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Advanced Port Scanner. Advanced Port Scanner is a small, very fast, robust and easy-to-use Port Scanner. Powered with multithread scan technology, Advanced Port Scanner can scan hundreds of ports in just a few seconds! Also, it contains descriptions for common ports and can perform scans on predefined port ranges. Advanced Port Scanner application is free to download and offers easy-to-install, easy-to-use, secure, and reliable File Transfer and Networking applications. Advanced Port Scanner is a very fast, small, compact and innovative Freeware File Transfer and Networking for Windows PC. Advanced Port Scanner is the act of port scanning with some more abilities then just to detect if port is open on close, it will also try to detect the service that is after the open port. With lots of new security threats coming in daily, protecting your system and digital files is more than important.
Port scanners are some of the most useful tools when you are starting your security investigation on any remote or local network. Before jumping into the top five most popular port scanners tools used in the infosec field, let's learn what is a port scanner and learn how port scanners work.
Used by programmers, system and network administrators, these tools are applications designed to scan servers and hosts in order to check what available ports are being used for network communications.
Once the scan has finished, you can run other security penetration and exploit tests in order to verify how strong are the current security policies.
What is a port scanner?
A port scanner (also known as network scanner), is a software application used in cybersecurity and IT industries to scan networks, hosts, or IP addresses looking for open ports, closed ports, or filtered ports.
Port scanners are among the top cybersecurity tools used by researchers, security teams, and ethical hackers to diagnose network issues, audit networks, run penetration testing, and perform vulnerability scanning tasks.
How do port scanners work?
All port scanners operate in a very basic way:
- Send a request to a remote or local TCP or UDP port
- Wait for the response
- Record the response from the host as 'open', 'filtered', or 'closed'
A popular use case of port scanning is to scan for 3306 port for example, after you installed and started MySQL server to see if it's showing as 'open'.In plain English, a port scanner works by sending network packets and waiting for a response.
1. Nmap
Nmap stands for 'Network Mapper', it is the most popular network discovery and port scanner in the history.
It's a free and open source application used by system administrators, devops and network engineers for security auditing on local and remote networks.
Available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS, it can be run from the classic command line terminal, or by using a GUI interface.
Nmap features
- Active Port scanning: allows you to scan and discover open ports on specific networks/hosts.
- Host discovery: lets you identify potential hosts that are responding to network requests.
- OS detection: used to discover operating system name and version, along with network details where the host is running.
- Application version detection: nmap can also be used to determine what kind of apps are running and along with the version number.
Installing Nmap
Let's see how Nmap can be installed on the most popular Linux distros, as well as for MacOS users:
CentOS/RHEL based distros:
Ubuntu/Debian users:
For MacOS:
or
Windows users should read these instructions.
Nmap scan examples
Detecting connected devices on the network
For this we will use
-sP
parameters, this will send ICMP and ARP packets to all possible addresses inside the 192.168.2.0/24 range.Once finished will show you a resume revealing the devices found in that range.
This simple command will send various packets (ARP, ICMP, etc.) to every address within the
192.168.1.0/24
range, and will report any devices that respond. The results will look similar to those in the example below:Scanning specific ports
Once you have a defined host to scan, you can go against a specific port range (between 1 and 65535), for example:
As you see here, we have ports 21, 80 and 443 open to the public.
This is just a tiny example of how nmap can be used to discover network services and scan remote ports, start reading the official docs https://nmap.org/docs.html to learn more advanced nmap techniques.
2. Unicornscan
Unicornscan is the second most popular free port scanner after Nmap. It's widely known because of its asynchronous TCP and UDP scanning capabilities, along with non-common network discovery patterns that provide alternative ways to explore details about remote operating systems and services.
Unicornscan features
- Asynchronous stateless TCP scanning.
- Asynchronous UDP scanning.
- IP port scanner and service detection.
- Remote operating system detection.
