Nessus: User Guide
Table of Contents
- Updating Nessus
- Adding Credentials
- Adding an Audit File
- Creating a Policy
- Creating an Active Scan
- Scheduling a Scan
- Exporting Scan Results
- Reviewing DISA STIG and SCAP Benchmark Compliance
Adding Credentials
- Click-on “Scans > Credentials”
- Click-on “Add a Credential” or “+ Add” (top-right)
- Select “Password”
- Provide the following details and click-on “Submit”
- Name:
Windows-Admin-for-Nessus
- Username:
miles.dyson
- Password:
ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive1984
- Name:
Adding an Audit File
Audit Files are the baselines you want to measure a machine against.
- Click-on “Scans > Audit Files”
- Click-on “Add an Audit File” or “+ Add” (top-right)
- Select “Windows”
- Select the baseline to relevant the machine (ex:
DISA Windows Server 2012...
) - Provide the following details and click-on “Submit”
- Name:
Baseline: Server 2012 R2 (v2)
- Logon Window Caption:
Notice and Consent Banner
- Logon Window Text:
You are accessing a Cyberdyne Systems (CS) machine that is provided for CS-authorized use only.
- NTP Server:
ntp1.sky.net
- Name:
Creating a Policy
Policies represent what kind of scan you want to run. For example, you may want to perform a simple “host discovery” scan or audit known-machines for compliance.
- Click-on “Scans > Policies”
- Click-on “Add a Policy” or “+ Add” (top-right)
- Select which kind of scan you want to run (ex:
SCAP and OVAL Auditing
) - Provide the following details and click-on “Submit”
- Name:
Policy: Audit via SCAP Definitions
- Compliance:
Baseline: Server 2012 R2 (v2)
- Name:
Creating an Active Scan
- Click-on “Scans > Active Scans”
- Click-on “Add an Active Scan” or “+ Add” (top-right)
- Provide the following details and click-on “Submit”
- Name:
Weekly Baseline Compliance Audit
- Policy:
Policy: Audit via SCAP Definitions
- Schedule - Frequency:
Weekly
- Import Repository:
Repository-California
- Max scan duration (hours):
3
- Target Type:
IP / DNS Name
- IPs / DNS Names:
192.168.1.0/24
- IPs / DNS Names:
- Credentials:
Windows-Admin-for-Nessus
- Name:
Scheduling a Scan
- Click-on “Scans > Active Scans”
- Click-on the play-button next to the Active Scan you previously created
- Click-on “Scans > Scan Results” and wait for your scan to complete
Exporting Scan Results
- Click-on “Scans > Scan Results”
- Click-on the gear next to the scan you previously ran
- Click-on “Download SCAP XML”
- Extract the downloaded .xml file
Reviewing DISA STIG and SCAP Benchmark Compliance
- Download SCAP benchmarks and the DISA STIG Viewer
- Run a
SCAP and OVAL Auditing
scan - Do the following using the DISG STIG Viewer:
- Import the SCAP benchmark
- Create a checklist
- Import the XCCDF file (the scan results exported as an .xml file)