What Is Penetration Testing and Why Does Your Company Need it?

Penetration testing is a procedure to assess the real security of an information system using controlled attacks and identify weakness of the system that are maximally safe for infrastructure and business processes, as well as identifying and attempting to exploit vulnerabilities. Penetration tests allow you to provide detailed information about existing security loopholes, plan the most important areas to improve the real security of the information system. 

There is no denying that improving your offerings and developing your infrastructure are all important, but you can never side-line your organization’s security under any pretext. Moreover, with businesses going digital now, cybersecurity surely becomes a matter of concern for companies similar to yours. It is not without a reason the global cybersecurity spending is expected to cross $54 billion by the end of 2021. 

Security will help organizations retain their brand value and credibility in this age of cyber threats. So, if you have finally decided to act on your security plan, you may want to look into various security assessment methods, one of the popular being penetration testing. This serves as an effective general security assessment method that improves your organization’s security profile by identifying vulnerabilities in your IT network. Intrigued to learn more? Let us take a deep dive into our discussion now. 

Understanding the intricacies of penetration testing…

Through penetration testing, the testers (can also be called ethical hackers) access and assess an organization’s IT network comprising devices, applications, firewalls, mail servers, and web hosts to identify vulnerabilities. Not only do they detect the vulnerabilities, but the security experts also deliberately swindle such security gaps to expose the glitches in the existing security features of a company’s system. Conducting a penetration test shows how effective your security strategy is to prevent or protect your critical assets against cybersecurity threats. 

Since this test is performed in coherence with the security team of your company, it identifies the broad vulnerabilities instead of assessing the reaction or vigilance of the personnel in the face of a cyber onslaught. Based on their observations, the experts also prepare and offer a detailed report to the management, elaborating on the types of vulnerabilities exposed and guiding what mitigatory steps to take. 

Considering you have understood what penetration testing is all about, let us now quickly look into types of penetration tests performed by the security consultants.

External Penetration Testing – To understand how an attacker can exploit a network and access information from the outside, the experts may want to test networks from external interfaces. It is carried out from the outside, without preliminary data on the organization's IT infrastructure. This is more or less like stepping into the shoes of hackers and visualize or take actions from their perspective. In technical jargon, we call this external penetration testing. Performed as a black-box test, the experts expose and exploit security vulnerabilities to gain access into the internal networks. Further, the test team scans ports and networks using search engines to detect the source of vulnerability and information leakage.

Internal Penetration Testing – Internal penetration testing allows, in a controlled environment, to gain insight into problem areas that can be used by attackers to develop an attack or gain access to confidential information. 

This test is conducted based on insider knowledge and authorized network access to detect and exploit vulnerabilities. Also termed as a white-box test, it involves identifying for security issues from the inside of an organization’s network by the tester who now enjoys similar access as personnel of your IT team. 

As you can understand, this method helps in detecting vulnerabilities in all connected devices to your company’s network from an insider viewpoint. Based on the results of the work, the customer receives recommendations that will help eliminate vulnerabilities, increase the level of information security and analyze the possible consequences of attacks

Wireless Penetration Testing – At a time when wireless networks facilitate real-time communication in the corporate world, investing in this form of penetration testing becomes crucial for business success. So, unlike what happens in the previous two penetration test types, the security experts here emphasize exploiting only the Wireless network of your organization. By putting the security of your wireless network to the test, our security consultants can evaluate your security and propose solutions to strengthen it. These can include addressing vulnerabilities, deploying new technology or architecture, and implementing new security policies or procedures.

Now, here’s why your organization should invest in penetration testing …

Ramping up your organization’s security profile is essential to win the confidence of your stakeholders and carve out a positive reputation in the industry. So, let the first step towards strengthening your security posture be conducting a penetration testing today. In case you want to know how performing a penetration testing contributes to your brand value and bottom line, you may look into the points we discuss below.

Save Remediation Costs – Recovering from a security breach is more costly than you think it to be. It can cost you millions comprising expenditures on regulatory fines, compensations, and regaining the lost business opportunities. If indeed you recover the lost money, what about time? It is an irrevocable loss and can push you behind everyone in the corporate race. If you want to be at the top of the game, focus on security now, more than ever.

Comply with Regulatory Standards – Conducting regular penetration test will enable you to comply with security standards published by the regulatory bodies and higher authorities. With security analysts performing penetration tests and security audits, you can keep your IT network up-to-date, devoid of any vulnerabilities, and well protected from potential intruders. In short, your ability to stay security-complaint will help you build stronger business relationships.

Preserve Business Reputation – Not prioritizing your security investments now can haunt you later. How, you ask? Well, if your company ever falls prey to a security breach, you will have to pay in form of monetary loss, customer distrust, and reputational damage. So, before any such unfortunate incidents prove to be fatal for your business, you should better act quickly and improve your cybersecurity preparedness by investing in the right security measures and assessment methods.

Final Words – Remember, penetration testing should not be limited to just a one-time effort. Instead, it must be made a part of your ongoing security program to protect your company’s network against cybercrimes. As a result, it will help you uncover the newest vulnerabilities and shut the door to any probability of cybersecurity challenges in your network. And if you are looking for a reliable network & infrastructure penetration testing company, Offensive Shield is right at your help with its tailored security assessment services.