Version 4.2 of vulnerability scanner Nessus released
The biggest change in the new version of Nessus, the popular vulnerability scanner, is that vendor Tenable has completely revamped the aging user interface. And that's not all – the Nessus client is now obsolete, with the Nessus server now offering a web based user interface which uses Flash, meaning that a browser can now be used as a client. Results from vulnerability scans will, in future, be stored on the server.
Pen testers can now log out of and then back into the Nessus server without interrupting scans in progress and multiple users can now log into the server simultaneously. A "compare" function simplifies comparisons between scans and the Nessus server is now less memory-hungry, executes analyses faster and requires less bandwidth for updating plug-ins. Other enhancements include a HTML export function, faster SYN port scanner and updated OpenSSL on Windows.
Nessus 4.2 now officially runs on Fedora 12, SUSE 10 Enterprise, Ubuntu 9.10 and FreeBSD 7 as well as all version of Windows, Mac OS X and various older Linux distributions. The downloadable installer weighs in at between 7 and 17 MB, depending on the platform. Use is free for private purposes, though a valid e-mail address is required for activation. Professional users will need to acquire a licence, which costs $1,200 for one year.
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