Scanner Evaluation Background Report

VM Scanner Background Report CMIT 421 6380 Threat Management and Vulnerability Assessment < 4th March 2024> Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc160540868 \h 2Part 1: Nessus Vulnerability Report Analysis PAGEREF _Toc160540869 \h 2Part 2: The Business Case PAGEREF _Toc160540871 \h 3Part 3: Nessus Purchase Recommendation PAGEREF _Toc160540872 \h 4Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc160540873 \h 4References PAGEREF _Toc160540874 \h 5 Introduction Mercury USA, a transportation company, recently received a report that their competitors were recently victims of cybercrime, and chances were high that the company was the next victim considering how cybercriminals operate. As a transportation company it stores massive customer Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which includes order information, customer details, and Payment card data, the key priority considering the risks of falling victim to cyber-attack, is to find a way to protect its critical systems. First, the company will need to conduct a Nessus vulnerability scan to determine its system vulnerabilities and then act proactively to prevent any potential harm to its assets. With a thorough analysis of Mercury USA's security issues and recommendations, this paper seeks to offer recommendations and solutions that align with Mercury CEO’s security concerns and priorities. Part 1: Nessus Vulnerability Report Analysis Nessus Vulnerability Report offers extensive information on the company’s vulnerability stand, with each vulnerability measured and interpreted based on its ability to compromise critical organizational operations and data. According to the Nessus vulnerability scan report the critical vulnerabilities for host the four hosts namely 192.168.1.10, 192.168.1.25, 192.168.1.30, and 192.168.1.100 reveal 5 critical concerns (all with CVSSv2.0 high at 10.0), and 3 high vulnerabilities each occurring at host 192.168.1.10, 192.168.1.25, and 192.168.1.30 respectively. The overall indication of the security scan report is that the company systems are safe except for host 192.168.1.30. The critical concerns in host 192.168.1.30 and high vulnerabilities in the three other hosts reveal that the major lapses are attributed to user’s overall inability to conduct periodic cumulative updates, cumulative updates (KRACK), and security updates on their operating systems. All these issues cumulatively present a high-risk level of operational activities and data integrity to Mercury USA. Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Nessus Vulnerability Report Accordingly, the lack of security updates and cumulative updates brings about two major security issues. First, Softić (2022) states that the use of an outdated operating system software version or total lack of cumulative updates increases the risk of being hacked three-fold. This is because an outdated system offers hackers an easy entry point into a system using more sophisticated payloads that are often hard to detect. On the other hand, an up-to-date system or time-to-time system update as seen with host 192.168.1.100 minimizes vulnerabilities, which remains crucial in safeguarding against advanced types of cyber-attacks including malware such as phishing scams and ransomware (Zafar, 2023). Ideally, security remains a critical reason why Microsoft conducts periodic software updates and through the time to time updates they improve and recr...