Vulnerability Management

Training Labs
 All Material contained herein is the Intellectual Property of Qualys and cannot be
reproduced in any way, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,
without the express written consent of Qualys, Inc.

Please be advised that all labs and tests are to be conducted within
The parameters outlined within the text. The use of other domains or IP addresses is
prohibited.

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Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 4
Prerequisites/System Requirements ....................................................................................................... 4
LAB 1 – Account Setup (15 min.) .................................................................................................................... 5
Add Initial Assets to Your Account ............................................................................................................ 8
Personalize Your Account .......................................................................................................................... 11
Context Sensitive Help/Online Manual................................................................................................. 13
LAB 2: KnowledgeBase Search List (30 min.) ......................................................................................... 15
LAB 3: Mapping (30 min.) ............................................................................................................................... 19
Mapping Targets ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Add Mapping Target..................................................................................................................................... 20
View and Use Map Results ......................................................................................................................... 22
Additional Exercises ..................................................................................................................................... 26
LAB 4: Asset Management (30 min.) .......................................................................................................... 29
Asset Group ..................................................................................................................................................... 30
Asset Tag........................................................................................................................................................... 37
Asset Management Application ............................................................................................................... 39
LAB 5: Vulnerability Scan (30 min.) ........................................................................................................... 46
Trusted Scanning........................................................................................................................................... 47
Additional Exercises ..................................................................................................................................... 53
LAB 6: Reporting (30 min.) ............................................................................................................................ 55
Additional Exercises ..................................................................................................................................... 63
LAB 7: User Management (10 min.) ............................................................................................................ 67
Create User Account ..................................................................................................................................... 67
LAB 8: Remediation (15 min.)....................................................................................................................... 69
A Final Note – Account Setup ........................................................................................................................ 71
Contacting Support ....................................................................................................................................... 77

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Introduction
The Vulnerability Management application will provide you and your organization with the tools and
features needed to successfully manage and mitigate vulnerabilities. When you complete all of the
exercises in this lab document you will be able to:
1. Map the Network
2. Manage Host Assets
3. Scan the Network
4. Report on Scans
5. Manage User Accounts
6. Remediate Risk
Please do not skip any of the required lab exercise steps, as they will be needed to complete other lab
exercises later. Some labs contain a section called “Additional Exercises” that can be performed any
time, at your own convenience.

Prerequisites/System Requirements
To perform the exercises in this lab, you will need:
1. Qualys Account
2. Web Browser
– Internet Explorer 9, 10, 11, or greater
– Mozilla Firefox (latest version from stable release channel)
– Google Chrome (latest version from stable release channel)
– Safari (latest version)
3. Java Browser Plug-in
4. Adobe Acrobat Reader or comparable

Tip: Your browser’s Pop-up Blocking configuration can interfere with the proper functioning of the Qualys
User Interface. Please modify the settings of your Web browser to:
1. Allow all pop-ups (less secure), or
2. allow pop-ups from qualys.com (more secure)

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LAB 1 – Account Setup (15 min.)
This lab will address a few steps needed to setup your Qualys user account and the Vulnerability
Management application. These steps will make it possible to complete the remaining lab exercises in
this document.

Login to Qualys
Your Qualys instructor will provide you with a URL to download your demo account credentials.

1. Download and then open the demo account file provided to you by your Qualys instructor.
2. Record the USERNAME from this document (ex. Quays2qq32) and save it in a safe place (e.g., text
document or password manager). Notice that the period at the end of the sentence is NOT
actually a part of the USERNAME.
3. Click the ONE TIME link to collect your password and complete the login process.

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4. Record the PASSWORD from this document (ex. GL81uSwYGe) and save it in a safe place (e.g., text
document or password manager).

5. Use the link provided in the “password” document to login and activate your Qualys demo
account.
The First Login window displays your default user information.

6. Leave the “Country” field set to Antarctica (this will facilitate access to the targets used in this
lab.)
7. Select the check box to accept the “Service User Agreement” and click the “I Agree” button.

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A pop-up window will list the features and benefits provided by the New Data Security Model:
The New Data Security Model (NDSM) combines high performance disk encryption with Virtual Private
Database (VPD) technology to ensure that your data is only visible and accessible to authorized users
(i.e., users within your account subscription) that have valid authentication credentials.
The NDSM also provides advanced productivity and detection features:

8. Click the “Enable Now” button.

Quick Start Guide

A successful login will display the Qualys Welcome screen and Quick Start Guide.

Although the Quick Start steps will not be used in this lab, you can always display these steps again by
clicking on your Qualys User ID (to the right of the Help button) and selecting the “Quick Start Guide”
option.

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Add Initial Assets to Your Account
The next few steps will add some initial host assets to your account
Host Tracking
Three basic methods are available for tracking the vulnerability history of each host within your
subscription:
 Host IP Address
 Host DNS Name
 Host NetBIOS Name

The objective is to choose the tracking method for each host that provides the greatest consistency over
time (i.e., the tracking method that does not change).

DNS Tracked Hosts

1. Use your mouse to navigate to 1) the “Assets” section, and then click on 2) the “Host Assets” tab.
2. Click the “New” button, and select the option to track each host by its DNS name. Tracking by DNS
name will maintain host history data even if the IP address changes.

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3. Click the “Host IPs” section (left navigation pane) and type the following IP address range into the
“IPs:” field: 64.39.106.244-64.39.106.247 (DO NOT USE COPY AND PASTE).
4. Click the “Add” button, to add all four IP addresses to your account.

Important Notice about your student account

Using your student account, you have permission to scan only the demo IP addresses (up to ten)
identified in this lab document. You do not have permission to scan any other IP addresses and/or
web applications using your student account.
5. Click the “OK” button to acknowledge your scanning permission.
Best Practice - Before you start scanning with Qualys, always be sure to get approval to scan IP
addresses and/or web applications. It is your responsibility to obtain this approval.

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NetBIOS Tracked Hosts

6. Use your mouse to navigate to 1) the “Assets” section, 2) the “Host Assets” tab, click the “New”
button and select 3) NetBIOS Tracked Hosts. Tracking by NetBIOS name will maintain host history
data even if the IP address changes.

7. Click the “Host IPs” section and type the following IP address ranges into the “IPs:” field:
64.39.106.242, 64.39.106.243, 64.39.106.248, 64.39.106.249 (DO NOT USE
COPY AND PASTE).
8. Click the “Add” button, to add all four IP addresses to your account.
9. Click the “OK” button to acknowledge your scanning permission.

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Personalize Your Account
The steps that follow will help to personalize your student user account, and make other adjustments
that will provide a more effective training environment.

1. Click on your Qualys User ID (located just to the right of the Help button) and select “User Profile”.

General Information

2. Change the “First Name” field and “Last Name” field to reflect your own name.
3. Update the “E-mail Address” field with your current e-mail address (all notifications and password
reset information will be sent to the address you provide).
4. Leave the “Country” field set to Antarctica (this is a requirement for student accounts).

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Notification Options
All notification options will be sent to the e-mail address specified in the “General Information” section.

5. Use the navigation pane (left) to select Options, and leave all Scan and Map options turned on.
6. Click the “My reports” radio button to activate notification for reports that you create.

Session Timeout
Although this next adjustment is not typically recommended in a production environment, it will allow
you to maintain an ACTIVE session throughout this training class.
1. Navigate to 1) Users, 2) Setup, and 3) open the “Security” dialog.

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2. Increase your Session Timeout value to the maximum (240 min.)

3. Click the “Save” button. You can return Session Timeout to a secure value at the completion of
today’s training class.

Context Sensitive Help/Online Manual

Online help is available for all Qualys applications and for everything in the User Interface.

