risk memo

Subject: VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

I am writing this memo to inform you that it is my professional opinion that the network in need of a full vulnerability assessment. There are three tools that I believe would be a good fit for penetration testing on this network. They are NMAP, Nessus and Metasploit. I have added brief, yet detailed, descriptions of the three automated penetration testing tools that are on the market. I believe they all have their pros and cons and I will explain the capabilities and costs associated with all three in this memo.
NMAP
NMAP is used to scan for open ports, identify services, and identify the operating system that the machine utilizes. This allows data that is extracted to be used to perform more direct vulnerability assessments. NMAP is not known to be a vulnerability scanner as other tool in the industry are. It is a stealthier tool than most. Meaning, it is a much quicker and more quiet than other tools. NMAP utilizes the Three Way : syn  syn/ack ack. The handshake helps with fire walking. Fire Walking is how a scanner determines the movement of a packet from an untrusted external host to a trusted host. This helps to determine which ports are open and what type of packets can travel to the internal host. This program helps with what and how many computers are on a network. It allows you to determine what services are running on a given machine. It allows you to find corresponding exploits for all systems. What is most attractive about NMAP is its price – FREE. The only associated cost with this automated tool is the training needed to run it effectively.
Pros:
NMAP is continuously update.
It was written by a security professional.
It is a solid port scanner with numerous capabilities beyond what may be needed.
Discovers IP addresses
Stealthy
OS and application version detection
Command line availability
Cons:
The scans are very aggressive and not