Boost your network security with FT Port Scanner

We all know an open port is like an open door for cybercriminals, so having the ability to scan these for unwanted attention is essential for admins wanting to verify the security policies of their networks.

FT Port Scanner from SolarWinds MSP—which is a free network tool that enables you to generate lists of open, closed, and filtered ports for each scanned IP address—enables you to quickly uncover where your networks are potentially vulnerable.

Giving You the Insight You Need

Designed for network admins of businesses of all sizes, FT Port Scanner gives you insight into the status of TCP and UDP ports, can resolve hostnames and MAC addresses, and detects operating systems. More importantly, it also enables users to run the scan from a command line interface (CLI) and export the results into a file.

There are some additional aspects you need to consider. FT Port Scanner supports threading using advanced adaptive timing behavior based on network status monitoring and feedback mechanisms, in order to shorten the scan run time. It allows you to save scan configurations into a scan profile, so you can run the same scan again without redoing previous configurations. And finally, it supports exports to XML, XLSX, and CSV file formats.

Here are three ways FT Port Scanner could benefit your business:

1/ Using FT Port Scanner to Run a Security Analysis

Your security engineer would like to see how vulnerable your network is by performing an analysis of open and closed ports within the network. By running FT Port Scanner, they can scan IP addresses and their corresponding TCP and UDP ports. In doing so, they are able to verify if the ports that require filtering are, in fact, filtered.

Once they establish whether the corresponding ports are open, they can then run a security analysis using FT Port Scanner and receive the status of all the TCP and UDP ports on the network. If they find an open port that is not supposed to be open, they can go into the firewall or router to disable traffic on that port.

2/ Running the CLI to Export Results

Network admins need to understand the peaks of IP usage within their network, so that they can plan to have IP addresses available during peak hours. To achieve that, the network administrator must run recurring scans to see the differences in IP usage.

You can run FT Port Scanner every 15 minutes using SolarWinds^® RMM or SolarWinds N‑central^® and export the results to a CSV file. After that, admins can run a PowerShell^® script to compare the results from all of the CSV files. This will give them a clear picture of IP usage within the network. Without this information, it is almost impossible to maintain a secure and optimized network.

3/ Using Port Scanner to Detect Rogue Devices

Network admins need to know that only whitelisted devices are connecting to their Wi-Fi network. To achieve that, they need to run recurring scans to see the differences in host names and MAC addresses.

Once again, use SolarWinds RMM or SolarWinds N‑central to run FT Port Scanner every 15 minutes, then run a PowerShell script to compare the results from all the XML files. This will provide you with a clear understanding of the devices connecting to the network. If there are any rogue devices, simply disable them from the wireless controller.

To find out more about FT Port Scanner or to download any of the SolarWinds MSP free network tools, click here.

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