1. Click on the “Help” button in the upper right hand corner, and select the “Online Help” option.

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The “Search” option will help you to find specific topics, and provide links to helpful Qualys videos.

The “Contents” option will provide you with a start-to-finish explanation of Vulnerability Application
tasks and features.

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LAB 2: KnowledgeBase Search List (30 min.)
A “Search List” is an extension of the Qualys KnowledgeBase, and is one of the most powerful
customization tools within the Vulnerability Management application. The name “Search List” is derived
from the KnowledgeBase “Search” tool that is used to create a list of vulnerabilities.

 Add a Search List to an Option Profile, to perform a very accurate and precise vulnerability scan.
 Add a Search List to a Report Template to create a Patch Report for “High Risk” vulnerabilities.
 Create a Remediation Policy that automatically ignores “Low Risk” vulnerabilities, or assign
Windows OS vulnerabilities to the Windows team lead, and set a deadline for timely patching.

Search List Library

Qualys has created a library of some very useful vulnerability Search Lists.

1. Use your mouse to navigate to 1) the “Search Lists” tab, click 2) the “New” button, and 3) select the
“Import from Library” option.

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2. Click the top level check box to select all lists in the library.
3. Click the “Import” button.

4. Click the “Don’t Make Global” button.

Custom Search List

Create your own custom vulnerability list to perform a special or unique scanning, reporting, or
remediation task. A Dynamic Search list is automatically updated by the Qualys service. Vulnerabilities
that match the list’s criteria are added, at the same time they are added to the Qualys KnowledgeBase.
A static search list does not receive automatic updates. Typically, static lists are used to collect
vulnerabilities that do not have a common criteria.

Create Dynamic Search List

Objective: create a list of all potential severity 1 and 2 vulnerabilities, those that DO NOT have a patch
solution. Later, during the Remediation lab exercises, you will use this list to create a Policy that ignores
“Low Risk” vulnerabilities that come with a high mitigation cost.

1. Navigate to any of the three “Search Lists” tabs (you will find one within the “Scans,” “Reports,”
and “KnowledgeBase” sections. All three tabs perform the same function.

2. Click the New button and select the “Dynamic List” option.

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3. In the “Title” section, choose the name Low Severity Vulns (Sev. 1 and 2) no patch.

4. Select “List Criteria” in the navigation pane. Scroll down and select the “No Patch Solution” check
box. Vulnerabilities that do not have a patch solution typically take more time to mitigate, and
therefore cost more to resolve than vulnerabilities that already have a patch.

5. Scroll down and choose Levels 1 and 2 for Potential Severities. Remember: while these
vulnerabilities have a low impact, individually; collectively they can lead to a potential compromise.

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6. Save the List.

This list of “Low Impact” vulnerabilities will provide a good resource later, when you build a Remediation
Policy that demonstrates the steps for “ignoring” a list of vulnerabilities.

Personalize the KnowledgeBase

The Qualys KnowledgeBase provides the most current and comprehensive vulnerability and threat
intelligence information. The next few steps will help you to personalize the KnowledgeBase settings.

1. Go to the “KnowledgeBase” tab. Click on the icon, and change the amount of rows you
are viewing in the KnowledgeBase to 500.

2. Now, add the “Severity” column to your default view.

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LAB 3: Mapping (30 min.)
Map reports are very useful tools when managing all host assets within your company or enterprise
architecture. Only mapping provides “discovery” data that will allow you to distinguish between
authorized and unauthorized hosts. When used properly, mapping will give you the ability to add a new
hosts to your Vulnerability Management subscription, approve other hosts that will not be added to
your subscription, and even find “rogue” devices within your network.

Mapping Targets
Unless you manage a limited number of hosts, it is considered a “best practice” to map you network or
enterprise architecture in small segments. You can accomplish this task using any of the basic mapping
targets:

 Asset Group
 Domain
 Netblock
Understanding the proper use of mapping targets will lead to the creation of successful map reports.

Asset Group
Although Asset Groups will be defined in detail later, within the Asset Management lab, a couple of key
points are required here in the discussion of mapping:
 Asset Groups only contain hosts that have already been added to your Vulnerability
Management subscription.
 The “Domains” and “IPs” checkboxes are used only when an Asset Group has been selected as a
target.

Domain
Another target option for mapping involves using a domain name. A domain name must be added to
the “Domains” tab, before it can be used as a target for mapping. Basic DNS reconnaissance is used to
collect information from a domain target. Additionally, TCP, UDP, and ICMP probes are used to validate
the DNS reconnaissance findings.

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Netblock
A netblock must also be added to the “Domains” tab, before it can be used as a mapping target. The
“none” Domain is a special domain, used to add netblocks to the “Domains” tab. Various probes such as
TCP, UDP, and ICMP are used to locate LIVE hosts within the targeted netblock.

Add Mapping Target

In order to use any of the target types listed above, it must first be added to your account. The
“Domains” tab is used for the purpose of adding mapping targets to the Vulnerability Management
application (Asset Groups are the exception).

1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Assets” section, 2) “Domains” tab, click on the 3) “New”
button and select the “Domain” option.

2. Add the following netblock to the “Domains” field:

none:[64.39.106.240-64.39.106.249]
DO NOT USE COPY AND PASTE (there is no blank space in the “none” domain).
The “none” domain can be used to target any netblock within your organization. Notice that the
netblock listed above contains two more IP addresses than the number of IPs already within your
subscription. It is a “Best Practice” recommendation to add all reserved IP address netblocks (RFC 1918)
to the “none” domain.

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Launch Map
In the next few exercise steps, you will use the “none” domain target to create a Map Report of the
hosts within the Qualys Training Network.

1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Scans” section, 2) “Maps” tab, click on the 3) “New” button
and select the “Map” option.

2. In the “Title” field type: Qualys Training Network.

3. Leave the Option Profile set to: Initial Options (default).
4. Under “Target Domains” click the “Select” link just to the right of the “Domains/Netblocks” field.

5. Check the “none” Domain and click the “Add” button.

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6. Click the “Launch” button to begin mapping. It is normal for your map task to display the
“Queued” status, before changing to the “Running” status.

View and Use Map Results

When a map reaches the “Finished” status, you may view its results. Do not attempt to view map
results while the Status column displays the “Queued” or “Running” status.

1. To view your finished map results, open the Quick Action menu and select the “View Report”
option.

2. Scroll down to the “Results” to view the hosts that were discovered.
Each host is identified by its IP address and name (DNS or NetBIOS). If “Basic Information
Gathering” is enabled the map will also provide Router and OS information.

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 The columns that appear on the right side of the report are used to identify authorized hosts (A),
scannable hosts (S), live hosts (L), and netblock hosts (N). A host is considered “scannable” if it has
already been added to your Vulnerability Management subscription. The “netblock” symbol is only
relevant when a netblock is selected as the mapping target.

3. Click the arrow icon to the left of a host to view its discovery method.
Notice host 63.229.56.186 is not a member of the target netblock, but was discovered via
traceroute. Host demo10 (64.39.106.240) is Unix-based, and was discovered using multiple
techniques (probes).

Actions Menu
The “Actions” drop-down menu is provided to perform various actions on any host that appears in the
Map Results.

The key to using a map report is: 1) use a checkbox to select a host, 2) choose an action from the
“Actions” menu, and 3) click the “Apply” button.
The next set of exercises will walk you through the steps of adding new hosts to your Vulnerability
Management subscription, adding several hosts to a new Asset Group, and launching an initial
vulnerability scan.

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Add Hosts to Subscription
Hosts demo10 and demo11 cannot be scanned for vulnerabilities, until they are added to your
Vulnerability Management subscription.

