Tools & Technology

Qualys vs Tenable for Vulnerability Management

Qualys and Tenable are some of the prominent cybersecurity companies. They offer vulnerability management tools amongst their other products. Qualys has a vulnerability management tool called Qualys VMDR (Vulnerability Management, Detection, and Response ), while Tenable offers three: Tenable.io, Nessus, and Tenable.sc. In this article, we will better understand the vulnerability tools, their features, pros and cons, who they are for, and their alternatives.

Qualys VMDR

Qualys developed cybersecurity software that aims to help companies manage their information technology details. This product, known as the vulnerability management, detection, and response (VMDR), helps simplify the whole vulnerability management cycle- ranging from the prioritization and remediation, down to asset discovery and assessment. All these help guarantee that the safety teams can effectively handle and minimize threats.

Qualys VDMR Features

Real-Time Device Identification:

  • Through real-time network connectivity, Qualys VMDR can detect unregulated devices including malicious and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
  • Additionally, the Qualys VMDR, also swiftly adds the gadgets mentioned above to the virtual machine program which aids in thorough risk analysis
  • For a deeper comparison with other leading tools, such as Rapid7, you can explore our detailed analysis of Qualys vs Rapid7

Compliance Management:

  • Qualys VMDR helps produce data that assist firms in adhering to several regulatory standards, including GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS
  • It also aids in ensuring compliance by maintaining up-to-date and comprehensive asset inventories.

Comprehensive Asset Discovery:

  • Qualys VDMR helps identify every asset and helps assign them to designated business areas, including those resulting from buying or selling and subsidiaries.
  • To guarantee that no device is missed and to maintain an evolving, real-time inventory of all assets, Qualys VDMR automatically finds and lists all the assets within the network, encompassing physical, online cloud-based, and encapsulated environments.

Enhanced Asset Discovery:

  • To improve coverage and business context, Qualys VDMR discovers assets from sources such as BMC Helix, Active Directory, Webhook, and more. It gets data such as criticality, authorized support groups, device ownership, and asset vitality.

Efficient Workflow Integration

  • It simplifies patch tasks, application scanning, and asset management with a click.
  • It automates processes and generates executive-level risk reports via pre-built connections with SecOps and IT systems.

Risk Prioritization with TruRisk™

  • Qualys VMDR tags and rates the criticality of assets based on operational, regulatory, and industrial requirements.
  • It reduces Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR) and enhances cyber-threat reporting.

Continuous CMDB Updates:

  • To maintain an exhaustive inventory of all internal and external assets, Qualys VDMR regularly refreshes the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This covers cyber risk scenarios such as end-of-life (EoL) and End-of-Service (EoS) statuses, expired SSL certificates, and missing security agents.
  • Qualys VDMR also assigns tickets automatically with a 96% accuracy based on Qualys tags.

Tech Debt Management:

  • By recognizing out-of-date or outdated software, missing essential applications, and unauthorized software, Qualys VDMR reduces attack surface.
  • Additionally, Qualys VDMR swiftly controls technology debt to lower weaknesses and strengthen security posture.

Qualys VDMR Pricing

  • Depending on the plan, Qualys VDMR costs anywhere from $128 to $542 a month.

Pros of Qualys VMDR

  • Scheduled Scans for Proactive Security: With the scheduled scans provided by Qualys VMDR, IT assets can be proactively checked for threats. Hence, routinely evaluating security posture firms are empowered to ward off possible threats.
  • Real-Time Threat Detection and Response: Through Qualys VMDR's real-time threat detection capabilities, enterprises can quickly identify and address new threats. By taking a proactive stance, vulnerabilities are lessened and the organization's defenses against cyberattacks are strengthened.
  • Simplified Compliance Management: Streamlined compliance procedures and automated reporting help reduce the workload associated with regulatory obligations. By utilizing automated assessments and reporting, Qualys VMDR ensures conformance to regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
  • Comprehensive Security Visibility: Clients gain from having complete visibility over all of their IT assets, such as workstations, servers, network equipment, and apps. This visibility lowers blind spots and improves overall security by assisting in the identification of vulnerabilities throughout the whole infrastructure.

