Qualys Exposure Management Reviews

We use Qualys VMDR for daily vulnerability management, scanning vulnerabilities, identifying vulnerabilities, reporting, creating dashboards, and the whole vulnerability management process. We also use it for patch management.

What I find valuable about Qualys VMDR is the capability of the tool and its user-friendliness. It is easy to use and provides accurate results, which is exactly what we are looking for. The prioritization of vulnerabilities has improved our remediation efforts by around thirty to thirty-five percent. The tool's integration between Patch Management and other Qualys products is also indispensable.

They can tweak their UI since the new version seems a bit jumbled up, and the old UI was more user-friendly.

I have been using Qualys VMDR for three years.

We find Qualys VMDR quite stable and have not faced any performance issues with it.

I believe the solution is scalable.

We usually get on calls with tech support, and they are very helpful. I would rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

We worked with Nessus and Rapid7 before switching to Qualys VMDR. Qualys offers better pricing and more features compared to other tools. We did not find anything particularly missing from previous tools.

The setup is straightforward and easy. We deployed scanners and agents on all our devices, configured the network, whitelisted policy scanners, and public URLs. Testing was conducted before deploying, and it went smoothly.

We had a team of five to six people involved in the deployment aspect due to the large number of assets.

Qualys VMDR helps us be compliant, and vulnerability management is a crucial part of maintaining our organization's security, significantly contributing to ROI.

Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.

We evaluated Nessus and Rapid7 before choosing Qualys VMDR.

I would recommend getting both VMDR and the Cloud Agent to ensure comprehensive asset coverage. Understanding the network architecture is crucial to ensure no segments are missed under Qualys. Overall, I rate Qualys a nine out of ten.

It's primarily for vulnerability management. We use VMDR to deploy the cloud agents and scanners in our environment to cover everything holistically. We also use it for service integration so that vulnerabilities can be tracked through there. So, it's more or less vulnerability management.

We need to scan different kinds of assets. It could be our desktops, laptops, servers, and network devices. VMDR enables us with the sort of licensing where we can either deploy agents or scanners or both. So wherever we can deploy agents, we are deploying agents for scanning, for instance, on our workstations and servers. 

And then for network devices, we use just the scanner capabilities of Qualys. So that's why we use this VMDR solution across different sorts of assets in a wide environment.

When we use Qualys VMDR's agents, they usually scan or probably reconvene the vulnerabilities within four hours. So, anything that jumps its way immediately alerts us within a few minutes that something is wrong, and we can check on those terms. 

Other than that, I think it does have a module that can help us prioritize vulnerabilities, not only with vulnerabilities that have been attacked in the wild but also if any vulnerabilities have an exploit available. So those sorts of insights do provide us. It should really help us to prioritize vulnerabilities based on the threats that are out there.

It improved the visibility of the organization. It enables us to, first of all, identify all the assets and then scan them for the vulnerabilities. And then it also helps us to prioritize which vulnerabilities we have to fix first, and we can map out strategies. So, it is what it is meant for, and it is doing really, really good in that sense.

First of all, the licensing products itself is a great tool for VM because it's easy to use, and its reporting is excellent. It gives you a lot of ability and tweaking options to get what you want out of the reports. It gives you a lot of options, and it integrates with our ServiceNow for ticketing and all. So that is also a great feature. Then, the licensing that comes with VMDR enables us to scan different devices without getting any sort of extra license. So, it covers everything under one bundle.

It's the capability of scanning that has proven to be most effective in the risk management aspect. The less number of false positives and the authenticated basic scans are more concrete. So,  the reliable reports and the efficiency of scans are something that we appreciate with all of this.

So, it does reduce those false positives and gives us a more concrete report.

From the application security perspective, Qualys has a way to go. We probably use it for infrastructure scanning, but I feel that Qualys can do better in application scanning as well.

Infrastructure scanning is fine. It's doing good with that. However, there is room for improvement in application scanning.

I have been using it since the beginning, even before VMDR. I used Qualys for scanning. I've been continuously using Qualys for at least a decade. So it's almost ten years I've been working with Qualys.

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. It has been stable for me. I didn't face any challenges. It worked fine for me.

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

This is probably where Qualys can improve themselves a little bit and help us get a little bit quicker responses. So, that's where I think they can definitely spend some time.

Knowledge-sie the customer service and support are fine, I want them to improve the response time.

Neutral

I have used tools like Rapid7, Nessus. But overall, I feel that Qualys has better capabilities in terms of scanning and then in terms of reporting as well. 