4. Place a check next to host demo10 (64.39.106.240) and host demo11 (64.39.106.241).
5. Use the “Actions” menu to select the “Add to Subscription” action, and click the “Apply” button.
6. Click the “Add” button to confirm your IP address selection.
7. Click the “OK” button to confirm your permission to scan.

Create New Asset Group

Although Asset Groups can be created and managed from the “Assets” section (Asset Groups tab), it is
relatively easy to create and manage Asset Groups from a Map Report.

Looking at the “DNS” column, it is easy to see that many hosts are located in Seattle (SEA).
8. Place a check next to all hosts located in the sea.qualys.com domain.
9. Use the “Actions” menu to select the “Add to new Asset Group” action, and click the “Apply”
button.
10. In the Asset Group “Title” field type: Seattle, and click the “Save” button.

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Launch Initial Scan
To collect some initial scan data that will be used in the Asset Management lab, the Map Report will be
used to complete one final task; launch a vulnerability scan.

11. Place a check next to all ten hosts that are now in your Vulnerability Management subscription
(64.39.106.240 – 64.39.106.249).
12. Use the “Actions” menu to select the “Launch Vulnerability Scan” action, and click the “Apply”
button.
13. In the scan “Title” field type: Initial Vulnerability Scan.
14. Leave the “Option Profile” field and “IPs/Ranges” field set to their default values, and click the
“Launch” button.
15. When the “Scan Status” window appears, click the “Close” button.
16. Close the Map Results (File > Close).

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Additional Exercises
You may perform all “Additional Exercises” at your own convenience. Other lab exercises in this
document are not dependent on the outcome of these exercises.

Scheduled Maps
You can use “differential reporting” to compare two maps to identify new hosts introduced into the
network, as well as retired hosts that have been removed.
Reporting like this relies on having regular snapshots of the network from which to make a comparison.
The next lab steps are designed to schedule a Map Report to run every day.

1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Scans” section, 2) “Maps” tab, click the 3) “New” button
and select the “Schedule Map” option.
2. Configure the schedule with the following details:

 Title: Daily Map

 Option Profile: Initial Options (default)
 Target Domains: qualys-test.com

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  Scheduling: Start the scheduled task at a future date and time (time zone is required)
 Occurs: Daily
3. Click “Save”.

Export and View Map Results

Any Map Report can be downloaded using multiple file format options. Additionally, all maps can be
viewed in a “Graphic” mode.
1. Navigate to the “Maps” tab within the “Scans” section.
2. Use the Quick Actions menu to open up and view a Map that you have already created.

3. While viewing the map results, click the “File” menu and select the “Download” option.

Experiment with different file formats. A CSV file can be easily imported into a spreadsheet.

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4. While viewing the same map results, click the “View” menu and then select the “Graphic Mode”
option.

5. Use the filters on the left to locate the Windows assets in the map results (right). Experiment with
different OS options.
6. Click the icon over any host to view its information in the preview pane.

You can also toggle the “Summary” and “Results” tabs at the top of the window to view a list of
assets discovered in the map.

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LAB 4: Asset Management (30 min.)
There are an infinite number of ways to organize the host assets within the Vulnerability Management
application. Here are just a few examples:
 Geographical location
 Service provided
 Device type or operating system
 Responsible operational team
 Asset owner
 IP address
 Business impact
Although the methods listed above are commonly used, it is important to recognize that every company
is unique, and your company may choose to organize and manage its host assets using methods or
techniques that others do not even consider.
The proper use of Asset Groups and Asset Tags will allow you to effectively organize and manage host
assets within the Vulnerability Management application.
Both Asset Groups and Asset Tags can be combined to accomplish numerous objectives, such as:
 Creating targets for mapping, scanning, reporting, and remediation.
 Assigning access privileges to individual user accounts.
 Host identification and inventory management.
This Asset Management lab will begin with a discussion of Asset Groups, and then finish with a
discussion of the Asset Tag features and characteristics that extend the capabilities of traditional Asset
Groups.

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Asset Group
Asset Groups are the original mechanism for managing assets within the Vulnerability Management
application. Asset Groups provide “containers” for collecting host assets. Simply create an Asset Group,
give it a name that reflects its host members, and add the appropriate host IP addresses. Here are some
important characteristics of an Asset Group:
 Used to assign access privileges (IPs, scanners, and domains) to individual user accounts.
 Contain a “Business Impact” attribute that is used to calculate Business Risk.
 Can be used as a target for mapping, scanning, reporting, and remediation.
 A single host IP address can be a member of multiple Asset Groups.
 Nesting one Asset Group inside another is not supported.*
 Created and updated manually.*
* The last two items in this list, will be addressed through the use of Asset Tags.
Asset Tags are updated automatically and dynamically
with every vulnerability scan. Asset Tag “nesting” is the recommended approach for designing functional Asset Tag “hierarchies”
(parent/child relationships).

Edit Asset Group

The Mapping lab demonstrated that Asset Groups can be created and updated from within an Asset
Map Report. In this lab, Asset Groups will be managed from within the “Asset Groups” tab (found within
the “Assets” section).
1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Assets” section, and click on the 2) “Asset Groups” tab.

2. Use the “Quick Actions” menu to “Edit” the “Seattle” Asset Group.

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 To assign a domain to an individual user, the domain must first be associated with an Asset Group,
and then the Asset Group must be assigned to the target user.

3. From the navigation pane click the “Domains” option and use the “Available domains” drop-down
menu to associate the “none” domain with the “Seattle” Asset Group.
With the domain association complete, any user that receives access to the “Seattle” Asset Group,
will also receive access to the “none” domain (for mapping purposes).

Business Impact
Some hosts are more important than others. While both printers and database servers represent
legitimate attack vectors within you network, your time is typically best spent fixing a critical
vulnerability on your DBMS – one that could be used to steal critical data – rather than a
vulnerability that can take a networked printer off-line.
With this in mind, Asset Groups contain a “Business Impact” setting. Set it up now, and it’ll pay
dividends later under Reporting – where we’ll use it to identify real Business Risk.
4. From the navigation pane, select the “Business Info” option.

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5. Use the “Business Impact” drop-down menu to change the “Seattle” Asset Group to Medium.
6. Click the “View” Link (just right of Business Impact).

Business Risk is the product of the “Average Security Risk” (represented by the various severity
levels associated with each vulnerability) and the Asset Group’s “Business Impact” setting.
Notice that the vulnerabilities discovered on host assets that belong to an Asset Group with a
“Critical” or “High” Business Impact setting, will carry a higher Business Risk Score than hosts in the
“Seattle” Asset Group (Business Impact = MEDIUM), while vulnerabilities discovered on host assets
that belong to Asset Groups with a “Minor” or “Low” Business Impact setting will carry a lower
Business Risk Score.
7. Click the “Close” button.
8. Click the “Save” button to save your changes to the “Seattle” Asset Group.

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New Asset Group
To expand the illustration of Business Impact and Business Risk, the next set of exercises will create two
new Asset Groups with different Business Impact Settings.
The first Asset Group will contain production servers that have a critical impact.

1. From the “Asset Groups” tab click the “New” button and select the “Asset Group” option.

2. In the Asset Group “Title” field type: Server.

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3. From the navigation pane select the “IPs” option, and click the “Select IPs/Ranges” link.

4. Click the “Expand Range” icon to view all IPs in your subscription.
5. Check the following IP addresses (6):
□ 64.39.106.240
□ 64.39.106.241
□ 64.39.106.243
□ 64.39.106.244
□ 64.39.106.246
□ 64.39.106.247
6. Click the “Add” button

7. From the navigation pane select the “Business Info” option, and change the “Business Impact”
field of the “Server” Asset Group to Critical
8. Click the “Save” button to save the “Server” Asset Group.