Cons of Qualys VMDR

  • High Cost: The initial investment and regular upkeep of Qualys VMDR can be costly, particularly for startups or those with limited budgets. Also, given that many modules of the Qualys VMDR must be licensed to provide broad management, the investment in infrastructure and licensing might demand meticulous thought and budget planning.
  • Additional Tools Required for Complete Vulnerability Management: Although Qualys VMDR offers strong vulnerability assessment capabilities, companies would still require additional tools, like specialized patch management solutions, for thorough vulnerability management. This may increase the security's complexity and expense.
  • Limited Integration: Despite Qualys VMDR's integration with several IT and security products, some users have expressed their dissatisfaction with the degree of integration with platforms or custom solutions, claiming that it still needs to be enhanced. This might make adoption less seamless.
  • Complexity: It might be difficult to manage and configure Qualys VMDR, especially for companies without a specialized cybersecurity team. Expertise and training are needed for scheduling and optimizing remediation workflows and scanning policies.
  • Slow: Qualys VMDR's scanning and reporting procedures can occasionally be seen as being sluggish, particularly when working with large-scale systems or intricate IT infrastructures. This may affect how quickly risk assessments and remediation actions are completed.

Nessus

One of the known Tenable's vulnerability management tools is Nessus. It is a vulnerability scanner well-known for its thorough vulnerability detection capabilities and is frequently used in the industry for vulnerability assessments. Nessus can only scan for vulnerabilities and not prioritize or fix them; other tools are required to create a vulnerability management program.

Features

Scanning Capability

  • To harden systems and find missing updates, the Nessus vulnerability scanning application supports IPv4, IPv6, hybrid networks, and credentialed and non-credentialed scanning.
  • Nessus effectively finds assets in the network thanks to its fast asset discovery feature.
  • In terms of vulnerability screening, Nessus also complies with PCI DSS (Payment Screening Industry Data Security Standard).

Tenable Nessus examines a range of assets, systems, and gadgets, including:

  1. Network Devices: Firewalls, routers, switches, printers, and storage devices.
  2. Virtualization Platforms: VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen Server.
  3. Operating Systems: Windows, OS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, Cisco iOS, IBM iSeries.
  4. Databases: Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, DB2, Informix/DRDA, PostgreSQL, MongoDB.
  5. Web Applications: Web servers, web services, OWASP vulnerabilities.
  6. Cloud Applications and Instances: Salesforce, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace.

Reporting and Monitoring

  • Reports gotten from Nessus are configurable and can be arranged according to host or vulnerability. Also, an overview and an analysis of the scan findings are included to show the changes. These reports can also be exported in XML, CSV, PDF, and HTML forms.
  • Nessus also provides visual dashboards that enable uninterrupted monitoring and analysis by giving continuous insight into risk measurements and threats.
  • Along with providing users with notifications about scan results, Nessus also repairs suggestions and configuration enhancements, it also provides customized email notifications.
  • For a deeper comparison with other leading tools, such as Rapid7, you can explore our detailed analysis of Rapid7 vs Tenable

Compliance and Threat Management

  • System checking, access restrictions, PCI DSS, and other business and regulatory needs are all fully supported by Tenable Nessus.
  • Alongside detecting malware, viruses, and interaction with Bonet-infected computers, Nessus also checks for Bonet, malicious, process, and firewall status.

Deployment and Management

  • Tenable Nessus can be installed on-site or in a cloud-hosted by a service provider, and it can be implemented as software, hardware, or virtual appliances.
  • Nessus correlates with exploit frameworks such as Metasploit and it also ranks vulnerabilities using the CVSS score with configurable severity levels.
  • Additionally, Nessus facilitates process integration via Restful-API integration.

