A vulnerability assessment finds the weaknesses in your systems, ranks them by real risk, and tells you what to fix first. ThreeShield checks the results by hand so you are not chasing false alarms, and monitors continuously through Lavawall® so new gaps are caught as they appear. All of it independent of your MSP and internal IT.
A raw scanner report is long, padded with false positives, and gives you no sense of what matters. ThreeShield runs the scan, then a person validates each finding, removes the noise, and puts the real issues in fix-first order based on your actual risk. You get a short, honest list and a clear plan, not hundreds of alerts to wade through.
Everything reachable from the internet: firewalls, VPN, email, remote access, websites, and the services that quietly get left exposed.
Servers, workstations, and network gear on the inside, where a single phished login can otherwise spread unchecked.
Risky permissions, weak conditional access, exposed storage, and misconfigurations that scanners aimed at your network never see.
Missing patches and weak configuration across Windows, macOS, and Linux, correlated with live Lavawall® data.
Default passwords, open shares, weak protocols, and settings that drift out of line with CIS Controls and vendor baselines.
Company logins and data already circulating from past breaches, which attackers try first.
A point-in-time scan is out of date the moment something changes. Because ThreeShield builds and runs Lavawall®, we can watch your posture continuously between formal assessments. New weaknesses surface as they appear, and your quarterly evidence builds up on its own instead of being gathered in a panic before an audit.
We agree on what is in scope and quote a fixed price before any work begins.
We map your systems and accounts so nothing in scope is missed.
We run commercial and proprietary tools alongside Lavawall® across your environment.
A person confirms each finding by hand and clears out the false positives.
You get a plain-language report in fix-first order, with an executive summary and technical detail.
We can help you fix the findings, or hand you the list to action yourself, and rescan to confirm.
They answer different questions, and many organizations need both. Use a vulnerability assessment for broad, regular coverage; use a penetration test to prove what an attacker could actually accomplish.
| Vulnerability assessment | Penetration test | |
|---|---|---|
| Main question | What weaknesses exist? | What could an attacker actually do? |
| Approach | Broad scanning, validated by hand | Focused, hands-on exploitation |
| Coverage | Wide across the whole environment | Deep along realistic attack paths |
| How often | Monthly or quarterly | Once or twice a year, and after big changes |
| Best for | Ongoing hygiene and early warning | Proof of real-world risk for audits and insurers |
Read more about penetration testing, or see how both fit into a full cybersecurity audit.
A vulnerability assessment finds the weaknesses in your systems, ranks them by how much risk they carry, and tells you what to fix first. It covers your internet-facing systems, your internal network, your cloud accounts, and your endpoints. Unlike a raw scan, a proper assessment validates the results by hand so you are not chasing false alarms.
A vulnerability assessment gives you broad, regular coverage of known weaknesses at a lower cost. A penetration test is a hands-on attack that proves what an intruder could actually reach. Most organizations run vulnerability assessments often, monthly or quarterly, and a penetration test once or twice a year. They complement each other.
Quarterly is the common baseline, and monthly is better for internet-facing systems that change often. PCI DSS requires internal and external scans every quarter and after significant changes. With Lavawall®, we can monitor continuously between formal assessments, so new weaknesses are caught as they appear rather than months later.
No. An automated scanner produces a long list padded with false positives and no sense of priority. We validate the findings by hand, remove the noise, explain each real issue in plain language, and give you a fix-first order based on your actual risk. You get a report you can act on, not a data dump.
Yes, as a starting point. A free Lavawall® domain scan gives you a quick read on your external exposure at no cost. A comprehensive vulnerability assessment, which covers your internal network, cloud, and endpoints with validated findings, is a scoped, quoted service. The free scan is a useful first look; the paid assessment is the full picture.
Yes. PCI DSS requires quarterly internal and external scanning, and cyber-insurance applications ask whether you scan regularly and remediate what you find. We run the scans, validate and prioritize the findings, and keep dated evidence in Lavawall® so your quarterly proof accumulates automatically instead of being gathered in a rush.
Start with a free Lavawall® domain scan, or ask us to scope a full vulnerability assessment across your network, cloud, and endpoints. Either way, you get validated findings and a clear plan.
Get an Assessment QuoteValidated findings · Continuous monitoring · Independent