Before you can fix security problems, you need to know they exist. Automated vulnerability scanning is the most cost-effective way to get a clear picture of your security exposure. It checks your servers, applications, network devices and cloud configurations against databases of known vulnerabilities and common misconfigurations, producing a prioritised report of what needs attention.

What vulnerability scanning finds

Missing security patches - the single most common vulnerability in any environment. Scanning identifies servers, applications and libraries running outdated versions with known CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), ranked by severity so you know which patches to apply first.

Misconfigured services - default credentials, unnecessary open ports, exposed administration interfaces, weak TLS configurations and permissive CORS policies. These are not software bugs - they are configuration oversights that attackers routinely exploit.

Known application vulnerabilities - scanning identifies web application issues including SQL injection vectors, cross-site scripting opportunities, directory traversal paths, exposed error messages and information leakage through headers or metadata.

SSL/TLS weaknesses - expired certificates, weak cipher suites, protocol downgrade vulnerabilities and certificate chain issues that compromise encrypted communications.

Cloud configuration issues - publicly accessible storage buckets, overly permissive IAM policies, unencrypted resources and security group misconfigurations in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud environments.

How it differs from full penetration testing

Vulnerability scanning is automated, fast and repeatable. A scan of your external infrastructure typically completes within hours and can be scheduled to run regularly. It identifies the known, well-documented vulnerabilities that represent the majority of successful attacks.

Full penetration testing is manual, conducted by security professionals who think like attackers. They chain multiple minor vulnerabilities together, exploit business logic flaws, attempt social engineering and test defences that automated tools cannot assess. A full pen test takes days to weeks and delivers deeper findings.

We recommend starting with automated scanning to establish your baseline and address the most common issues, then progressing to full penetration testing for critical systems where the stakes justify the deeper investigation. Many clients run automated scans quarterly and full pen tests annually.

What you receive

A prioritised vulnerability report that categorises findings by severity (critical, high, medium, low) with specific remediation guidance for each issue. We do not deliver a raw tool output - we review the results, remove false positives and provide clear recommendations your team can act on.

For clients on our managed security services, we can handle the remediation directly - applying patches, fixing configurations and retesting to confirm the vulnerabilities are resolved.