Pricing

  • Tenable charges $4289.25 for the pro license of the Nessus product and $6439.35 for the Nessus expert license annually.

Pros of Nessus

  • Comprehensive Vulnerability Detection: Nessus is well known for its comprehensive vulnerability detection ability. As a user, you will gain access to its large database of known vulnerabilities, ensuring that your systems are thoroughly inspected and that any potential security flaws are found. This thorough detection assists in protecting a network from all types of threats.
  • Low False Positive: Nessus's low false positive rate is one of its most notable characteristics. This implies that a potential vulnerability detected by Nessus is almost certainly a real problem. This precision helps ensure that firms don’t waste their vital time and energy and can concentrate on real threats instead of investigating false alerts.
  • Flexible Scan Configuration: Nessus provides incredibly versatile options for configuring scans. As a customer, you can personalize scans to meet your unique requirements. This includes changing the scans' depth, planning scans for convenient times, and focusing on network parts. This adaptability guarantees that vulnerability management procedures are customized to the needs of individual companies.

Cons of Nessus

  • Lack of Automation: One prominent aspect in which Nessus is lacking is automation. Advanced automation tools that certain rivals offer, and which might help to expedite vulnerability management procedures are absent from Nessus. As a Nessus customer, you will be spending more time on manual processes that could have been automated to increase productivity, such as starting scans and monitoring remedial attempts.
  • Limited to Scanning: Although Nessus is an excellent tool for thoroughly scanning systems for vulnerabilities, it is not equipped with sophisticated features like risk prioritization, remediation tracking, or automated workflows. As a result, extra tools or manual processes are frequently needed to prioritize and address vulnerabilities in an efficient manner, which could result in inefficiencies and an increased workload for security teams.
  • Limited Risk Prioritization: Nessus's restricted ability to prioritize risks is another flaw it possesses. Although it finds vulnerabilities well, it doesn't offer strong capabilities for ranking them according to danger. This means that your team might need to devote additional time and resources to identifying which vulnerabilities offer the biggest threat to your firm and IT should be addressed first.

Ideal for:

  • Small to medium-sized businesses.
  • Teams with limited security personnel.
  • Organizations focused on compliance.

Tenable.io

Tenable created the cloud-based vulnerability management tool Tenable.io. It includes all of Nessus's features, such as customizable scan setup, compliance and threat management, reporting and monitoring, and more, but it also has extra features designed for enterprise settings.

Features:

Cloud-Based Platform:

  • Scalability: Tenable.io is very scalable due to its cloud-native architecture, which can meet the demands of expanding businesses.
  • Accessibility: It is perfect for remote work situations and dispersed teams because it can be accessed from any location.

Integrated Asset Management:

  • Unified View: gives users a single, comprehensive picture of all assets and the vulnerabilities connected to them through asset identification and management.
  • Dynamic Asset Tracking: maintains current vulnerability data by automatically tracking and updating asset information.

Container Security:

  • Container Scanning: includes specialized tools designed to meet the needs of current infrastructure, such as scanning and safeguarding containerized environments.

Pros of Tenable.io

Tenable.io offers all of Tenable Nessus's advantages along with a few more, such as:

  • Scalability and Accessibility: The tremendous scalability and accessibility of cloud-based platforms are available from anywhere.
  • Dynamic Asset Tracking: Tenable guarantees current, correct, and real-time asset information for efficient risk management.
  • Integrated Asset Management: it offers a unified administration and view of all network resources, guaranteeing that no resource is missed.
  • Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Making well-informed decisions is aided by a profound understanding of risk trends and vulnerabilities.

