Here at 4:59 Consulting, we stand by a three-pronged approach in preparing and preventing your company from an information security breach. In this article we will discuss the third prong, vulnerability assessments and penetration testing, which is all about analyzing, testing, and protecting your company's system.
Our previous articles covered writing and implementing your company's Information Security Policies and Procedures and empowering your employees to recognize, avoid, and handle potential breaches with Annual Cybersecurity Awareness Training. Both articles can be found in the blog section of our website.
Now, let's dive right into how vulnerability assessments and pen testing can help your company build a more robust cybersecurity defense.
What is a vulnerability assessment?
A vulnerability assessment is an analysis of your company's systems, networks, and applications to determine any security vulnerabilities, flaws, or defects. Some vulnerabilities can be leveraged to cause malicious activity, while other vulnerabilities cannot. Identifying these defects or weak points in your system and determining their severity allows your company to anticipate any potential risks. The results from these findings can lead your company to fix or strengthen the vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Though a vulnerability assessment seeks out and finds these defects in your company's systems, it doesn't test them. That's where pen testing comes into play.
What is penetration testing?
After your company's vulnerabilities have been identified, it's time to test them.
Pen testing is a cybersecurity exercise, under the ethical hacking umbrella, used to penetrate each of the flaws found in your system's vulnerability analysis. Testing each weak point determines if each vulnerability can be hacked, how they can be hacked, how they can be leveraged against your company, and how detrimental they can be.
Vulnerability assessment vs pen testing
Though vulnerability assessments and pen testing are two separate processes, they work together in providing a more complete overview of the weak spots in your company's security.
A vulnerability assessment scans and analyses your company's systems, while penetration testing tries to exploit these flaws or defects in the system, giving you a complete picture of your company's network and bringing to light defects you might not have been previously aware of.
Having your system checked and tested could save your company's finances and reputation by preventing a hack that could compromise your company's and customers' information.
Ethical hacking vs penetration testing
Ethical hacking and pen testing are similar in their quest to find areas inside of a company's cybersecurity structure that can be breached and help them mitigate potential hacks, but they differ in their breadth. While penetration testing focuses on a company's systems for a specific amount of time, ethical hacking is usually focused on a broader range of security issues for a longer period of time.
Pen testers and Ethical hackers have different certification standards as well, though an ethical hacker can perform pen testing.
Why are these processes important?
According to IBM's 2024 data breach report, $4.88 Million was the global average cost of a data breach. Checking your company's systems for potential security breaches is an essential factor in protecting your clients' and vendors' information and, ultimately, your company's reputation.
It's recommended to have your system checked for vulnerabilities annually and after any significant changes or new implementations. This helps create a solid cybersecurity plan.
Who should perform a vulnerability assessment and pen test?
The best person to perform your company's vulnerability and penetration test is a qualified professional who is not familiar with your company's systems, like a third-party consultant specialized in the field. Finding a professional who doesn't know your systems processes can be beneficial in that they bring a fresh perspective and might catch a discrepancy that someone familiar with your company's processes may overlook. As always, it's best to vet and choose the right consultant for your company, as different companies have unique requirements. It's best to find a professional who specializes in your company's specific pen testing and security needs.
Once a pen test has been performed, the findings are shared with the company and developers to determine and implement solutions, making your company's security even stronger than before.
4:59 Consulting has helped companies both big and small, across various industries, in keeping their company's data safe. Contact us to see how we can help your company.
