• EXPOSED
  • VULNERABLE
  • UNRECOGNIZED
  • HUMAN

How to audit your external attack surface with your AI

Connect Shodan to your agent to scan for exposed assets. Once connected, your AI handles the heavy lifting of searching and analyzing network data.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I audit my external attack surface with my AI?

Your agent uses Shodan to locate exposed services, open ports, and outdated software versions tied to your IP ranges or domains. It maps your footprint and flags high-risk configurations for you to review.

Where every issue lands.

Audit outcomes

The AI organizes its findings into these specific categories.

EXPOSED

Open services

The agent identifies active ports and services running on your IPs. You get a clear list of what is reachable from the internet.

VULNERABLE

Outdated software

Your AI flags specific software versions known to have security flaws. This helps you prioritize which patches to apply first.

UNRECOGNIZED

Shadow IT

The agent finds assets that don't match your known inventory. This highlights forgotten or unauthorized hardware on your network.

HUMAN

Manual triage

The AI cannot fix the vulnerabilities or close the ports. You must step in to remediate the issues it discovers.

The workflow

What your AI does when the scan starts.

Your agent moves from broad discovery to specific technical details.

  1. Map the footprint

    The agent searches for all hosts matching your specific IP ranges or organization identifiers.

    search_hosts

  2. Filter by service

    The AI narrows down the results to find specific types of exposed services or protocols.

    get_facets

  3. Inspect host details

    The agent pulls deep technical data for a specific IP to see exactly what is running.

    get_host_info

  4. Identify risks

    The agent compares the gathered service data against known outdated versions to flag risks.

    get_host_info

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to kick off your audit.

Starting points

Swap the bracketed text for your actual IP ranges, domain names, or specific service types.

Shodan Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_v56kfVzaldu64N35xQgpbhSkfmWiw9wRo7KH9Xgc/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — Shodan capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shodan-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_v56kfVzaldu64N35xQgpbhSkfmWiw9wRo7KH9Xgc/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Find all hosts associated with the IP range 192.168.1.0/24.

  • List all exposed web servers running on my organization's domain.

  • Check for any outdated Apache versions across my known IP footprint.

  • Show me all open ports currently active on my primary subnet.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect Shodan once, then ask.

Just link your Shodan account. Your credentials stay encrypted, and you can immediately start querying via your agent.

Connect Shodan to your AI

FAQ

How the audit works

  • 01

    Can the AI close open ports for me?

    No. The AI only reads data from Shodan. You have to use your own network management tools to change configurations.

  • 02

    Does the AI scan my network directly?

    No. The AI queries Shodan's existing database of internet-facing devices. It does not send new packets to your network.

  • 03

    Can I use this to find internal devices?

    No. Shodan only indexes devices that are visible to the public internet. It cannot see devices behind a firewall or on a private LAN.

  • 04

    Will the AI delete any data in my Shodan account?

    No. The tools provided are read-only. The AI cannot modify your Shodan settings or delete your saved queries.

  • 05

    How does the AI know if software is outdated?

    The agent looks at the service banners and version strings returned by Shodan and compares them to known data.

  • More questions about Shodan? See everything the Shodan Connector can do

Connect Shodan to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more