Policies
Required user role when using Tenable Nessus Manager: Standard, Administrator, or System Administrator
A policy is a set of predefined configuration options related to performing a scan. After you create a policy, you can select it as a template when you create a scan.
Tip: For information about default policy templates and settings, see Scan Templates.
Use the following procedures to manage your policies:
 Create a policy
Create a policy
                                                    - 
                                                                In the top navigation bar, click Scans. The My Scans page appears. 
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                                                                In the left navigation bar, click Policies. The Policies page appears. 
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                                                                In the upper right corner, click the New Policy button. The Policy Templates page appears. 
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                                                                Click the policy template that you want to use. 
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                                                                Configure the policy's settings. 
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                                                                Click the Save button. Tenable Nessus saves the policy. 
 Modify a policy
Modify a policy
                                                    - 
                                                                In the top navigation bar, click Scans. The My Scans page appears. 
- In the left navigation bar, click Policies.
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                                                                In the policies table, select the check box on the row corresponding to the policy that you want to configure. In the upper-right corner, the More button appears. 
- Click the More button.
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                                                                Click Configure. The Configuration page for the policy appears. 
- Modify the settings.
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                                                                Click the Save button. Tenable Nessus saves the settings. 
 Export a policy
Export a policy
                                                    You can export an existing scan policy in Tenable Nessus as a .nessus file and import it into a different Tenable Nessus installation. You can then view and modify the configuration settings for the imported policy.
To export a policy:
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                                                                In the top navigation bar, click Scans. The My Scans page appears. 
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                                                                In the left navigation bar, click Policies. The Policies page appears. 
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                                                                In the row of the policy that you want to export, click  . .The policy downloads to your machine as a .nessus file. You can import the policy into a different Tenable Nessus installation, or you can save it for future use. 
 Import a policy
Import a policy
                                                    You can export a Tenable Nessus policy as a .nessus file and import it in a different Tenable Nessus installation. You can then view and modify the configuration settings for the imported policy. You cannot import a Nessus DB file as a policy.
To import a policy:
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                                                                In the top navigation bar, click Scans. The My Scans page appears. 
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                                                                In the left navigation bar, click Policies. The Policies page appears. 
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                                                                In the upper-right corner, click Import. Your browser's file manager window appears. 
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                                                                Browse to and select the scan file that you want to import. Note: The supported file type is an exported Nessus (.nessus) file. Tenable Nessus imports the file as a policy. 
 Delete a policy
Delete a policy
                                                    - 
                                                                In the top navigation bar, click Scans. The My Scans page appears. 
- In the left navigation bar, click Policies.
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                                                                On the policies table, on the row corresponding to the policy that you want to delete, click the  button. button.A dialog box appears, confirming your selection to delete the policy. 
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                                                                Click the Delete button. Tenable Nessus deletes the policy. 
Policy Characteristics
- Parameters that control technical aspects of the scan such as timeouts, number of hosts, type of port scanner, and more.
- Credentials for local scans (for example, Windows, SSH), authenticated Oracle database scans, HTTP, FTP, POP, IMAP, or Kerberos based authentication.
- Granular family or plugin-based scan specifications.
- Database compliance policy checks, report verbosity, service detection scan settings, Unix compliance checks, and more.
- Offline configuration audits for network devices, allowing safe checking of network devices without needing to scan the device directly.
- Windows malware scans which compare the MD5 checksums of files, both known good and malicious files.