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The next new Asset Group will contain desktop computers that have a low impact.
1. From the “Assets Group” tab click the “New” button and select the “Asset Group” option.

2. In the Asset Group “Title” field type: Desktop.

3. From the navigation pane select the “IPs” option, and click the “Select IPs/Ranges” link.

4. Click the “Expand Range” icon to view all IPs in your subscription.
5. Check the following IP addresses (4):
□ 64.39.106.242
□ 64.39.106.245
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 □ 64.39.106.248
□ 64.39.106.249
6. Click the “Add” button

7. From the navigation pane select the “Business Info” option, and change the “Business Impact”
field of the “Desktop” Asset Group to Low.
8. Click the “Save” button to save the “Desktop” Asset Group.

Three Asset Groups have been created: Seattle, Desktop, and Server. All three asset groups will
automatically be converted into Asset Tags by the Qualys service (see Asset Tag section).

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Asset Tag
With IT and systems environments that are constantly fluctuating (e.g., mobile devices, virtualization,
cloud-based services, remote employees, etc…) it’s imperative to have a sound method to track host
assets. Knowing what assets exist, improves the chances of securing them.
Asset Tags were designed to provide a flexible, scalable, and dynamic solution to manage assets, based
on scan results obtained using the Vulnerability Management application. As the Vulnerability
Management application processes data from each scan, it will also automatically and dynamically add
tags to various assets, and update or remove tags that already exist.
Asset Tags are organized into hierarchical structures, also known as parent/child relationships. A single
host asset can simultaneously have multiple tags. For example, a host can have a tag because it’s
located in Chicago, it belongs to the 10.1.2.0/24 net block, and has SSH running on it.

Asset Search
During a scan, the Qualys scanning engine gathers information from targeted hosts, including each
host’s operating system, open ports, and active services. The Asset Search feature provides you with the
ability to search through scan results and find hosts based on this type of information. This same
feature can also be used to create tags.

1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Assets” section, and then click on the 2) “Asset Search” tab.

2. In the “Search for” section, type “All” in the “Asset Groups” field. The “All” Asset Group is built-in
to the Qualys platform, and contains all host assets that have been added to your Vulnerability
Management subscription.

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3. In the “attributes” section, select the “Running Services” checkbox and then select the “smtp”
option to find all host running the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol; mail servers.
4. Click the “Create Tag” button.
5. Type “Mail Server”, when prompted to “Enter a name for your Asset Tag” and click the “OK”
button.
Watch for the following pop-up message:

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Asset Management Application
Although the Asset Search feature provides a simple way to create Asset Tags from within the
Vulnerability Management application, the real power and benefit of creating custom Assets Tags is
found within the Asset Management Application.
As you complete the exercises that follow, please note that some lag time may occur between the point
where an Asset Tag is initially created and the point where it is eventually applied to its respective
asset(s). The same lag time may exist between the point where a host is added to the Vulnerability
Management application, and the point where it appears in the Asset Management application.

1. From the Vulnerability Management application, use the application drop-down menu to switch
to the Asset Management application.

The opening page (i.e., “Assets” tab) of the Asset Management application provides many useful
pieces of information:

 The Qualys service creates a matching Asset Tag for every Asset Group.
 Hosts running SMTP are tagged with the “Mail Server” tag (created using Asset Search).
 Operating system information is identified for each host.

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  You can use the “Quick Action” menu for any host to “View host details” (e.g., demo11).

2. Click the “Show Filters” link in the upper right corner of the “Assets” Tab.

3. Use the tags already created to quickly locate all Mail Servers.
4. Remove your filtering options, then click the “Hide Filters” link to close the filter window.

5. Near the upper left corner of the “Assets” tab, click the “expand” icon to view the Tag Tree
alongside the list of assets.

6. Click the arrow to the left of the “Assets Groups” tag to expand this hierarchy. The name of the
parent tag is “Asset Groups.” Presently it has three children (Seattle, Desktop, and Server).
7. Click the arrow to the left of “Asset Search Tags” to expand this hierarchy.
8. Right-click the “Mail Server” tag to view its editing options. Experiment by changing its color.

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The same “Tag Tree” information can be accessed from the “Tags” tab.

Create Custom Tag

The previous set of exercise steps illustrated some examples of Asset Tags created by the Vulnerability
Management application:
 Asset Tags matching Asset Groups
 Asset Tags created with Asset Search
To take full advantage of the power and benefit of the Asset Tagging feature, custom Asset Tags will
now be created within the Asset Management application.
Static Tag: Operating System
Many Tag hierarchies begin with some type of static “parent” that serves as a “placeholder” for its
dynamic “children” tags. This principle will be demonstrated with a static, parent called: Operating
System.

1. From the “Assets” tab, expand the Tag Tree, and click on the link.

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2. Name this tag: Operating System.
3. Select the color of your choice.
4. In the “Description” field type: Parent tag (operating system hierarchy).
5. Click the “Continue” button.

6. Leave the “Rule Engine” field set to “No Dynamic Rule”. This is typical for top level tags that form
the “parent” tag of a new hierarchy.
7. Click the “Continue” button, followed by the “Finish” button.
The “Operating System” tag should now be viewable in the Tag Tree.
The steps that follow will add two children to the Operating System hierarchy. Both children will be
nested under the “Operating System” parent, and both will use dynamic rules.

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Dynamic Tag: Windows
1. From the top of the Tag Tree, click on the link.

2. Name this tag: Windows.

3. Use the “Select parent tag” drop-down menu to select the “Operating System” tag, and click the
“Close” button to close the menu.
4. Click the “Continue” button.

5. Select the “Operating System Regular Expression” Rule Engine.

6. In the “Regular Expression” field, type “windows” and then select the “Ignore Case” check box.
7. Try testing this rule against host assets in your account. Hosts running the Windows OS should
receive a positive result (green ball w/ check). All others should receive a negative result (red “X”).
8. Select the “Re-evaluate rule on save” check box.
9. Click the “Continue” button, followed by the “Finish” button.

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Dynamic Tag: Linux
1. From the top of the Tag Tree, click on the link.

2. Give this tag a name of “Linux”.

3. In the Tag Properties section, select a color.
4. Use the Parent Tag dropdown menu to select the “Operating System” parent tag.
5. Click the “Continue” button.

6. Select the “Operating System Regular Expression” Rule Engine.

7. In the “Regular Expression” field, type “linux” and then select the “Ignore Case” check box.
8. Try testing this rule against host assets in your account. Hosts running a Linux-based OS should
receive a positive result (green ball w/ check). All others should receive a negative result (red “X”).
9. Select the “Re-evaluate rule on save” check box.
10. Click the “Continue” button, followed by the “Finish” button.
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Any of the dynamic tagging rule engines can be used to automatically assign tags to host assets. While
our demo lab has a limited number of hosts, imagine the benefit of using Asset Tags to manage
hundreds, thousands, and even millions of dynamically changing host assets!
 How would you take advantage of the “Asset Name Contains”, rule…does your company use
standard naming conventions that identify host location, host owner, or other host attributes?
 How would you take advantage of the “Software Installed” rule…would it be useful to know
when new applications or services are added to an existing host?
 How would you take advantage of the “Vuln (QID) Exists” rule…could you use this tag rule to
quickly identify hosts that have the “Heartbleed” or “Shellshock” vulnerabilities?
Once Asset Tags have been applied to host assets, the filtering tool within the Asset Management
application, can be used to navigate through an ocean of host data, to locate a specific type of host.
The steps covered in this lab provide many different examples for managing and tracking host assets
within your Qualys subscription. You now have many different choices, when choosing targets for
vulnerability scanning, reporting, and remediation tasks.

