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Difficulty: EasyVulnerability Scanning and Assessment

A security analyst needs to assess internal enterprise workstations for missing operating system patches and local configuration weaknesses without sending administrative credentials across the network during the scan. Which of the following scanning methods should the analyst deploy to achieve this goal?

  1. Agent-based vulnerability scanningAnswer
  2. B
    Non-credentialed network vulnerability scanning
  3. C
    Passive network traffic monitoring
  4. D
    Web application vulnerability scanning

Answer

Agent-based vulnerability scanning provides direct host-level visibility into missing patches and local configurations without requiring administrative credentials over the network.
Agent-based scanning installs a lightweight agent directly on target endpoints. Because the agent runs locally within the operating system, it can thoroughly audit installed updates, local registry keys, and software configurations without transmitting domain or host credentials over the network.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary assessment requirements.
The target environment requires host-level patch inspection without transmitting elevated network authentication credentials.
Transmitting administrative credentials over network segments introduces unnecessary security risk.
2
Compare scanning implementation architectures.
Agent-based scanners run locally with elevated host permissions, retrieving accurate patch data without relying on network authentication protocols.
Local agents execute internal checks directly on the endpoint and transmit encrypted findings back to a management console.

Key Concept

Agent-based vs. network-based vulnerability scanning
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Topics

Vulnerability Scanning and Assessment

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