As others have stated there are two needs that must be met, internal
and external scans.
We use Control Scan for an external scan vendor (www.controlscan.com),
it's cost effective and they really help you resolve any false
positives that may occur. We dropped our initial external scan vendor
because they insisted on arguing the point on a series of false
positives (even after we provided documentation and proof confirming
the false positives). The FP were causing our scans to have a status
of "Failed" which screws your PCI compliance an audit time. (note: I
don't care whether you use them or not I'm just relating my experience
with them.)
For internal scanning I use a scheduled nmap scan (cron job from a
Linux machine). It's free and it works for me. I don't need a full
blown "vulnerability scanner" on the LAN as I have other layered
controls in place and a lot of that information would be redundant.
YMMV.
On 12/18/06, David M. Zendzian <dmz@dmzs.com> wrote:
Your right, I'm so use to dealing with Level 1 people that I forgot all
the others needed approved scanning vendors
http://usa.visa.com/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk_management/cisp_merchants.html?it=l2|%2Fbusiness%2Faccepting_visa%2Fops_risk_management%2Fcisp%2Ehtml|Merchants#anchor_2
But back to my original question, why are you looking for pci scanning
software? The process of becoming an approved vendor usually takes
multiple tools as well as the "human factor". I don't think you will
find 1 solution for scanning that you can buy and say "we're done".
David
Vivek Chudgar wrote:
> Correction - Level 2 and 3 merchants are also required to have
> external vuln scans by an ASV. Level 4 merchants are exempt but their
> acquirer can still require them to be scanned by an ASV.
>
> If a tool is just looking for ports 22,23,25,80 and 445 for service
> discovery, I highly doubt if it can pass the certification
> requirement.
>
> You are also right about the level of automation possible. Manual
> verification is necessary to eleminate false positives.
>
> - Vivek
>
> On 12/17/06, David M. Zendzian <dmz@dmzs.com> wrote:
>> First, why are you looking for a PCI compliant tool?
>>
>> Second there are only 2 reasons to do vulnerability scanning. If you are
>> level 1 (merchant, service provider or hacked entity:) then you are
>> required to have external vulnerability scans by one of the authorized
>> scanning providers. There is no need here for software as the service
>> provider does all the work and provides you results.
>>
>> If you are looking to do your scans internally, there is no specific
>> needs outlined by PCI for internal vulnerability scans. PCI only says
>> you need to perform vulnerability scans. With that in mind, Nessus scans
>> work internally :)
>>
>> What are you trying to accomplish?
>>
>> David (Visa-QDSP)
>>
>> 09sparky@gmail.com wrote:
>> > Thanks for all the great information (all). I am now wondering
>> though, if you use an automated tool (VA Scanner that claims to be PCI
>> compliant), does that mean whatever it finds and whatever it rates it
>> (i.e. HIGH), is the final word, and the company fails? I guess what I
>> am asking, I was under the impression that PCI scans could be much
>> automated and very little to no user intervention was required (unlike
>> a Vulnerability Assessment/Penetration test). However, many automated
>> tools have false positives. Doesn't a company fail if they have any
>> "HIGH" findings? With that said, are you required to go through each
>> finding and validate? If so, then you have just turned it into a
>> Vulnerability Assessment.
>> >
>> > Also, The Automated Tool I have been evaluating claims to be PCI
>> compliant. However, for its discovery phase, it only uses ports
>> 22,23,25,80 and 445. Upon finding any Host with these ports open, it
>> will then run a common port scan. Is this way off? What do most of
>> you do for host discovery (i.e. nmap scans of what ports? or different
>> tools?
>> >
>> > Any thoughts?
>> > Thanks,
>> > Sparky
>> >
>> >
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