So I can compare it with Rapid7 and Tenable Nessus, and Qualys is definitely way ahead from its competitors in that sense.

The initial setup is straightforward. It's nothing complicated. I think we just need to deploy agents and enable our scanner for the connectivity, and then it's all good.

It is in an hybrid environment. 

The deployment time depends upon the size of the infrastructure. It usually doesn't take much time. You just need to deploy the scanners and agents, which is also usually automated. I don't see it as very time-consuming. So, if I have to rate between one to ten, then I would rate around seven to eight, somewhere down to cover that.

It does require maintenance because it keeps updating its agent version as well, but I see that this is also automated. And then, if we have deployed this on hardware as well, like Windows and all, those also need to be updated online. But, the maintenance is required for sure.

From the security side, we have seven to eight people who are managing Qualys. But then we have people from IT as well who are supposed to see the vulnerabilities and remediate those. So such roles, we also have in Qualys that need the access and also on the vulnerabilities.

I can see the time-to-value benefits of Qualys. It's more of a time and resource. Security is always an expense. We don't get active revenue out of it, so it's more of an expense. 

So returns in terms of risk reduction. It helps us to identify those potential vulnerabilities on time and help facilitate those. So in those terms, it's a return on investment.

It saved us 20% of time because it is easy to use, and since it is integrated, we don't have to touch anything much. 

The pricing is a little expensive on that sense, but it also delivers the value. So, if anybody has the budget for Qualys, then, they should go with Qualys for sure.

I would recommend Qualys VMDR to other users because it is efficient and reliable, and it does what it's supposed to.

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

The primary focus of this solution is to identify and detect vulnerabilities in real time and use that information to patch them using Qualys VMDR task management module. We have a variety of devices within our network, including network devices, firewalls, vCenters, VMs, web applications, and endpoints. We deploy cloud agents on workstations and servers where possible, and we scan network devices using a virtual scanner where we cannot deploy the cloud agent. Additionally, we perform web application scanning for our web apps. We also use the tool to manage our cloud security and container security.

With the help of Qualys VMDR, we were able to get real-time knowledge base updates from Qualys and perform scans on all devices to identify vulnerable devices. This allowed us to plan the next course of action for mitigating vulnerabilities. For example, during the zero-day events, such as the Log4j vulnerability, we received critical real-time information from Qualys, enabling us to identify and plan for mitigation while the rest of the world was still struggling. This capability has tremendously helped us maintain the cybersecurity posture within our organization.

The most valuable features of Qualys VMDR include CSAM, Qualys Gateway Service, Web Application Scanning, patch management and the use of virtual scanners to scan appliances and devices, especially those provided by vendors. 

The ability to run a map scan and identify all assets within our network is extremely beneficial for medium to large organizations. Real-time asset discovery and patch management have also been vital features for us.

One area for improvement is the simplification of the process to ignore certain vulnerabilities on specific devices. Currently, the process is quite long, requiring the creation of separate knowledge bases and lists. Simplifying this to one or two clicks would be beneficial. Additionally, enhancing patch management to support third-party tools and simplifying the creation of patch jobs would greatly improve usability. Improving the interconnection between multiple modules would also be helpful, making navigation and operations more straightforward.

I have been using Qualys VMDR for more than two - three years now.

I would rate the stability of Qualys VMDR as eight. It is a stable solution with minimal issues.

The scalability of Qualys VMDR is good. If we add additional resources, the tool can scale efficiently, ingesting new data seamlessly. Qualys has auto-scaling enabled for their cloud platform, which ensures performance remains high, even with increased resources.

Technical support from Qualys needs some improvement. There are instances where Level 2 support is not able to assist, requiring escalation, which can take time. Overall, basic troubleshooting and issue resolution are straightforward.

Neutral

I have worked with other vulnerability management solutions prior to Qualys. In my current organization, we selected Qualys after a POC. Other tools have not evolved well as Qualys has over the years, making Qualys the preferred solution.

The initial setup of Qualys VMDR is straightforward. The setup's complexity depends on the organization’s size and collaboration with various teams. For organizations with a clear device inventory, the deployment can be completed within a month.

In-house

We evaluated other tools available in the market during our POC process yet found Qualys to be the best solution.

I would recommend Qualys VMDR to other users if they want a comprehensive solution for real-time vulnerability detection and mitigation. The tool is easy to implement, backed by a reliable knowledge base, and offers quick updates during zero-day events. While there are areas for improvement, such as simplifications in handling certain features, the overall solution is robust and effective.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

My main use cases for Qualys VMDR are for server vulnerability and missing patches.

