We often see news headlines about security breaches in big companies and the loss such breaches amount to. In today's world, hackers have advanced tools and techniques to identify even the smallest vulnerabilities in a company’s internet-facing application. They exploit these vulnerabilities to compromise the security of a system. What’s even worse is that the IT teams or network admins often identify the attack after it’s too late. And that’s exactly where the penetration testing comes in.
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing or pentesting is a popular security practice. Like we mentioned earlier, hackers look for vulnerabilities in an application or a network which they can exploit. The purpose of a penetration test is to identify these vulnerabilities before hackers do and patch them up on time. Pentesting involves a team of ethical hackers attempting to infiltrate all the security defenses and gain access to the application.
Penetration testing is different from a vulnerability assessment scan. A vulnerability assessment will only give you a list of vulnerabilities. On the other hand, a penetration test will list out the vulnerabilities, their severity, and all possible fixes for them. Moreover, penetration tests usually comprise both human and automated tests. All this makes penetration testing a superior and efficient security practice.
Why Penetration Testing is required?
Penetration testing is popular for good reason. You can reap so many benefits from performing pentests regularly. It truly is an asset to your security system. So, let’s get right into the various benefits of penetration tests:
- Allows you to fix vulnerabilities
Penetration testing uncovers even the smallest vulnerabilities on your application. Moreover, the vulnerabilities found will be classified into low risk, medium risk, and high risk. Using this information, you can prioritize the vulnerabilities and allot resources accordingly.
Fixing these vulnerabilities will strengthen and reinforce the existing security system and strategy. Moreover, it gives you an opportunity to fix issues you didn’t know existed in your IT infrastructure.
We are also seeing lot of traction for Smart Contract Audit as blockchain technology is rising.
Furthermore, pentesters also reveal the damage that can occur, if a hacker was to exploit the vulnerabilities. Knowing this can help you prepare for a cyberattack accordingly. Lastly, most penetration testers like Astra provide assistance with fixing the loopholes they found. After a pentest, you are likely to receive a comprehensive report with all the information you need.
Protects your business from potential attacks
According to CNBC, hackers target small businesses 43% of the time considering just 14% of them are prepared to defend themselves. However, by conducting penetration tests, you can always stay a step ahead of hackers. You can shut all possible entries to your system and keep intruders out of your business.Data Protection
Sensitive data falling into the wrong hands is every business owner's worst nightmare. Indeed it can definitely take a massive toll on the business itself from which it may never recover. Penetration tests can safeguard data by preventing any possible attack. For this reason, performing a penetration test is an absolute necessity.Compliance with security regulations and laws
Penetration testing helps you with the requirements of PCI-DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO-27001, etc. These are data compliance laws that are introduced by various governments and organizations in order to protect data. If a business is not compliant with these regulations, it will be subjected to severe ramifications in the form of hefty fines and bans.
Related blog - How much Penetration testing Cost
Source: Wallix.com
Customer’s trust
Having a penetration test certificate can go a long way especially with customers and potential customers. It will show that your business cares a great deal about security. It will be a relief for them to know that your company conducts routine security procedures. This way, they will find your business more trustworthy.Prevents Financial Loss
Last but definitely not least, penetration testing can save you from paying. How exactly, you ask?
If a successful cyberattack was to take place, the company has to pay fines and compensations. Furthermore, they will have to spend a very significant amount of money for fixing the damages caused by the attack. They will also have to spend money upgrading the existing security system seeing as it wasn’t very effective in keeping hackers out. Moreover, when a cyberattack occurs all activities will cease costing their business a lot of money.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, around the globe cybercrime costs will hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. Here are some of the types of attacks you can face and the average cost of dealing with them:
Ransomware attack - $133,000 per year
Malware attack - $2.6 million per year
Data breaches - $3.92 million per year
Phishing - $17,700 per minute
For better protection, it is always recommended to audit for your cloud infra too to ensure that all ports are secured, data is encrypted and best security practices are followed. You can check this guide for AWS Pentesting
Conclusion
Routine penetration testing should really be a priority if you are a website owner. It can reduce the chances of receiving a cyberattack by a huge margin. Ideally, this itself is reason enough to start conducting penetration tests. Apart from that, penetration testing has a lot of other advantages that truly emphasize its importance. All of them have been discussed in great detail in this post.
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Penetration testing services are crucial for website security. Protect your online assets with regular tests!