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LAB 5: Vulnerability Scan (30 min.)
Once you have successfully added hosts to your subscription, they can be scanned for vulnerabilities. As
Qualys learns about each hosts that it scans, it can categorically eliminate different vulnerability tests,
dramatically reducing scan time in the process.
To identify the host IPs that can be scanned:

1. Click back to the Vulnerability Management Application.

2. Navigate to the Host Assets tab (within the Assets Section).

3. Click the “Expand Range” icon to view individual IP addresses in your subscription
Alternatively, you can create a Map Report and look for the hosts with the “S” symbol.

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Trusted Scanning
It is a “Best Practice” to perform vulnerability scans with administrator or root level privileges. Qualys
refers to these as “Trusted Scans.” Qualys can authenticate to numerous technology platforms.
In this exercise, we’ll create a Windows authentication record, a UNIX authentication record, and an
Option Profile that uses them.

Windows Authentication Record

1. Under the “Scans” section, click the “Authentication” tab.
2. Click the New button and select “Windows Record…”
3. Enter “Local Windows Authentication” as the “Title” for the Authentication Record.
4. Click the “Login Credentials” tab on the left hand side, and then select the radio button for “Local”
authentication.

5. In the Login section, leave the radio button for “Basic authentication” selected.
6. Enter “Administrator” (omit quotes) in the User Name field and “abc123” (omit quotes) in the
Password and Confirm Password fields.
7. Click the IPs tab, and assign the IPs for your Windows-based host devices (64.39.106.242,
64.39.106.243, 64.39.106.248, 64.39.106.249).
8. Click the “Save” button to complete the creation of your new Authentication Record.

Unix Authentication Record

1. Under the “Scans” section, click the “Authentication” tab.
2. Click the New button and select “Unix Record…”
3. Enter “Root Authentication” as the “Title” for the Authentication Record.

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4. Click the “Login Credentials” tab on the left hand side, and ensure the “Basic authentication” radio
button is selected.

5. In the Login section, leave the radio button for “Basic authentication” selected.
6. Enter “root” (omit quotes) in the User Name field and “abc123” (omit quotes) in the Password and
Confirm Password fields.
7. Click the IPs tab, and assign the IPs for your Unix-based host devices (64.39.106.240,
64.39.106.241, and 64.39.106.244 - 64.39.106.247).
8. Click the “Save” button to complete the creation of your new Authentication Record.
Authentication isn’t enabled by default, and must be selected within an Option Profile.

9. Navigate to 1) the “Option Profiles” tab, click 2) the “New” button and select 3) Option Profile.
10. Enter “Custom Authentication” in the “Title” field.
11. Click “Scan” in the left navigation panel.

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12. Locate the “Authentication” section and enable the Windows and Unix/Cisco authentication
methods.
13. Click the “Save” button.

Launch Scan

1. Use your mouse to navigate to the 1) “Scans” section, 2) “Scans” tab, click the 3) “New” button
and select the “Scan” option.

2. Enter the Title: Custom Auth Scan.

3. Select the “Option Profile” you just created (Custom Authentication).

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4. Under “Targets” select the “Assets” radio button.
5. Use the “Select” link to add both “Desktop” and “Server” Asset Groups as scanning targets.
6. Click the “Launch” button to launch the scan.
7. Click the “Close” button to close the “Scan Progress” window, when it is displayed.

The “Scans” tab lists running scans and stored scans. You can use the “Quick Actions” menu to cancel or
pause running scans. To delete a scan, simply place a check in the box next to the Title, and choose the
Delete option from the Actions button.

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Processed vs. Unprocessed Scans
When a Scanner Appliance has finished performing a vulnerability scan, the scan results are sent to the
Qualys Secure Operations Center (SOC). The raw scan data is then processed and integrated with the
“Host Based Findings” within your subscription.

Although the “Status” column may display the “Finished” status, your scan results will not be available
for use until the “green circle” icon turns into a “green ball” ( ) icon.
Storage
By default, the Qualys service deletes individual scan results from the “Scans” tab and “Maps” tab every
six months. You may extend this up to a year, or reduce it to one month (Scans > Setup > Storage).

To disable the auto delete feature, clear (remove) the appropriate checkbox.

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Vulnerability Ratings
Scanning analyzes the security of your network devices using an “Inference-Based Scanning Engine,” an
adaptive process that intelligently runs only tests applicable to the host being scanned.
Vulnerabilities (red) Security weaknesses verified by an “active test”
Potential Security weaknesses that need manual verification
vulnerabilities (yellow)
Information (blue) Configuration data

Potential Vulnerabilities
Two common classes of potential vulnerabilities include Denial of Service (DoS) and buffer overflow
attacks. Qualys won’t try an active test if that active test might deny service or introduce instability, so
we can’t actively test these. That said…
Many potential vulnerabilities can be promoted to straight-up vulnerabilities using authentication.
These are labeled (red/yellow) in the Vulnerability Knowledgebase.
When a normal (untrusted) scan includes a (red/yellow) vulnerability, Qualys can find
conditions that flag the risk (e.g. SMB is enabled). When a trusted scan is performed (Qualys
authenticates to the device), the registry is analyzed and other tests are performed. And in the scan
results, Qualys identifies the issue as a confirmed vulnerability or a potential vulnerability
.

Severity levels
Level 5 Remote root/administrator Remote control over system with Admin privileges
Level 4 Remote user Remote control over system with user privileges
Level 3 Leaks critical sensitive data Remote access to services or applications
Level 2 Leaks sensitive data Determine precise system/service versions
Level 1 Basic information Open ports and other easily deduced data

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Additional Exercises
You may perform all “Additional Exercises” at your own convenience. Other lab exercises in this
document are not dependent on the outcome of these exercises.

Custom Vulnerability Detection

Goal: Choose the vulnerabilities that will be tested in a vulnerability scan.
Normally, scans are configured to detect all vulnerabilities. That said, there are times when you may
want to scan for a single type of vulnerability.
The steps that follow, will use the “Heartbleed Detection” Search Lists, to perform a custom
vulnerability detection scan:

1. Under the “Scans” section, click the “Option Profiles” tab.

2. Click the New button and select “Option Profile…”.
3. Enter the title “Heartbleed Detection”.
4. Click the “Make this a globally available option profile” checkbox (so other Qualys users can use
this profile).
5. In the left navigation pane, click the “Scan” tab.
6. Scroll down to the “Vulnerability Detection” section and select the “Custom” radio button. The
“Search List” dialog box will appear.
7. Click the “Add Lists” button. The search lists in your account will appear.
8. Select “Search List Library” in the navigation pane.
9. Select the check box next to the “Heartbleed Detection” list, and then click the “Import” button.
10. Click the “Make Global” button to make this Option Profile visible to other Qualys user accounts.

11. Scroll to the end of the Option Profile and click “Save”.

You may now use this Option Profile to perform a vulnerability scan. The resulting scan report will only
reflect the vulnerabilities identified in the Custom Search List attached to this profile.

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Low Bandwidth Scan
Use Case: Scan a remote office over a low bandwidth link.
Qualys has three performance options “pre-sets” and a “custom” option. The “Low” option is ideal for
ISDN and DSL connected offices. “Normal” is a good general setting for Ethernet environments. “High” is
best for minimally utilized 100Mbit links and 1Gbit networks.
The number of hosts to scan/map concurrently affects scanning speed and network bandwidth. Qualys
adjusts its packet rate based on detected network load; your configuration choices dictate how
aggressive it should be in throttling back when it detects that the network is under load. In this exercise,
you will select different presets to see how each is configured; later, you can use what you learn here
when creating “Custom” performance options.

