I recently had the pleasure of adding another tool to the enterprise arsenal, Security Analyzer from NetIQ. For those of you who don't know, Security Analyzer was formerly a WebTrends product and believe me the quality of WebTrends has not been tampered with.

Security Analyzer is quite simply a vulnerability scanner. It is installed on Windows platforms however scans Linux/UNIX as well. It has one of the best databases I've ever seen and has a very effective and simple update process enabling it to be up to date at all times.

I had the pleasure to work with top-drawer consultant from NetIQ, Larry Hountz, for the initial installation and configuration of the product. However, the product is quite simple and can easily be taken on by any competent administrator. Configuration of the product is seamless allowing all sorts of customization, and the bullet files are written in PERL to boot! This makes it easy to create your own bullet files to scan for a unique item or vulnerability. Reporting is great for both the techies and management/executives.

If you have the green light to get a scanner for your NT/2000 platform, I recommend checking out NetIQ's Security Analyzer.