The most helpful and useful features of Qualys VMDR are its user-friendly design.

Qualys VMDR is easy to understand and provides detailed reports.

It impacts my workflow overall, with the patch management features as it has the missing patches listed in detail, making it easier to get a comprehensive report and providing some dashboards that offer visual representation.

There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports.

It doesn't take much time to deploy Qualys VMDR. There is a process mentioned already on the website about how to proceed with the installation, so we followed that process.

I am satisfied with the support of Qualys VMDR as they are supportive. However, there are sometimes issues where we cannot talk to customer support directly, and we have to raise tickets, which sometimes takes a lot of time to resolve issues because it goes through their own phase. We cannot change the SLA or the priority of the tickets, so that is an issue.

Positive

Our organization changed to something else due to a higher management decision, and that might be the reason for the change regarding the pricing.

We are not using any AI features with Qualys VMDR.

Overall, I would rate Qualys VMDR as good, giving it an eight.

We use continuous monitoring to schedule scans for all the applications in our organization. We create a parent tag and sub-tags for each application and schedule scans based on our requirements, such as every alternate day, weekly, or monthly. This helps us identify vulnerabilities in the web applications, especially those that are public-facing.

Since implementing Qualys, we have seen a reduction in the time required to scan applications, as it automates the process. This efficiency is one of the key improvements we have noticed. Additionally, the tool is effective compared to others, particularly for automated scans.

In Qualys VMDR, there are multiple valuable features such as Continuous Monitoring, SFU Connector, and WebVPN. Continuous monitoring is a crucial feature that we use more frequently.

There are scenarios where a vulnerability is reported once yet not in subsequent scans, even if we have not fixed it. Sometimes, Qualys is unable to crawl certain URLs due to unspecified issues. Additionally, the report download option occasionally has problems.

I have been using Qualys for two years.

I would rate the stability as nine out of ten, indicating no significant issues with stability.

The scalability of Qualys is rated as eight to nine out of ten, and there are no problems with scalability.

The customer support system could be improved. While they respond, it takes them two to three days to address a concern, which is an issue. Overall, I would rate customer service as five or six.

Neutral

The setup process was not within my involvement, as it was part of the project I had joined and it was already set up.

I recommend Qualys VMDR as it effectively reduces the time required for vulnerability management and operates well with fewer people.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Qualys VMDR is used as a vulnerability management tool. We have more than a thousand users in our company, and we have integrated Qualys with their machines to help update software and measure known or unknown risks, prioritize them, and patch the devices. We monitor and mitigate alerts, and we find vulnerabilities in specific machines or systems, which we then address.

Before implementing Qualys, we used third-party companies to conduct vulnerability audits and paid them separately for mitigation. With Qualys, we now conduct our vulnerability management and mitigation internally, saving both time and money since we can monitor every system and threat without requiring manual processes or third-party involvement. This has resulted in significant ROI and reduced the risk of breaches.

The best features of Qualys VMDR are its patch management capabilities and the ability to mitigate vulnerabilities automatically. The report export feature allows us to see how many incidents have been mitigated and which ones still need attention. The compliance dashboard helps us track and fix threats efficiently, ensuring all machines comply with security standards.

The user interface (UI) is quite complicated. Initial-stage engineers or analysts might miss something due to the complexity. Also, for hybrid users, the agent might get disconnected, requiring users to revisit the office to reinstall the agent. Additionally, the reports could be more interactive.

I have had five years of experience with cybersecurity platforms and have been using Qualys VMDR for that duration.

I would rate the stability of the solution nine out of ten. It is a robust platform that provides consistent performance.

For scalability, I would rate it nine or 9.5 out of ten. The cloud-based architecture allows us to deploy it across multiple locations seamlessly.

The technical support provided by Qualys is good. Queries are responded to promptly, and if needed, we can contact the TAM or any POCs directly. I would rate their support nine out of ten.

Positive

Before using Qualys, we used a third-party solution for vulnerability audits and mitigations. However, we switched to Qualys because it allows us to handle everything internally, avoiding the need for additional external services.

The initial setup is agent-based and straightforward, especially if you have necessary tools like Active Directory. Given the cloud-based nature of Qualys, deployment can be completed within a day with appropriate resources.

We have seen a significant ROI with Qualys, which is estimated to be around twenty to thirty percent. It has saved a lot of time and money by allowing us to mitigate issues without user interaction and preventing breaches.