1. Create a new Option Profile titled “Low Bandwidth Scan - Option Profile”.

2. In the navigation pane on the left, choose the “Scan” tab. Under “Performance” click the
“Configure…” button.
The “Configure Scan Performance” window will open.

3. Choose “Low” from the “Overall Performance” drop menu.

4. Close the performance window by clicking “OK”.
5. Save the Option Profile.

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LAB 6: Reporting (30 min.)
Qualys stores your generated reports for a week. This is handy when you generate a large report that
you want to share with your colleagues. Qualys only needs to process the data when you create the
report; your colleagues can simply click to view the generated report.

High Severity Report

As we’ve seen, using raw scan data can be overwhelming. It’s better to generate a report to
consolidate, organize, filter and generally make scan and map data usable for reviewing. Let’s begin by
creating a High Severity Report.
The High Severity report is useful for showing only the most severe vulnerabilities, levels 4 and 5 (red). It
also introduces actions when created using the HTML format. Complete the following steps to create a
High Severity Report:

1. From the Reports section, click the Reports tab. Choose “New > Scan Report > Template
Based”

2. Input the following details:

Title: Only The Worst Vulnerabilities
Report Template: High Severity Report
Report Format: HTML

3. Delete the word “All” from the Asset Groups field. Then, click on the “Add Tags” link and
using the search box, type in “Desktop”. Select the tag when it appears in the window.

4. Click the “Run” button to view the report, and scroll down to the “Detailed Results” section.

Integrated Workflow Actions

“Workflow actions” are integrated into the High Severity and Technical Reports using the icon (to
the right of a vulnerability). Using “workflow actions” you can ignore vulnerabilities, create remediation
tickets, or view remediation tickets that already exists.

Notice the vulnerability status next to the action icon. The first time a vulnerability is found with the
latest scan, the word “New” will appear in the report. Once a vulnerability has been discovered, its

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status will change to “Active” with each successive vulnerability scan. If the vulnerability has been fixed,
the word “Fixed” appears.
Also notice our tags appear within the report.
In the next steps, we will perform the actions to ignore a specific vulnerability for a single host device.

5. Click the icon for host 64.39.106.242 (NetBIOS Name: XP-SP2) to display its
vulnerability details.

6. Locate the severity 5 vulnerability called “Microsoft SMB Remote Code Execution
Vulnerability” (MS09-001) and expand it.

7. Mouse-over the menu for this vulnerability, and choose the option to “Ignore
vulnerability”.

8. Enter an appropriate reason, such as “This host will be decommissioned next week and thus
will not be patched” and click the “OK” button.
It is important to note that steps 4 through 6 above will ignore the Microsoft SMB Remote Code
Execution Vulnerability specifically for host IP address 64.39.106.242. Other host devices that have
this same vulnerability (64.39.106.243 and 64.39.106.249) will not be affected by these
actions.

Selective Vulnerability Reporting

Goal: Use the vulnerability data that you have successfully collected to create a vulnerability report that
selectively includes and excludes vulnerabilities that you specify.
Earlier in this lab you saw how an Option Profile could be customized to target a specific list of
vulnerabilities, and how other vulnerabilities could be simultaneously excluded from a scan. This next
exercise will demonstrate these very same principles, only using the Selective Vulnerability Reporting
section within a Report Template.
Best Practice: Scan for everything, and then be selective (customize) in your reporting.
1. Navigate to the Templates tab within the Reports section, and click the New button. Choose the
“Scan Template…” option.
2. Title the report “Critical Vulnerabilities With Patches”.
3. From the left navigation tab click on the “Findings”, and use the “Desktop” Asset Tag as the target
for this report.
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4. From the left navigation pane, click the “Display” tab. In the Detailed Results section, choose the
option to sort by vulnerability, and select the check box to include the Vulnerability Details.
5. From the left navigation pane, click the “Filter” tab. In the “Selective Vulnerability Reporting”
section, click the Custom radio button, and then click the Add List button.

6. Select the “Critical Vulnerabilities with Vendor Patches v.1” Search List.
7. Click the Exclude QIDs check box, and then click the Add Lists button.

8. Select the “Adobe Vulnerabilities v.1” Search List.

We will make the assumption here that a different administrator will handle the Adobe-related
vulnerabilities.

9. Use the Test button again to test your new exclusion option.

10. Close the report and “Save” the report template.

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Patch Report
The Patch Report will identify vulnerabilities with available patches.
1. From the “Reports” section, navigate to the “Reports” tab

2. Choose “New > Patch Report…”

3. Under report title type “Online Patch Report”.
4. Click the “Select” link next to the “Report Template” selection box.
5. Click on the “Template Library” tab and then select “Critical Patches Required v.1” for the report
template. Click the “Import” button.
6. Click the “Make Global” button to share this template with others.
This enables other users in Qualys to use this template to report against the assets that have been
assigned to them.
7. Select “Online Report” for the Report Format.
8. In the Asset Groups section type “All” and click Run.

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9. When the report opens, click on the “Sev” column in the left pane (and sort most severe to least
severe).
10. In the left pane, use the “Title” column, to click on the top patch in the list. Notice that the same
patch might affect multiple hosts.
11. Click on the “Title” of other patches to see what hosts are impacted.
12. From the right pane, try clicking on the number of vulnerabilities (“Vulns” column) to display the
vulnerabilities impacted by a patch.
13. To distribute this report to your system administrators, click File> Download (select PDF or CSV
format).

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Scorecard Report
Scorecard reports are part of the robust reporting mechanism within the Qualys environment. These
reports provide “the state” of security within the enterprise. They are designed to assist IT line
managers, Auditors, or the Board of Directors.
Using the Vulnerability Scorecard, users can evaluate Business Risk by asset group or tag and establish
acceptable Business Risk levels for the organization. Also, the same scorecard can be used to identify
vulnerabilities by type, status and age.

1. Navigate to 1) the “Reports” section and 2) “Reports” tab. Click the “New” button and select 3)
“Scorecard Report” option.

2. From the “New Scorecard Report” window, highlight “Vulnerability Scorecard Report,” and click
the “Edit” link just below the Scorecard report list.

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3. Click “Report Source” in the left navigation pane.
4. Select the “Asset Tags” radio button and add both Windows and Linux hosts.
5. Select the “Any” operator to target host that have any of the Asset Tags listed.
 All: target only hosts that have all of the tags listed (AND equivalent).
 Any: target hosts that have any of the tags listed (OR equivalent).

6. Click “Filter” in the left navigation pane.

7. Remove the default check mark from the “Confirmed (Severity 5,4,3)” option.
8. Click the “Add List” button (Included Search Lists:) and add “Critical Vulnerabilities with Vendor
Patches v.1” (these are the vulnerabilities that will be targeted in this report).

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9. Click “Display” in the navigation pane, and change the “Business Risk Goal” to 20.
The “Business Risk Goal” reflects your aversion or appetite for risk (based on a percentage of hosts
that are vulnerable with the targeted QIDs (those in the “Critical Vulnerabilities with Vendor
Patches v.1”) search list.
10. Click “Save As…” and title the report “Adjusted Business Risk”.
11. Select the Scorecard you just created (Adjusted Business Risk) and run the report with HTML as a
format.
The report will show the percentage of “Critical Vulnerabilities with Vendor Patches” for each
targeted Asset Tag. Passing values will display in green, failing values will display in red. You can
continue to adjust the risk goal as you create different types of scorecard reports that target various
hosts and different types of vulnerabilities.

