The Need for and Benefits of a Penetration Testing

According to the latest study from the Office of the Information Commissioner, there will be a considerable increase of 5 percent in the number of data breaches in the nation later this year. When the red flag is raised, many healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and service industries resort to penetration testing, a modern-day answer. As cyber-attacks and breaching data are growing to be more common, risk management in a company is becoming increasingly necessary. If your company deals with sensitive computational data, black hat hackers shouldn’t be a foreign concept. Hacking has evolved into a shadowy industry in recent years, and black hat hackers are capable of infiltrating your system via a bit of flaw that has gone unnoticed. 

What is a penetration test, and how does it work?

This kind of system is comparable to that of a white-hat hacker in that it can find flaws and successive points in a system before hackers can make use of these weaknesses. Running a pen test on your data system may inform you whether or not your data is susceptible to hackers and breaches, to put it another way. You will get a complete report after the exam, as well as a mark for your incident reaction. The latter may provide you with an indication of how quickly your system can react and recuperate from breaches if necessary.

There are three sorts of pen tests when it comes to the types, each with a bit of variance in price and accuracy. The black box pen test is the most cost-effective option available. The fact that it is constrained by time means that the resultant details are accurate and concise. The other two varieties are white box and grey box tests, all of which are pretty similar in technique, although the white box pen test is far more extensive than the grey box pen test.

The advantages of doing a penetration test

If your company operates in a complex and sensible industry like banking or finance, an annual pent test is the least amount of time wasted. Pen tests should be performed every three months to get better results and keep your security shield updated. Insight into hacker strategies may be gained via pen testing, which can close the gap you may have noticed. The advantages that accrue as a consequence are incalculable. Here are some of the most notable advantages among them:

1. Determine whether there are any concealed problems.

A minimum layer of defense against cyber assaults may be achieved by security and audit protocols, all of which can be implemented. On the other hand, a pen test reveals underlying weaknesses or vulnerable places in your security layer at the earliest possible stage. For example, your web server may have been down and may have concealed difficulties such as an intrusive directory attack or a denial-of-service assault. You may not be aware of such harmful intrusions. In such circumstances, recognizing them using a pen test that verifies access gains protects your system from potential directory and forgery attacks that might compromise your system.

2. Rank the risks and complications in order of importance.

You cannot be sure that your system does not have more than one sort of security flaw. If you are doing a pen test for the first time or have not done so in a while, your data system is at high risk of being vulnerable to many threats at the same time. In such circumstances, just noting the problems will not be sufficient. A pen test does more than merely identify weak points in a system. It also categorizes the unprotected spots found into three categories: low, medium, and high hazards. As a result, the situation is less stressful, and you have a better idea of where to begin.

3. Avoid costly cyber-attacks at all costs.

It is more costly than you may imagine suffering a cyber assault or data leakage. Such incidents not only result in the loss of critical information, but they also cast doubt on your company’s image and ability to expand further in the market. According to a recent analysis, the average cost of a data breach in Australia is $3.7 million. With frequent penetration testing sessions, you may get professional recommendations from third parties and improve your business continuity rates. Recovering from data breaches and cyber crimes may be expensive since it can result in hefty upfront fees as well as a loss of client loyalty. 

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