Compared to Tenable, Qualys is quite expensive. However, its performance justifies the cost, making it a worthwhile investment.

We also use Tenable Solutions for vulnerability management. However, Tenable requires manual processes for mitigation, whereas Qualys allows for automated mitigation of vulnerabilities and threats.

I would definitely recommend Qualys to other users. Depending on the number of users and specific needs, Qualys is a good vulnerability management product that offers efficient solutions. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

We use the product for enterprise network infrastructure scanning.

The product has multiple valuable areas. The process of defining and discovering scans is organized efficiently. It has an effective tagging system and authentication mechanism compared to other tools. Its integration with AD helps us a lot. Additionally, I like the report generation feature.

Qualys could improve the inbuilt dashboards. They could be advanced compared to competitors like Rapid7 and Tenable. They should include a faster reverse integration process. They could enhance its integration with ServiceNow CMDB to ensure that mapping IP addresses, domains, and net bias names is consistent and accurate.

We have been using Qualys VMDR for nearly two and a half years.

I rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. I have rarely seen any stability issues with Qualys.

I rate the product's scalability an eight out of ten. We only recommend some people use Qualys in our organization. It is a limited audience. It is used by the vulnerability management team and a few critical resources from different parts of the cybersecurity department. We have 50 users in total. They should provide role-based access for managers, reviewers, and scanners.

The initial setup process is simple as I have prior experience working on two full-time projects with it. I find it simple as I have enough background knowledge of it.

The product is more expensive than that of any other vendor.

I did work on Tenable's POC and some other vendors. It has some limitations in detecting different types of vulnerabilities or false positives. Qualys is on the higher side when compared to the other tools.

I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We are managing hundreds of AWS and several on-premises accounts using Qualys agents and scanners to provide data inputs for Qualys. We are using several of the Qualys modules, VMDR, Cloud Agents, Connectors along with Global Asset View (GAV).  GAV dynamic tagging is valuable for tracking owners of assets.   

Qualys' main function is to provide us with vulnerability management information for our end users and is a major input to our CMDB.  We rely on a combination of agents and scans to provide us with the system data.   

We are seeing more of the issues we suspected were there. Qualys is allowing us to get an overall picture of our Risk posture. It has enabled us to identify assets we did not know existed.  

However, Qualys has not enabled us to get a complete picture of our risk posture, due to our own limitations in our deployments and limitations in the Qualys back end, dashboards, UI, connector reliability, and the limitations of the Qualys Scripting Language (QSL).  

Qualys implementation requires dedicated back-end support from various teams which was not clearly explained to us or planned for. 

Cloud Agents: lots of control available and very trouble-free. It pulls all systems information, including installed software and open ports. It's very configurable to adjust impact to systems.  

Connectors: Pulls all the cloud information per account and helps to build a CMDB.  Qualys connectors do some control evaluations to help manage these accounts. 

Global Asset View (GAV): With the ability to establish dynamic tagging and perform queries GAV has become a very valuable research tool to our teams. 

Support: It's often overseas and often following a script, basically asking us to redo what we opened the case with. 

Multiple APIs: There seems to be a lack of easy onboarding into Qualys. We had to use manual inputs and some API calls to get items in place. 

Dashboard: It is very rudimentary with very little customization. The Qualys Scripting Language (QSL) works differently in different Qualys modules, so when you get it working in one area you have to modify the syntax in others.  

User account management: We often have to give users more rights than needed just to give them what they need. 

Integration with the various Qualys Modules: You can tell the UI is different based on of the different teams that created them. 

QSL syntax same in all modules

Responsiveness of some of the components: They time out, you get a blank screen, etc.

Backend updates between the various modules: You update connectors and information takes a few minutes to show in VMDR or Global Asset View

Connectors: Connectors have a throttling issue with AWS which causes them to frequently fail unless you manually run them again. 

I've used the solution for three years.

Stability is not the issue. However, the reliably of the different modules is a concern. I have never seen all of Qualys go down. 

The solution is very scalable (with a matching cost, in that, it gets expensive as you grow). 

Our CSM has awesome, however, support is often overseas at conflicting hours.  Support seems to follow scripts and forces us to go through the same scripts. Some solutions required months from Qualys to implement. 

Negative

We used Tenable.IO which we found very limited. However, in our other cloud environment, we had to use Teanble.SC with which we were able to use a Lambda function and a few API calls to make it operate very well in the cloud. 

The setup is complex in many ways, from setting up agents and connectors to trying to create dashboards that fit our needs.  