- Enable multiple modules from command-line
Installing Unicornscan
The best suggestion to run Unicornscan is to grab it from the free tools included at Kali Linux distribution, although you can also install it on the most popular Linux distros:
For Ubuntu/Debian users:
Download the source code:
For Fedora users:
Unicornscan scan examples
Let's see what Unicornscan has to offer, for this we will type:
unicornscan --help
, and we will get the full list of available optionsUnicornscan uses a really simple syntax. Let's try our first basic TCP SYN scan:
Scan multiple hosts:
Now we will scan the entire /24 range, but try to detect which one has telnet open (port 23):
And if you want to send a fake the scan source IP address you just need to add the -s argument, as you see below:
In this case, we scanned the full /24 range that belongs to www.securitytrails.com IP range, and a service detection against 80 port.
Need more unicorn examples? The old beloved man page is always there to help you:
3. Angry IP Scan
Angry IP scanner is our third recommended port scan tool for network discovery. It's popular for its fast scanning speed thanks to its multi-thread approach separating each scan.
It's also free and multiplatform, available for Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems.
Angry IP scanner main features include:
- Download and run, no installation needed.
- Scan for open ports on any remote network.
- Webserver & NetBIOS information detection.
- Export scan results into TXT, XML or CSV files.
- Easy plugin integration with Java language.
Installing Angry IP scanner
Angry IP scanner can be installed on Windows, Linux, and MacOS, all the required packages can be downloaded from the official website.
Advanced Port Scanner 2
Ubuntu/Debian:
CentOS/RHEL/Fedora:
Angry IP scanner scan examples
Open up a terminal and type
ipscan
.From there you will be launching a GUI that will help you to scan hosts from a friendly human interface:
As you see you will be able to specify an IP to scan, or even scan a random IP from the selector at the upper-right corner.
Hit start and let the fun begin. Once completed you will get the full stats including total scan time, average time per host, the number of hosts scanned, and how many are alive.
4. Netcat
Netcat is one of the oldest network tools in the 'Unixverse', it's been there since 1995, and the last official version is from 2004. Although it has many forks and variants that work pretty well on modern operating systems, like ncat from the Nmap suite, or this alternative Netcat version from Mike Frysinger.
While their creators always claimed that Netcat was just a read and write UDP / TCP tool, it can be used for a very wide range of objectives, like open remote connections, tunneling and proxying, run remote commands, as well as port scanning.
Netcat features:
- Built-in port-scanning capabilities.
- TCP and UDP port scan support.
- Verbose port scanning.
- Read command line arguments from standard input.
- Forks available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Installing Netcat
Installing netcat on Ubuntu/Debian:
Installing netcat on CentOS/RHEL/Fedora:
Netcat scan examples
Establish a connection to a remote port if open:
As you see, netcat was able to reach 22 port and establish the connection successfully.
UDP port connections are also allowed with netcat, as you can see in the next example:
Netcat also has the ability to open a remote backdoor on the target system for 5000ms, see below:
This will open the backdoor on port 54321 on the local system, then we will have to open a connection to gain system access:
This technique is widely used by penetration testers, and by malicious crackers.
Take a look at
ncat --help
option if you want to learn more examples about how to use netcat.5. Zenmap
Zenmap is not a new port scanner, but the official NMAP Front End interface (GUI). For those who are not familiar with command line terminals, Nmap creators launched this GUI release that will allow you to scan remote hosts in a fancy and friendly way.
Zenmap features include:
- Save scan results in a database.
- Search the results database.
- Compare current scan results with previous scans.
- Save port scan profiles for frequently used port discovery options.
Installing Zenmap
Advanced Port Scanner V1.3
Ubuntu/Debian users:
CentOS/RHEL/Fedora users:
Zenmap scan examples
As we told before, Zenmap is just the front end human-friendly interface of Nmap, the classic network mapper that is present on almost every Linux distribution.
