Tenable's Nessus – Vulnerability Scanning & Risk Scoring

In this project, I used Tenable's Nessus to perform a vulnerability scan on my personal computer. The scan identified a range of security issues across various severity levels.

I addressed the vulnerabilities through patching and configuration updates, then ran a follow-up scan to confirm resolution. This project provided hands-on experience with vulnerability management, risk assessment, and remediation workflows using professional-grade security tools.

Tenable Nessus Background Information.

Slide 1 Slide 2 Slide 3

Tenable Nessus Hands-on Experience.

Creating Account
1. Gain access to a free trial, only available with a business email.
Check Checksum
2. Verify the checksum, then download Tenable Nessus.
Verify Hash
3. Verified checksum matches — we are good to go.
Install Enter
4. Connect via SSL.
Nessus Essentials
5. Register for Nessus Essentials (the free version).
Dashboard Load
6. Dashboard view — plugins take a while to compile.
Network Scan
7. Scan my network for hosts.
Discovery Complete
8. Discovery complete — ready to scan hosts.
Scan Complete
9. Scan complete — an overview of findings.
Scan Results
10. Analyze vulnerabilities and suggested solutions.
Implement Fix SecPol
11. Implement fixes via secpol.msc (Security Policies).
Implement Fix Regedit
12. Additional fixes applied via regedit.
Post Fix Scan
13. Rescan confirms reduced vulnerabilities on our host.