We managed the setup in-house.

Management is very concerned about the cost of using Qualys; it keeps going up as we pursue 100% deployment. 

The price is very high and escalates quickly based on the number of appliances you need. 

We evaluated Tenable.SC and Rapid7.

If you're going to deploy Qualys it is key to have someone dedicated to supporting the back end, making sure all the components are working as expected.  This is not a fire-and-forget solution. 

The use cases would be for scanning purposes, for identifying assets, identifying and viewing assets, and setting up scan schedules. I use it primarily as a vulnerability management and scanning tool.

When you have everything in one place, the job is very easy. Qualys VMDR having a Russian nesting doll sort of environment does take a steep learning curve, but having everything in one place is quite neat.

The most valuable feature is the asset view where I can find individual assets and take a deeper dive into their information gathering section, potential vulnerabilities, and confirmed vulnerabilities. I also value the scheduling of scans and reports as per the desired timeframes.

The reporting section needs improvement as running reports can take several hours. A more intuitive way to configure reports settings to reduce run time would be helpful. Improvements are needed for sorting QIDs and findings during the reporting section without downloading the entire report. 

Additionally, there is a need to address the issue of retaining report sections when they exceed one or two GBs. For asset management, adding a notification for unscanned assets or those missing CVE ratings would help.

I have been using it for close to three and a half to four years now.

There are rarely any stability issues. Discrepancies are usually anticipated due to the downtime and maintenance window provided in advance. It's a technological tool, and random anomalies may happen, but they are manageable.

Qualys offers one of the best scalability capabilities for large-scale deployments. Its tools and solutions work effectively with large corporations. VMDR helps club multiple vulnerabilities into one QID, which assists with remediation cycles.

Customer support is fast, although there can be a lot of back and forth. However, the overall service is satisfactory and of great quality.

Positive

I have used Nessus and Burp Suite, however, Burp Suite isn't in close proximity with Qualys for scanning purposes. Microsoft Defender offers some advantages with real-time, agent-based scanning that consumes fewer resources.

The initial setup was quite simple and straightforward. Setting up Qualys was fairly easy with clear documentation and guidance.

I am not familiar with the pricing side as I am not a part of that aspect. However, it is on the higher side, but it provides large-scale scalability for vulnerability management.

I have evaluated Nessus and Microsoft Defender for vulnerability management.

Users should go through the training offered by Qualys for all VMDR modules and take an introductory call on how to use and schedule tasks. Setting up one thing at a time and testing the desired results before moving on is advised.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I am working for an IT firm where I use Qualys VMDR for my clients. I specifically use it for vulnerability detection and vulnerability remediation as part of our vulnerability assessment team. We scan all the assets for vulnerabilities, both servers and client-side, and then share the vulnerability reports with the relevant teams for remediation planning.

The continuous scanning for vulnerabilities, especially the notifications for zero-day vulnerabilities, greatly aids in keeping our systems secure. The accurate vulnerability assessments and the remediation plans they provide enhance our workflow and effectiveness in vulnerability management.

The most valuable feature is the vulnerability assessment. Qualys VMDR is precise in its assessments and categorizes vulnerabilities by severity from one to five. Additionally, they provide detailed reports and possible remediation steps, such as updating from Java version 3.4 to a more secure version.

Qualys VMDR could improve in reducing the occurrences of false positive vulnerabilities. Enhancing this aspect would make the tool even more effective.

I have been using Qualys VMDR for two years.

There are no issues with stability. They notify us of any scheduled downtime a week in advance, usually planning it for weekends to avoid disrupting business operations.

Qualys VMDR handles scalability very well. It offers extensive features and facilities to create groups for assets or servers, making it easy to add new environments or data centers for scanning.

I have heard that their technical support team is very responsive and takes quick action when needed. However, I have never interacted with them personally.

Positive

We have used ZixSense, also known as Ivanti Neurons. ZixSense is more user-friendly than Qualys, however, the latter provides more comprehensive and accurate vulnerability assessments.

The initial setup of Qualys VMDR was easy. We just had to open the Qualys tool, add the IP addresses of the respective servers or hostnames, and start scanning. Access to vulnerability assessment is only provided via IP addresses, not hostnames.

Any changes or maintenance required are managed by the Qualys team following change requests from our upper management.

New users should complete two training programs from the Qualys training center: Qualys Foundation and Qualys VMDR. These certifications provide the necessary knowledge to set up and use Qualys effectively. Qualys also provides a demo trial account for new users.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.