Zenmap has a pretty basic interface, that will allow you to run any scans like the command line version of Nmap, as you see in the following screenshot:
In the same way port scanners are useful tools to gather information about any target open ports, SecurityTrails is the perfect tool to integrate with your port scanner results, as it can reveal DNS server information, DNS records data associated with IPs and Domain names, technology used on web apps, as well as WHOIS and even DNS history.
Get a free API account today to unveil the full power of our intelligence cyber-security platform. And if you find anything interesting, remember we also have a cool bug bounty program waiting for you!
Esteban is a seasoned security researcher and cybersecurity specialist with over 15 years of experience. Since joining SecurityTrails in 2017 he’s been our go-to for technical server security and source intelligence info.
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Advanced port scanner provides visibility into what services is running in which port, the number of open ports, connected switches and helps secure networks from unauthorized access. As a network admin, scan your network for open ports, the switches to which these ports have been connected, the services running on them, and associate the known services with the identified services with advanced port scan. Advance port scan tool helps you verify if your services are accessible in the network. In addition, using port scanner, you can associate these ports with your network IP address space with an advanced IP scanner, to gain in-depth IP specific insights on your network interfaces.
OpUtils' advance port scanner
The advanced port scanning tool finds the status of ports in a network by attempting to connect to any open ports. Network port scanner enables admins to check if network configurations are set up according to the organization's security policies, and remedy them if they are in violation.
Advanced port scanner software features
Highlights of advanced port scanner
Real-time switch port mapping.
With networks becoming more and more dynamic, the number of switches and ports used to ensure stable network connectivity and information exchange between network resources increases. Network admins are in a constant need of a real-time advanced port scanner to stay up-to date with the status of the network ports, and the services running on them.
OpUtils' advanced port scanner software enables a network admin to efficiently perform this task by supporting port scanning features compatible with the existing network infrastructure. With advanced port scanning, a network admin can scan network ports in real time by manually adding switches, importing from a CSV file, or by discovering all the switches in the given IP range by performing a port scan. Once the switches have been added, the advanced port scanner software displays all the ports that are associated with the corresponding switches and their IPs with the help of network IP scanner.
A comprehensive summary of network ports.
OpUtils' advanced port scanner not only traces switches to ports but also continually scans network ports to provide full-fledged visibility into the status and working. The network admin can use advanced port scanner to conduct manual port scan or create automated port scan schedules to obtain real-time summary about the network ports. A network admin can also view the Port Summary by clicking on the port address. This summary displays the details of ifIndex (interface), ifName, ifDesc (description), ifType, Port Speed, Port Availability, Admin Status, and more.
Custom alerts and email notifications.
One of the susceptible entry points into the network by any intruder or rogue are the network ports. Since ports act as a medium that enables communication between the agents in a network, it becomes indispensable to deploy an advanced port scanner software that aid you proactively monitor network ports by raising port scan alerts in case of any undesirable events.
Advanced port scanner tool finds all network entry points available in a target device and helps to secure them. It raises alarms if there are any change in behaviour of the network ports. On port scanning, to make ensure effective troubleshooting, it supports mail servers, which can be configured to receive alerts via email notifications. This allows the network admin to monitor and diagnose a network issue more efficiently. Alerts are generated when:
- There is a change in the state of the port from Transient to Available.
- There is a change in the state of the port from Available to Used.
- Multiple devices are detected in the same port.
- The device connected to a port has been changed.
- Users move on the network.
Thus a diverse range of alerts helps the admin troubleshoot the port monitoring issues.
Advance port scanning widgets.
With advanced port scanner software, switching between tabs might not be an efficient solution when it comes to efficiently tracking network ports. To eliminate this hassle, OpUtils' real-time advance port scanner has a collection of widgets that provide crucial information about the state of the ports at a glance. These widgets regularly pull-out the results of advanced port scans conducted and consolidates them into an intuitive representation. This ensures that the data displayed to the user in the console is regularly refreshed and no stale or timed-out results are being displayed. Advanced port scanner guarantees that the port scan metrics being processed by the network admin are up-to date and reliable.
