Learn how Tenable One Cloud Exposure helps you unmask the sophisticated tactics of cybercrime group Storm-0501, which carries out Azure-based cloud ransomware campaigns. Tenable One Cloud Exposure uses AI-powered threat stories to expose Storm-0501 TTPs, backed by precision-engineered threat detecti…
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Tenable Nessus
Tenable · Vulnerability Management
The world's most widely deployed vulnerability scanner
Overview
Tenable Nessus is a vulnerability scanner that identifies security weaknesses across your network, servers, endpoints, cloud infrastructure, and web applications. Nessus Essentials is free for up to 16 IPs; Nessus Professional covers unlimited scanning for SMBs.
UK Pricing
Nessus Essentials: Free (16 IPs). Nessus Professional: ~£3,200/yr. Tenable.io for enterprise.
Target Size
Any size — Essentials free tier suitable for smaller environments
Why Use It
Nessus is the benchmark vulnerability scanner. For UK businesses aiming for Cyber Essentials Plus or ISO 27001, regular vulnerability scanning is required — Nessus provides the audit trail and compliance reports needed.
Why Not
OpenVAS (free) and Qualys (cloud-native) are alternatives. If you're already in the Microsoft ecosystem, Defender Vulnerability Management (included in MDE Plan 2) may remove the need for a separate scanner.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Industry-standard vulnerability detection — most comprehensive plugin library
- Free Essentials tier for small environments
- Covers network devices, servers, cloud, containers, and web apps
- Clear severity ratings with CVSS scores and remediation guidance
- Audit and compliance templates for CIS, DISA, GDPR, and more
Cons
- Scanning can impact network performance if not scheduled carefully
- Professional licence is expensive for SMBs vs. free alternatives
- Results require skilled interpretation to prioritise effectively
- No built-in remediation workflow — integrates with ticketing tools
- Cloud-native environments require Tenable.io (higher cost)
How to Get the Most Out of It
- Run credentialed scans — they find 2–5x more vulnerabilities than unauthenticated scans
- Schedule scans during off-peak hours to minimise network impact
- Integrate with your ticketing system (Jira, ServiceNow) to auto-create remediation tickets
- Use compliance templates to scan against Cyber Essentials and CIS Benchmark controls
- Prioritise remediation by EPSS (exploitability) score, not just CVSS severity
AI: What's New
Claude AI# What's New in Tenable Nessus
• **Cloud ransomware detection for Azure environments** – Tenable One now includes dedicated cloud detection and response capabilities specifically for Azure, letting you identify ransomware threats directly in your cloud infrastructure rather than relying solely on traditional network scanning.
• **Agentic AI automation for remediation** – Tenable Hexa AI introduces automated, AI-driven remediation routines that can take action on vulnerabilities without manual intervention, reducing your mean-time-to-remediation and the manual ticket management burden.
• **Enhanced AI-powered code scanning** – The new Claude Mythos integration provides deeper code vulnerability analysis (built on 500+ hours of Tenable testing), improving detection accuracy for application-layer exposures beyond traditional infrastructure scanning.
Latest News
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Tenable spent 30 days running frontier AI models against our own code. It didn’t just find bugs — it proved they’re real, with reproducible exploits. That fundamentally changes code security from ranking potential code defects to a much higher signal focused on the findings that matter. Read on to l…
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