Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Shodan VS GRC Port Scan

Compare Shodan VS GRC Port Scan and see what are their differences

Shodan logo Shodan

Shodan is the world's first search engine for Internet-connected devices.

GRC Port Scan logo GRC Port Scan

GRC Internet Security Port Scanner. Tests for open ports on your external IP address.
  • Shodan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-16
  • GRC Port Scan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-06-07

Shodan features and specs

  • Comprehensive Data Collection
    Shodan extensively scans the internet, collecting data from a wide range of devices and services, which provides users with a thorough overview of their network exposure.
  • Security Awareness
    It helps organizations identify and address security vulnerabilities by revealing exposed devices and services that might otherwise go unnoticed.
  • Automation Capabilities
    The platform offers an API that allows users to automate searches and integrate Shodan data into their own tools and workflows.
  • Detailed Search Filters
    Shodan provides advanced search filters that allow users to narrow down results based on specific criteria such as geographic location, device type, or operating system.
  • Real-Time Monitoring
    Users can set up real-time alerts to monitor for new exposures, ensuring timely response to potential threats.

Possible disadvantages of Shodan

  • Ethical and Legal Concerns
    Shodan can be used by malicious actors to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, raising ethical and legal questions about its use and data collection practices.
  • Complex UI
    The user interface can be overwhelming for beginners due to its complexity and the vast amount of data available, making it difficult to navigate without prior experience.
  • Subscription Costs
    While Shodan offers a free tier, accessing advanced features and extensive search capabilities requires a subscription, which might be costly for some users.
  • Potential for False Positives
    The data collected by Shodan might include false positives, where benign devices are flagged as vulnerabilities, thus requiring users to manually verify each finding.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Since Shodan indexes devices connected to the internet, this can include personal and residential hardware, leading to privacy concerns for individuals whose devices are inadvertently exposed.

GRC Port Scan features and specs

  • Security Assessment
    The GRC Port Scan tool allows users to identify open ports on their system, helping in assessing the security posture and identifying potential vulnerabilities to external attacks.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface of GRC Port Scan is user-friendly, making it accessible for individuals with limited technical knowledge to perform port scans easily.
  • Immediate Feedback
    Users receive immediate results after running the port scan, allowing for quick analysis and decision-making.
  • No Installation Required
    The port scan can be performed directly from a web browser without the need for installing additional software, which is convenient for users.

Possible disadvantages of GRC Port Scan

  • Limited Port Range
    GRC Port Scan might not cover all possible ports, providing a limited view of the open ports, especially for advanced users needing more comprehensive scanning.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Running an online port scan involves sending data over the internet, which might raise privacy concerns for some users regarding data security.
  • Less Comprehensive
    Compared to professional network scanning tools, GRC Port Scan offers fewer features and fewer options for in-depth analysis.
  • Potential Network Interruption
    Frequent or aggressive scanning might trigger network security measures or result in temporary service disruptions for some users.

Analysis of Shodan

Overall verdict

  • Shodan can be a valuable tool when used appropriately. It is particularly beneficial for cybersecurity experts seeking to analyze and secure networked devices. However, it can also be used for malicious purposes if accessed by individuals with harmful intent. Therefore, ethical considerations and legal compliance must guide its use.

Why this product is good

  • Shodan is often considered useful because it acts as a search engine for Internet-connected devices. It allows cybersecurity professionals to discover and assess the exposure of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and networks. Shodan's extensive database enables users to gather information on devices' IP addresses, operating systems, open ports, and potential vulnerabilities. This data can be instrumental in cybersecurity research and in developing strategies to protect against potential threats.

Recommended for

  • Cybersecurity professionals
  • Network administrators
  • Security researchers
  • IoT developers seeking to understand device exposure
  • Organizations conducting security audits

Shodan videos

Searching the Internet with Shodan (Seen in Mr. Robot)

More videos:

  • Review - Bestech Shodan Unboxing & First Impressions
  • Review - Bestech Shodan FULL Review

GRC Port Scan videos

No GRC Port Scan videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Shodan and GRC Port Scan)
Security
100 100%
0% 0
IP Data
0 0%
100% 100
Monitoring Tools
89 89%
11% 11
Network & Admin
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Shodan seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 92 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Shodan mentions (92)

  • Introducing OSINT Template Engine: An open source OSINT Tool.
    Transform OSINT sources such as shodan, bgpview & urlscan into templates which you can use to query & store any and each of the API endpoints they provide. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Some outgoing ports (e.g, port 22) are blocked
    I'm a little surprised you're asking this but as you don't know - if you set the rulebase correctly, you won't get hammered by "public". A lot of people (of course not people here) don't do that which is why shodan.io is full of servers with SSH exposed to the world. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Does anyone want to vet this job opportunity?
    Eh, request a full demo before signing anything. If they make you buy before you can try, move on. Just be advised that data they collect from your site may be used in a database that puts a target on your back. Similar to how shodan.io works. I would probe them on how they handle customer data and if data is shared, partitioned, or isolated to ensure safety from a platform leak. They want to be a security... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Security issue or coincidence?
    My network is being hit by China and Russia many times per hour. Make sure your firewall is up-to-date and not have any services available on the Internet (WAN). Look at shodan.io which shows you _everything_ is searched on the Internet. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Onion sites crawling: Weird mass "HTTP/1.1 200 " HTTP status line returning?
    In the cases of nginx or apache, I suspect they may be acting as proxies to some backend that also chooses not to send a reason phrase back. Searching for "Reason Phrase" yields a number of bug reports/frameworks that may omit it, and shodan.io shows apache tomcat and a few other services/software that omit the code as well. Source: almost 2 years ago
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GRC Port Scan mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GRC Port Scan yet. Tracking of GRC Port Scan recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Shodan and GRC Port Scan, you can also consider the following products

Acunetix - Audit your website security and web applications for SQL injection, Cross site scripting and other...

My Public IP - My Public IP is a utility to let you know through which internet IP the world see you.

Censys - Censys helps organizations, individuals, and researchers find and monitor every server on the Internet to reduce exposure and improve security.

whatismyip.cc - External IP Address lookup tool with option to scan the external IP address.

Intruder - Intruder is a security monitoring platform for internet-facing systems.

geoiplookup.net - (IPv4 only) Online tool to get accurate IP address information