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Additional Exercises
You may perform all “Additional Exercises” at your own convenience. Other lab exercises in this
document are not dependent on the outcome of these exercises.

Executive Report
The Executive Report is a high-level trend report. It identifies changes to the vulnerability exposure of
your network over time.
Presently, you do not have an adequate amount of scan history in your demo account to produce an
effective trend report. For this reason, an illustrated description of the Executive Report will be
provided.
When you have generated more scan data (after several days), feel free to return to this section to
create an Executive Report. You can create an Executive Report by selecting the Executive Report
Template.

Vulnerability Status

The “Filter” tab of the Executive Report Template contains Vulnerability Status. With all Vulnerability
Status filters selected, we can produce the graphic seen above. Most of these are obvious, but there’s
one hidden gem: Re-Opened. A re-opened vulnerability is a vulnerability that you previously fixed but
has returned.
Re-opened vulnerabilities are typically the result of re-imaging a host from an un-patched image, or
using compensating controls (e.g., a firewall rule that blocks access to a vulnerable service) in the
absence of patches. Also, it could represent a service that was recently enabled on a host device (like a
web server).

Vulnerabilities Over Time

Showing vulnerabilities over time is, of course, the whole point of the Executive Report. The following
chart visually illustrates both the number and the severity of vulnerabilities over time:

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Top Vulnerability Categories
The “Top Vulnerability Categories” table is handy come hiring time: it illustrates the areas that need the
most work, and how much the exposure has changed, so you can hire people to cover your most critical
needs.

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Scheduled Reporting
Like with mapping and scanning, users have the ability to schedule reports to run automatically at a
scheduled time, on a recurring basis. Users can also set options to notify select distribution groups when
a report is complete and ready for viewing.
There are several report types that can be scheduled. You can schedule template-based scan reports
(set to Host Based Findings source selection), scorecard reports, patch reports, template-based
compliance reports and remediation reports.
To create a new report schedule, go to Reports > Schedules and select the type of report you’re
interested in from the New menu. In the steps that follow, a new template-based scan report will be
scheduled.

1. Within the Reports section, navigate to the “Schedules” tab.

2. If prompted, click the “I Accept” button to enable scheduled reporting.

3. Click the New button and select Scan Report > Template Based.

4. From the Report Details section, give your report a title, such as “Demo Scheduled Report”.

5. For Report Template, click the Select link and select the Executive Report template.

6. For Report Format keep the selection for Portable Document Format (PDF).

7. In the Report Source section, leave the Asset Groups set to All.

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8. Click the checkbox for Scheduling and Report Notification.

9. Leave today as your start date, and midnight (00:00) as your starting time.

10. Select (GMT-0800) United States (California): Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento
as you time zone.

11. Set this scheduled report to occur every week (Weekly) on Friday.

12. In the Schedule Status section, please choose the check box to “Deactivate this report”.

13. Click the Schedule button to finish.

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LAB 7: User Management (10 min.)
User accounts form the basis for privileges and access control within Qualys. This section will explore
creating users and the various levels of user privileges.

Create User Account

We’ll start by creating a user and assigning some Asset Groups. Over several steps, in this section and
the next, we’ll expand our new user’s capabilities.

User Roles
User privileges are assigned and identified using various “User Roles”. Your Qualys student account has
the role of “Manager”.
The “Scanner” role carries the primary responsibility of mapping and scanning network resources.
The “Reader” role carries the least privileges. They can create custom reports from existing scan and
map data, but cannot launch scans or maps.

Privileges Summary
Manager Scanner Reader
Create Reports   
Scan/Map: All Assets 
Scan/Map: Assigned Assets 
Create Option Profiles  Optionally
Create User Accounts 

Under the “Users” section, click the “Users” tab.

1. Choose “New > User...”.
2. Fill in the blank fields in the “General Information” section with your info. Use a valid email
address that you can get to from the computer you are seated at.

3. Under the “User Roles” tab, choose “Reader” as your User Role.

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4. Click “Asset Groups” in the navigation pane, and add the “Seattle” Asset Group to this account.
Presently, access permissions are provided to user accounts, using Asset Groups. This includes
scanning, reporting and remediation access privileges.
5. Click the “Options” tab and view the Notification Options.

6. Save the user; close the window.

Activate this account by looking at the email sent by Qualys, clicking on the link, and viewing the
credentials. The link can only be clicked once, so make sure you save the credentials.

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LAB 8: Remediation (15 min.)
Qualys includes Remediation Policies that can be used to assign vulnerabilities to specific users or ignore
vulnerabilities that you do not plan to address.

Assign Vulnerability to User

This first policy will be used to assign High Risk Windows Vulnerabilities.
1. Under the “Remediation section, click the “Policies” tab.
2. Click the “New” button and select the “Rule” option.
3. Enter “High Risk Vulnerabilities” for the title.
4. Under the “Conditions” tab, notice the “Asset Groups” field. “All” is a keyword that includes all
hosts in your account.

5. Under the “Vulnerability” Section, to the right, click on .

6. Select the checkbox next to title, “Confirmed Severity 4 + 5” and press the “Ok” button.

7. Assign these vulnerabilities to the user account you created in LAB 7, and enforce a 7-day deadline
for patching and mitigation.

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8. Save the rule by clicking the “Save” button.

Ignore Low Risk Vulnerabilities

The task of ignoring a specific vulnerability for a specific host, was performed earlier in the Reporting
Lab; however, using a manual process. Remediation Policies can automate the process of ignoring
vulnerabilities.
1. From the “Remediation” section, click on the “Policies” tab and create a new Remediation Rule
titled “Ignore Low Risk Vulnerabilities”.
2. Add the “Low Severity Vulns” search list under the “Conditions” tab.

3. Under the “Actions” tab, select the “Create Tickets – set to Closed/Ignored” radio button.
4. Save the rule, close the window, and return the Remediation Policies List.
5. Now that you have created a Remediation Policies, you will need to launch another vulnerability
scan to allow Qualys to automatically create remediation tickets.
6. Go ahead and launch a scan.

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A Final Note – Account Setup
Before ending the training, it’s important that we cover some less conspicuous setup configurations of
Qualys. These are items that aren’t essential, but may be needed here and there.

Dashboard
Because we’ve mapped and scanned, some information will be populated in our Dashboard.

1. Navigate to the “Dashboard” section.

2. Customize some items on the Dashboard by clicking on the “Configure” link.

Qualys Home Page

What do you want to see when you login?
1. Click on your Qualys User ID (located just to the right of the Help button) and select “Home Page”.

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2. Select the home page that best suits your needs, and click the “Save” button.

Excluding Hosts from Scans

In some cases, you may have IP addresses within a segment that do not need to be scanned, and they
will never need to be scanned. In this case, the “Excluded Hosts” section of the Setup menu comes in
handy.

1. Navigate to the “Setup” tab in the “Scans” section, and click on Excluded Hosts section.

2. A new screen will appear.

3. Click the “Edit” button.

4. Add the IP 64.39.106.246 to the list. Click “Add”.

5. Add a comment (the Comment field is required).

6. Click “Close”.
Tip: it’s a good practice to add comments about “why” this is excluded in the event of an audit.

7. Rerun a light scan over the IP Segment containing the IP address you just excluded. You
should not see the .246 address.
Keep in mind, once you exclude a host, it’s a global setting for your subscription, the IPs will be excluded
from ALL activity, even though it’s still listed in your subscription.
Remember in Remediation how we talk about automatically closing tickets once the scan shows the
vulnerability is no longer available? Well, under the “Setup” tab in the “Remediation” section, you will
find:

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You may also need to determine if the lower privileged groups will be able to Close and Ignore tickets or
allow them to Delete tickets – both can be allowed here.
The Security function under the “Setup” tab in the “Users” section allows for the more critical security
settings for users and the service:

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You may want to restrict which IPs have the ability to connect to your QG UI. For this reason, you can
restrict access. You can also set password security, even allowing users to set their own passwords.
Finally, let’s take a look at the “Report Share” section.

