What is "nessus"

Nessus may refer to:

In mythology:

• Nessus (mythology), a famous centaur from Greek mythology
• Nessus, an alternate name of Nestos (god), son of Oceanus and Tethys, and god of the river Nestos

In fiction:

• Nessus (Pierson's Puppeteer), an alien character in Larry Niven's Known Space books
• Nessus, a fictional metropolis in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun
• Nessus, a layer of Hell in the Dungeons & Dragons game Baator
• Nessus, one of the moons of the fictional planet Chiron in the computer game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Science and technology:

• 7066 Nessus, a Centaur planetoid
• Nessus (software), a computer security tool
• Nessus (Blackberry), the proprietary kernel all Blackberry before BlackBerry 10 were based upon
• NESSUS Probabilistic Analysis Software, a tool for assessing uncertainties in structural and mechanical systems

Other uses:

• , two vessels of the Royal Navy (UK)

In Greek mythology, Nessus ( Ancient Greek: ) was a famous centaur who was killed by Heracles, and whose tainted blood in turn killed Heracles. He was the son of Centauros. He fought in the battle with the Lapiths. He became a ferryman on the river Euenos.

Nessus is a proprietary comprehensive vulnerability scanner which is developed by Tenable Network Security. It is free of charge for personal use in a non-enterprise environment.

According to surveys done in 2009 by sectools.org, Nessus is the world's most popular vulnerability scanner, taking first place in the 2000, 2003, and 2006 security tools survey. Tenable Network Security estimated year 2005 that it was used by over 75,000 organizations worldwide.

Nessus is a fictional character in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, a member of the technologically advanced alien race known to Humans as Pierson's Puppeteer, and amongst themselves as Citizens.

Nessus, like almost all Puppeteers ever met by humans, is insane by Puppeteer standards. Sane Puppeteers are far too cautious (cowardly from the human perspective) to go off-world or interact with non-Puppeteers, thus only insane individuals like Nessus can manage to act as business liaisons or ambassadors to other species, as he does with humans and others. Nessus demonstrates traits that in humans would be diagnosed as manic-depressive disorder, displacement, and at times, extreme suggestibility. His interactions with humans cause him to be one of the few Puppeteers to ever show any support for Human interests as coequal to Puppeteer interests. He is also directly responsible for the presence of Sigmund Austfaller on New Terra

Nessus is featured in the short story " The Soft Weapon" (printed in the 1968 collection Neutron Star) and is one of the expeditionaries to the Ringworld in the 1970 book of the same name. Nessus is also a central character of the Fleet of Worlds series of Ringworld companion novels ( Fleet of Worlds, Juggler of Worlds, Destroyer of Worlds, Betrayer of Worlds, and Fate of Worlds), which opens about 200 years before Ringworld and ends following Ringworld's Children.