Nowadays, keeping your company safe from vulnerabilities is of paramount importance to ensure control of operational processes. As a result, many cyber security tools have emerged to address this task. Among them, the Tenable.io and Rapid7 stand out. But which one is right for your organization?
How to choose vulnerability management software?
A high-quality vulnerability management software should help you to perform complete and continuous scanning of your platforms.
For this, it is imperative that the program has multifunctional technology. Also, make sure you use integrations like Artificial Intelligence to detect malicious content and keep false positives to a minimum. In addition, the system needs to be automatic and easy to implement in order to complete all the requirements of a tool that is truly prepared for continuously evolving threats.
Finally, a software with its own reporting system is of vital importance. This is the only way to analyze the security of your company over time, and know in detail the vulnerable points of different assets, as well as follow the route of activities in the corporate network by your employees.
Cyber Security Tools: Tenable.io vs Rapid7
According to user reviews and Gartner ratings, Tenable.io and Rapid 7 are two of the most efficient and in-demand vulnerability tracking software on the market. These are some of its functions:
Tenable.io
Tenable.io is a cloud-based cyber security tool. It analyzes and describes the security risks of your infrastructure, effectively and precisely attacking its weak points.
This vulnerability management software includes Nessus, an engine that has a variety of plugins to scan for weaknesses. You can also analyze assest through MDM integrations.
In addition, Tenable.io has predefined templates made from SCADA policies, as well as malware data bases that work in conjunction with your antivirus, thus enhancing its benefits.
Finally, this system can run with PVS service, which makes a passive vulnerability scanner, giving you the possibility to have a full-time view of what is happening on your network.
Rapid7
Rapid7 helps you manage your network vulnerability by analyzing and monitoring malicious behavior. This, in order to attack it, reduces the risks and optimize the security of your channels. On the other hand, the users must create policies and credentials separately with this tool, which slows down the process.
Unlike Tenable.io, its inclusion in the cloud is partial, because it only host the dashboards.
Even so, its continuous monitoring agent simplifies vulnerability management work. Without a doubt, simplicity is a point in its favor, as it maintains an active process that allows you to know what is happening in your network anytime.
However, the complete scanning of a platform can take up to two hours, so speed is not exactly the strength of Rapid7.
What is the best IT security management tool?
A good cyber security tool has the following key points:
# 1 Asset coverage
A complete tool should have mechanisms that allow an integral view of the assets. A software can achieve this combining networked application diagnostics and container security centrally.
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Tenable.io
It offers the first solution that provides complete visibility into all types of IT resources. Integrates web system tracking with container security protocols and fast threat correction into a unified, easy-to-use cyber exposure platform.
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Rapid7
Allows general scanning of digital assets such as web applications and local systems. Rapid7 also remedies security holes and locks containers. On the other hand, its cloud connectors are based on an API connection, which requires local implementation of Nexpose to a cloud environment.
# 2 Vulnerability detection
Threat detection is at the heart of all vulnerability management software. In this sense, a strong tool has an active and agent-based analysis, supported by IO devices, which reduces the generation of vulnerabilities.
In addition, experts recommend to choose passive and continuous scanning solutions that can protect your entire environment non-intrusively and without disruption.
The software must have auditing and configuration policies for different assets and threat intelligence, because it can track the latest weaknesses of the Internet to safeguard your data.
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Tenable.io
Guarantees compliance with protocols. And at the same time, it offers intelligent connectors with instant detection of at-risk assets regardless of how they function and how long they are used. It also enables host data searches, passive and non-intrusive tracking, and includes agent-based analysis capabilities.
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Rapid7
It has active scans and agent-based enhanced with Threat Intelligence. However, it lacks the powers to protect systems through passive tracking. In this sense, IoT resources can be affected because vulnerability management methods are highly intrusive.
# 3 Automation
Automation reduces the workload on IT and Support departments. It is imperative to choose a cyber security tool capable of carrying out programmed and intelligent analyses. These use the context in which your technological resources are developed to produce more precise results.
It should also include integrations that show in real time what happens on the host, taking protection to the next level. On the other hand, we recommend tools with customized scanning parameters that help attack priority vulnerabilities.
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Tenable.io
Enables automated, customized vulnerability searching, early threat removal, and visualization of network activities. The data collected online by the Nessus monitor and the logging engine help provide additional and immediate context to active scans.
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Rapid7
It also offers contextual information module. However, you can only use this integration with manual labeling. Consequently, the reports that are obtained do not come from real-time analysis.
# 4 Results management
The efficiency of IT security tools can also be measured through their flexibility and ease of adaptation to the company. In other words: You must have a flexible license capable of working seamlessly in in-house software and cloud.
An ideal reporting management has specialized analyses in quality and security protocols, such as ISO and NIST.
These analyses allow the different departments to have control of the production operations and execution of online activities.
Similarly, the design of the dashboards plays a fundamental role in the total understanding of the vulnerabilities in the systems. Therefore, visually pleasing and modifiable dashboards are essential to improve comprehension in corporate presentations.
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Tenable.io
With a license adapted to all cloud and on-prem assets, Tenable enables customization of metric dashboards with HTML5 language; while offering IT administrators the ability to configure compliance modules to assess 24/7 the correct implementation of ISO, IEC, NIST, and NIST SP standards.
Includes easy-to-read executive reports that provide summarized and categorized information on vulnerabilities, incident severity, asset status, system exploitability, and recent remediations.
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Rapid7
The reporting license is limited to assets with Rapid7 Insight Agent. On the other hand, the Nexpose cyber exposure solution only works in on-premise software; while InsightVM is a hybrid architecture hosted in the cloud that requires on-prem environments for the use of the product.
Its dashboards are intuitive and customizable with HTML5 code, which allows the prioritization of metrics and reduces information silos. It also ensures security and quality protocol monitoring, although it cannot cover as many compliance regulations as the Tenable suite.
Need help choosing your next security software? At GB Advisors we are experts in the protection of IT resources and the implementation of new tools. Contact us for advice on Gartner and Forrester products.
