Port Scanning Mitigation Strategies for Penetration Testing: Blue Team Perspective

Abstract

Port scanning technique is one of the most common kinds of system enumeration for hackers for active scanning. Active scanning is the initial attack of hackers to survey the system and then gather information based on open ports etc. After the information is ready, the hackers prepare an attack based on the available information. This often leads to loss of data or service for an enterprise or an individual. It might even be monetary loss. Penetration testing is like quality analysis where the pentesters carry out relative tasks to secure the system. So that attacks like port scanning are rendered useless for the hackers against the system. Taking defensive measurements against attacks are referred to as blue team activities. This paper covers the attack of port scanning and the defensive measures that can be taken against the port scanning attack to secure an enterprise or individual system.