Configuring security scanning options

Use Scanner Options tab to configure the operational parameters of the security–scanning engine. These parameters are configurable on a scan profile by scan profile basis and define how the scanning engine will perform target discovery and OS Data querying.

Scanning Profiles properties: Scanner Options tab

Configurable options include timeouts, types of queries to run during target discovery, number of scanning threads count, SNMPSimple Network Management Protocol is a protocol for network management. It is used to collect information from network devices, such as servers, printers, hubs, switches, and routers. scopes for queries and more.

To configure scanner options:

1. From Scanning Profile Editor > Profile categories, select the category that contains the scanning profile you want to edit (example: Complete/Combination Scans).

2. From the Profiles section, select the scanning profile you want to edit (example: Full Vulnerability Assessment).

3. From the right pane, click Scanner Options.

4. Configure the following parameters that determine the scanning behavior of GFI LanGuard:

Parameter	Description
Network Discovery Methods
NetBIOS queries	Enable/disable the use of NetBios queries to discover network devices.
SNMP queries	Enable/disable the use of SNMP queries to discover network devices.
Ping sweep	Enable/disable the use of Ping sweeps to discover network devices.
Custom TCP discovery	Discover online machines by querying for the specified open TCP portsAcronym for Transmitting Control Protocol. This protocol is developed to allow applications to transmit and receive data over the internet using the well-known computer ports..
Network Discovery Options
Scanning delay	Key in the time interval (in milliseconds) between one scan and another.
Network discovery query responses timeout	Amount of time in milliseconds the security scanner will wait before timing out when performing a machine discovery query (NetBIOS/SNMP/Ping).
Number of retries	Number of times security scanner will retry to connect to a non-responsive machine before skipping it.
Include non-responsive computers	Run scans on all the PCs regardless of whether they are detected as being online or not.
Perform a TCP port probing in order to detect mobile devices	Perform a TCP port probing in order to detect mobile devices using known ports.
Network Scanner Options
Scanning threads count	Key in the number of scan threads that can run simultaneously.
NetBIOS Query Options
Scope ID	Used for NetBIOS environments requiring a specific scope ID in order to allow querying.
SNMP Query Options
Load SNMP enterprise numbers	Specifies whether security scanner should use the OID (Object Identifier database) containing ID to Vendor map to identify the various types of devices.
Community strings	Specifies whether security scanner should use the specified community string for SNMP server detection and information retrieval.
Global Port Query Options
TCP port scan query timeout	Amount of time in milliseconds security scanner will wait during a TCP port scan before timing out and moving on to scan the next port.
UDP port scan query timeout	Amount of time in milliseconds security scanner will wait during a UDP port scan before timing out and moving on to scan the next port.
WMI Options
WMI timeout	Amount of time in milliseconds security scanner will wait for a reply from the remote WMI server before timing out and moving on to the next scan item.
SSH Options
SSH timeout	Amount of time in milliseconds security scanner will wait for a SSH script to return before timing out and moving on to the next scan item.
Alternative SSH port	Alternative SSH ports to use when the default port 22 is unreachable.
Scanner activity window
Type of scanner activity output	Activity progress modes: simple (basic progress - start / stop of operations), or verbose (more detailed information on process flow).
Display received packets	Output TCP packets in raw format as they were received by security scanner.
Display sent packets	Output TCP packets in raw format as they were sent by security scanner.
OS Information Retrieval Options
Create custom share if administrative privileges are disabled	If administrative shares are disabled the scanner will temporarily create a custom hidden share of the form <random GUID>$. The share is used to retrieve data that helps identifying vulnerabilities and missing patches.
Start remote registry	If the remote registry service is stopped on the scanned machine, enable this option to temporarily open it during the security scanning.