Cons of Tenable.io

  • Expensive: Tenable.io is known for being more expensive than Nessus and some other vulnerability management industry competitors. Smaller businesses or those with tighter security budgets may find this pricing structure expensive, making it less affordable than other options.
  • Complexity for Smaller Organizations: The vast features and capabilities of the platform may prove difficulties for smaller firms with few security personnel or inadequate knowledge of vulnerability management to utilize. For teams with limited resources, managing and configuring Tenable.io may need a major time and resource commitment to fully realize its potential.
  • Mostly scanning, some prioritization: While the Tenable.io platform offers valuable information, some users believe that its risk-prioritizing capabilities are restricted because it doesn't always provide explicit instructions on which vulnerabilities should be fixed first, according to risk. This may make it difficult for security teams to prioritize vulnerability fixes based on risk, which could result in less effective remediation efforts.
  • Non-Intuitive UI: Consumers have expressed dissatisfaction with Tenable.io's user interface (UI). For new users, this could mean a challenging learning curve that takes more training to successfully navigate. Additionally, a less intuitive user interface (UI) can hinder workflows and lower user satisfaction in general, especially when compared to rivals that provide more user-friendly interfaces.

Ideal for

  • Medium and Large enterprises with complex IT environments.
  • Security-conscious organizations that need continuous monitoring.
  • Companies with significant cloud infrastructure.
  • Organizations focused on compliance.

Conclusion

Qualys VMDR and Tenable.io are strong in vulnerability scanning, maybe one of the best in the market but their remediation capabilities fall short for organizations needing a comprehensive solution. As a result, these organizations often need to buy additional tools for remediation. Vicarius vRx fills this gap with a unique focus on remediation, providing a unified solution for Vulnerability Management.

Alternative to Qualys VMDR and Tenable

vRx is an all-in-one vulnerability management tool. It focuses on proactive vulnerability assessment and remediation without relying solely on traditional patching.

Why vRx?
  • vRx provides comprehensive vulnerability management by integrating assessment, prioritization, and remediation tools into a single platform.
  • It features a user-friendly interface designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, catering to users of all skill levels.
  • The platform offers continuous monitoring, ensuring real-time assessment of vulnerabilities without the need for scheduled scans.
  • vRx employs proactive security measures such as vulnerability prediction and patchless protection to mitigate threats before they become known.
  • It supports both automated and manual remediation, allowing organizations to install prioritized updates across operating systems and applications as needed.
  • Advanced risk-scoring capabilities combine contextual data with external sources to provide accurate CVSS calculations for each threat, including applications.
  • vRx's Patchless Protection tool rapidly secures high-risk applications and blocks incoming exploitation attempts, enhancing overall security posture.
  • By mitigating vulnerabilities without immediate patches, vRx reduces downtime and operational disruptions associated with traditional patching methods.
  • It seamlessly integrates with existing IT infrastructures and security tools, ensuring compatibility and enhancing the overall security ecosystem.
  • Automation of vulnerability management processes optimizes resource allocation and improves cost efficiency for organizations.
  • vRx helps organizations maintain regulatory compliance by effectively managing vulnerabilities and providing audit-ready documentation.
  • Vicarius also has a community-driven platform called vsociety that focuses on sharing knowledge, tools, and best practices related to cybersecurity and vulnerability management

Reference

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/15hb86m/thoughts_on_rapid_7/?onetap_auto=true&one_tap=truehttps://www.vicarius.io/

https://www.tenable.com/sites/drupal.dmz.tenablesecurity.com/files/datasheets/NessusPro-(DS)-EN-v4.pdf

https://www.tenable.com/products/vulnerability-management

https://www.trustradius.com/products/tenable-vulnerability-management/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons#reviews

https://www.vicarius.io/competitors/vrx-vs-tenable-nessus

https://www.vicarius.io/competitors/vrx-vs-qualys-vmdr

https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/vulnerability-assessment/vendor/qualys/product/qualys-vmdr

https://cdn2.qualys.com/docs/mktg/vulnerability-management-datasheet.pdf

https://www.capterra.com/p/82971/QualysGuard-Enterprise/reviews/

https://www.trustradius.com/products/qualys-vmdr/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons#overview

Rhoda Smart

Subscribe for more

Get more infosec news and insights.
1000+ members

Turn security converstains into remediation actions