Patent ID: 8621060

Claim:
A method comprising: causing a first scan to be performed that comprises sending a set of ICMP packets to a plurality of computer devices on a network and identifying a first set of responsive computer devices in the plurality of computer devices responsive to the ICMP packets, wherein the plurality of computer devices are included on a scan list; revising the scan list to remove the first set of responsive computer devices from the scan list to create a first version of the scan list; causing a second scan to be performed that comprises sending a set of TCP packets to the computer devices included on the first version of the scan list and identifying a second set of responsive computer devices responsive to the TCP packets; revising the first version of the scan list to remove the second set of responsive computer devices from the first version to create a second version of the scan list; causing a third scan to be performed that comprises sending a set of UDP packets to the computer devices included on the second version of the scan list and identifying a third set of responsive computer devices in the plurality of computer devices responsive to the UDP packets, wherein the third set of responsive computer devices are to be removed from the second version of the scan list; and identifying vulnerabilities of computer devices included on a live list, wherein in at least one of the first, second, and third sets of responsive computer devices are to be added to the live list upon removal from the scan list.