The widgets on the dashboard provide insights on:
Advanced Port Scanner For Mac
- Port Availability Summary.
- Port Availability Summary HeatMap.
- Top Ten Groups with Free ports.
- Top Ten Groups with occupied ports.
- Top Ten Switches with Free ports.
- Top Ten Switches with occupied port.
Administrative Interface enabling and disabling.
Advanced port Scan provides visibility into what service is running in a target port using port scan. Services listening to a port communicate with a client application, by exchanging data. Malicious agents can exploit this and gain unauthorized access in to the network. From the list of scanned ports, the network admin can enable or disable interfaces using the advanced port scanner tool. Unused interfaces or malicious interfaces in the network can be disabled using the advance port scanner tool to aid in efficient monitoring and management.
Advance network port scan scheduling.
This automates network scanning by allowing the admin to schedule network scans. Once scheduled, the advanced port scanner periodically scans the switches to discover new ports and report port state changes. Thus it automates the monotonous network scanning task.
Role-based access management.
Multiple users with access to port scanning and monitoring can be created. OpUtils' advance port scanner provides administrator and operator roles for users. These users can be managed by the IT administrator.
More on advanced port scan tool
Advance port scanning aids you in performing a network reconnaissance of your network ports and switches. On a large network, monitoring and managing open ports can be extremely time-consuming. On scanning ports with your local device, the results are limited because of firewalls and network restrictions. Network Scanning Tools on the other-hand, give you a comprehensive view of your network, integrating with your network architecture. An advanced port scanner tool helps you in the task by aiding,
Enabling End to end advanced port scanning:
Find open TCP or UDP ports in your network efficiently. An advanced port scanner software can continually scan your network and update you with the status of network ports, connected switches and the services running on them using port scan. This enables network admins to monitor and manage their network perimeter.
Eliminating manual switch port mapping:
Any given switch in a network is associated with a set of ports, and manually tracing and keeping note of them is a tedious process. On conducting a real time advance port scanning, it enables the network admin to receive detailed insight into switch port mapping without having to trace the cables manually.
Advanced port scanner probes the target ports in your network by sending an IP packet to each port. Based on the response from the ports, OpUtils' marks ports as open and listening or closed. This provides visibility into the available ports in your network, the services running on them, and the list of open ports. The advanced port scanner can also fetch information that can be used to identify the presence of security devices such as firewalls between the source and the target—a technique known as network fingerprinting.
Without having an efficient advanced port scanner tool, your network can open up to various threats. Ports left unmonitored may lead to various attacks on your network under monitor, including data breach. Using an advance network port scanner helps you avert these risks. With this tool you can quickly view and secure all the TCP/UDP ports and services in your network, that could be exploited for a network attack.
Risks of not using an advance port scanning tool:
Open port vulnerabilities:
Some ports might remain continually open, presenting a potential vulnerability to the network. An intruder can use this to wreak havoc in the normal flow of network operations.
Avoid data leakage:
Network ports have to be closely monitored by an effective advance port scanning tool in order to avoid any data leakage, and aid in securing communication between the computing processes.
Setting up an advanced port scanning tool like OpUtils can help you to virtually eliminate these risk vectors.
Getting started with OpUtils port scanner software
OpUtils offers features like switch port management, IP address tracker, network scanner, and 30+ network tools such as IP tools ,along with advanced port scanner tool. These help you to effectively monitor, scan, track, and troubleshoot your network environment.
If you are new to OpUtils, schedule a live demo with a product expert. We would be pleased to uncover all the advanced port scanner and switch port management features OpUtils has to offer, as well as answer your questions. Take a feature tour and explore how you can eliminate hassles of port scanning and IP address management with OpUtils.
Advanced Ip Scanner
Want to try-out OpUtils hands-on? Download a 30-day free trial and get started with OpUtils in as little as an hour! OpUtils seamlessly integrates in to your existing network environment without you having to make many changes to your network infrastructure.