Evaluating the cyber resilience of IT infrastructure through penetration testing is crucial in the development of cybersecurity strategies. It is important to identify any security vulnerabilities in your software or networks as soon as possible to prevent attackers from exploiting them. With the increasing importance of anticipating attacks, penetration tests, or pentests, are being conducted more frequently, allowing businesses to be proactive in their security initiatives.
What is a Penetration Testing?
A penetration test, often abbreviated as pentest, is an approved cyberattack on a company, carried out under safe and controlled conditions. The goal of a penetration test is to discover and exploit vulnerabilities within the organization’s scope and to analyze the weaknesses of the environment before criminals can take advantage of them.
Penetration testing is often part of a security audit and a way for a company to gain a solid understanding of its security status. Ideally, such a test uses the same methods as an attacker would to breach the company’s systems. The test may involve simulated attacks, such as phishing, identifying open ports, creating backdoors, manipulating data, or planting malware.
Penetration tests are valuable because they provide insight into an organization’s security level from an attacker’s perspective. They can reveal issues that security specialists may have overlooked during development or expose risks that remain hidden when viewed from the inside. The greatest strength of a pentest is its ability to demonstrate the risk level of a vulnerability and identify which would cause the most damage if exploited.
Businesses should see penetration testing as part of the cybersecurity improvement process and conduct these tests regularly. If you hire a third party to perform the test, aim for at least one annual evaluation. If you have an internal team, you should conduct them more frequently. The frequency depends on the size of the organization, the scale of the tests you want to perform, and the type of resources you want to use. It is good practice to perform a penetration test whenever major updates are made to the infrastructure or applications, new offices are built, or new digital services and assets are introduced.
5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Penetration Testing
Penetration tests help determine how well an organization’s current security measures hold up against cybercriminals. This allows you to fix security gaps before attackers find and exploit them.
1. Improve Your Cybersecurity Strategy
To know how secure your IT systems are, you need to look at the results of a penetration test. Besides providing recommendations for short-term issues, an experienced penetration tester can help build a solid cybersecurity infrastructure and determine the right allocation of the cybersecurity budget. This strengthens your security processes and strategies.
2. Discover Hidden System Vulnerabilities Before Criminals Do
Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities before attackers do is crucial for maintaining security, which is why security patches are so common in modern operating systems and applications. Pentests can reveal flaws in cybersecurity plans that were initially overlooked. A penetration test focuses on what is most likely to be attacked to assess risk effectively and allocate your resources efficiently.
3. Comply with Security and Privacy Regulations
Audits and tests of security systems are something all businesses should regularly perform to comply with regulations such as NIS2, GDPR, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and others.
Penetration testing is undoubtedly an essential part of keeping your business and associated assets safe from attackers. While pentests are primarily used to ensure the security of networks and data, their value extends far beyond that. By conducting regular penetration tests, you can meet the requirements of even the most stringent security and privacy standards.
4. Ensure Business Continuity
Penetration testing can help your business continuity by identifying and resolving potential security risks before they disrupt your operations. This is particularly important as companies increasingly rely on technology and digital processes to carry out their activities. If your networks, systems, or applications are not properly secured, you risk cyberattacks hindering your business operations.
A penetration test helps your business strengthen its security and reduce the likelihood of your systems being compromised. This contributes to higher availability of your IT systems and better protection of your business data.
5. Protect Your Reputation
Customers want to know that their information is secure when doing business with a company, especially given the frequent reports of data breaches and successful cyberattacks in the media. A penetration test is a way to demonstrate that a company is secure.
A security breach can not only lead to the loss of sensitive information and financial damage but also cause significant harm to your reputation. Customers and stakeholders may lose trust in your business if they believe their data is not safe with you. Investing in a robust cybersecurity strategy and maintaining a positive reputation can help retain customers, attract new ones, and avoid negative publicity.
If you would like more information or are interested in a penetration test for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us!