8. Navigate to the “Setup” tab in the “Reports” section, and click on “Report Share”.
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9. Choose to “Enable Secure PDF Distribution”.

10. Click “Save”.

11. Now navigate to Reports and choose a new Technical Report.

12. Click “Add Secure Distribution” and choose an email to send your report to.

13. Run the Report.

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Now when you generate a PDF report you'll have the chance to enter a list of email addresses that you'd
like the report distributed to securely. As long as you have Adobe on your computer and you know the
report password, you'll be able to pull up the report...OUTSIDE of Qualys.

Configuring Business Risk

The Executive Report (and templates you might create) have a metric called “Business Risk.”

Business Risk is the product of the “Average Security Risk” and the rating set by the Asset Group’s
“Business Impact.” Let’s take a look at how the weights are calculated.

Choose “Business Risk” from the “Setup” tab under the “Reports” section.

These are the default values for Business Risk. As you can see, a level 5 vulnerability on a host whose
Asset Group is of “Critical” importance is weighted 100 times greater than that of a level 1 vulnerability
on a host whose asset group is of “Low” importance.

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Contacting Support
Overview
Try as we may, inevitably you will need to contact support. In order for us to properly and efficiently
troubleshoot issues, we will need information from you.
There are 3 ways to contact support:
o The Qualys Interface
o Email to support@qualys.com
o For Critical issues – call us:
 U.S. and Canada: +1.866.801.6161 24x7
 Europe, the Middle East and Africa: +33.1.41.97.35.81 24x7
 UK: +44 1753 872102 24x7

With the Qualys interface, you will have all the necessary information at your fingertips. From the
Qualys User Interface, click on “Help” and then “Contact Support”

A popup screen will appear for the email.

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So then, the question becomes – what information do you need to send to Qualys? Well, that can
depend on the type of problems you are seeing.

False Positive
If you believe that you have identified a false positive, please provide us with additional information so
that we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Please provide the following in this message:
 Reasons you believe you have a false positive. Include steps you've taken to patch the system.
 Was the issue reported during an authenticated scan? If yes, was the authentication
successful? There are several appendices in your scan results that provide information related
to authentication.
 When was the vulnerability first detected? Have there been changes to the host since then?
 For publicly-facing IPs, we can greatly expedite the investigation if we can perform a light scan
on the host. Do you grant permission for us to scan the host?
After receiving a ticket number from Support, send a follow-up email referencing the ticket number and
attach the following items:
 A scan report with the vulnerability reported.
 A packet capture of traffic to/from the affected service/port for its typical communications.
(only if requested by DEV)
 System configuration information. For Windows, this is provided by systeminfo.exe and
MSinfo32.exe.
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  Additional information, such as a registry dump or a screenshot of the system showing that it
is patched and not vulnerable.

False Negative
On very rare occasions we may produce a False Negative. If you believe this to be the case, please
provide the following in your message:
 IP address, DNS hostname or NetBIOS hostname for the host.
 QID, if available, for the potential false negative.
 Reasons you believe you have a false negative. Include steps taken to troubleshoot the issue.
 When was the vulnerability last detected? Have there been changes to the host since then?
 For publicly-facing IPs, we can greatly expedite the investigation if we can perform a light scan
on the host. Do you grant permission for us to scan the host?

After receiving a ticket number from Support, send a follow-up email referencing the ticket number and
attach the following items:
 A scan report of the scan that did not identify the vulnerability.
 Additional information, such as a registry dump or screenshot of your system.

Service Stopped Responding

This type of issue can have several causes, and rarely is caused by a test we have sent. Nevertheless, we
need to determine what has happened and help expedite resolution. Quite often, resolution does
require the vendor of the service to be involved in our troubleshooting effort.
Please provide the following in this message:
 A description of the symptoms. When did the issue first appear? If the issue is reproducible,
please provide steps to reproduce the issue.
 Detailed information for each affected system, including: operating system version and patch
level, IP address, the system's primary function and the location of the system on the network
(i.e. behind a firewall, in DMZ or behind a load balancer.)
 Detailed information for each affected service, including: software name, exact version and
build or patch level, the port number that the affected service is running on and whether the
port is static or dynamic.
 For publicly-facing IPs, we can greatly expedite the investigation if we can perform a light scan
on the host. Do you grant permission for us to scan the host?
After receiving a ticket number from Support, send a follow-up email referencing the ticket number and
attach the following items:
 A scan report of the scan that caused the service to stop responding.
 A packet capture of traffic to/from the affected service/port for its typical communications.
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  A list of open ports and services running on those ports.
o # On a Windows system, you can run the free tcpview.exe and save the output. This
program is available at:http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/tcpview.shtml
o # On a Linux system, you can run netstat -ntulp and save the output.
 An image of the box is useful to help us reproduce the issue. For Windows machines, images
may be created using MS Virtual PC (free). For *nix, VMWare may be used. If the host has
custom software on it, then please also provide us with a copy of the software.
 Additional information, such as screenshots and log files.

Scanner Appliance Issues

Before submitting a request to Support, please see the Qualys Scanner Appliance User Guide for
troubleshooting information. The user guide describes troubleshooting techniques you can use to
respond to errors and performance conditions when using the Scanner Appliance.
If you have followed the troubleshooting techniques and are still experiencing difficulty, please provide
us with additional information so that we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Please provide the following in this message:
 The error message on the LCD display of the Scanner Appliance.
 The IP configuration for the LAN interface (static or DHCP). For static configurations, include
the IP address, netmask, gw, dns1, dns2, wins and domain.
 If WAN is enabled, provide the IP configuration for the WAN interface. For static
configurations, include the IP address, netmask, gw, dns1, dns2, wins and domain.
 If proxy is enabled, identify the proxy software and list the proxy configuration. Indicate
whether a username and password is used but do not send us the password.
 How long is the timeout from when you hit Enter on "Really enable.." to when the "Network
Error" message appears?
 When you use a laptop with the same network configuration on the same network port, are
you able to connect to the Qualys service at https://qualysguard.qualys.com?

Host Crash
Qualys scans are generally non-intrusive. If a scan has caused a host to crash then we will make resolving
this issue a top priority. We are eager to work with you and any third-party vendors to quickly isolate
and resolve the problem.
Please provide the following in this message:
 A description of the symptoms. When did the issue first appear? If the issue is reproducible,
please provide steps to reproduce the issue.
 Detailed information for each affected system, including: operating system version and patch
level, IP address, the system's primary function and the location of the system on the network
(i.e. behind a firewall, in DMZ or behind a load balancer.)

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  For publicly-facing IPs, we can greatly expedite the investigation if we can perform a light scan
on the host. Do you grant permission for us to scan the host?

After receiving a ticket number from Support, send a follow-up email referencing the ticket number and
attach the following items:
 A scan report of the scan that resulted in the host crash.
 A packet capture of traffic to/from the affected service/port for its typical communications.
 A list of open ports and services running on those ports.
o On a Windows system, you can run the free tcpview.exe and save the output.
o On a Linux system, you can run netstat -ntulp and save the output.
 An image of the box is useful to help us reproduce the issue. For Windows machines, images
may be created using MS Virtual PC (free). For *nix, VMWare may be used. If the host has
custom software on it, then please also provide us with a copy of the software.
 Additional information, such as screenshots and log files.

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