The reference describes a system for enhancing the compliance of clients in a network. In an embodiment, security sensor data from intrusion detection system (IDS) sensors, vulnerability assessment (VA) sensors, and/or other security sensors is stored in a database.

The patent publication discloses a network security system having the functionalities of network discovery, vulnarability assessment, and intrusion detection.

The reference describes a system and method for providing distributed security of a network. The system includes several device profilers (corresponding to network scanners claimed in ‘363), which are placed at different locations of a network to assess vulnerabilities. Each device profiler identifies the hosts on the network, and characteristics such as operating system and applications running on the hosts. The system includes a centralized correlation server, which stores the determined vulnerabilities of the network.

The reference describes a method for vulnerability assessment in a network. The method includes pinging devices to discover devices within the network. Subsequently, port scans are performed on the discovered devices and banners are collected and the information from the collected banners is stored as entries in a first database. An analysis of the entries is performed to determine potential vulnerabilities. The results of the analysis are stored in a second database. Note that the first database and the second database are coupled to the same NVA engine (The NVA engine corresponds to network scanner in ‘363).