Five Benefits of Penetration Testing
Do you want to be sure that your company infrastructure remains resilient to sophisticated attacks? With all the bold claims security devices and tools make today, it’s easy to assume that your infrastructure is impenetrable. However, even companies with the best security practices perform regular penetration tests to ensure their environment holds up against real-world attacks.
Pensive Security offers cutting-edge penetration testing to ensure applications, networks, and cloud infrastructures can handle complex and creative attacks from hackers trying to get into your systems. We regularly carry out pentests for companies of all sizes and ensure that your security controls are present and working as intended. We use a team of certified professionals and provide comprehensive reports that make it straightforward for teams to make needed changes to your security systems.
Not sure what penetration testing is all about? This article will delve into the five key benefits of penetration testing and why you might need it for your company.
First, What is Penetration Testing Designed to Achieve?
Also known as “ethical hacking” or “pentesting”, a penetration test is a cybersecurity assessment technique. The purpose of the assessment is to test for, identify, and highlight any vulnerabilities found in your security. The company offering penetration testing mimics some of the actions and strategies used by attackers to get into your network, web/mobile applications, or computer systems. Pentests can also be used to test whether a system adheres to all compliance regulations.
There are several pentesting methods, each offering different benefits based on specific information. Black box testing involves a tester trying to break into a system without any knowledge of the system, while white box testing is done with a tester who has all the required information about the system. Gray box testing is a method in-between the two where only some information about the system is provided.
The main goal of penetration testing is to test all of your tech assets, controls, and safeguards by attempting to get through any defenses in place. It can help protect assets so that they can’t be corrupted, damaged, stolen, or hijacked. Pentesting also helps determine what risks are present so they can be fixed.
Key Benefit 1: Compliance with Industry Regulations and Standards
One of the top benefits of penetration testing is that it addresses security and compliance requirements set forth by industry regulations and standards, including PCI, FISMA, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. Pentesting can be used to determine exactly how a hacker could get access to sensitive data and proprietary assets. With attack strategies constantly evolving and growing, this is essential for uncovering and fixing security problems before anyone can exploit them.
For many government agencies and industries, regular penetration tests are required. In addition, if a company uses payment infrastructure, applications, and devices, for instance, regular monitoring and testing are necessary to ensure cardholder data security.
Key Benefit 2: Prevent Expensive Data Breaches
If someone manages to get into your data, the recovery process can take a lot of time and be quite expensive. Loss in sales, legal fees, customer protection programs, IT remediations, and discouraged customers can lead to organizations spending millions of dollars after a hacker manages to get into a system.
Based on the 2020 “Cost of a Data Breach Report”, the average total cost of a breach is $3.86 million. The most expensive industry to experience a data breach is in healthcare, where the average breach can cost $7.13 million. Costs vary by country, as well. The most expensive location for data breaches is the United States, with an average cost of $8.64 million.
Key Benefit 3: Potential to Mature the Environment
When you mature your security options within an organization, it can create a substantial competitive advantage compared to other companies within the same industry. Doing an internal audit of risk shows that you care about your security and want to ensure your clients or customers are safe using your products and services. Plus, performing a standardized penetration test like an OWASP ASVS can carry a lot of weight when discussing security with potential customers and partners.
But regular penetration testing does more than show that you care about compliance and information security. It also provides evidence that you are consistently working toward having the best protection possible, making people feel more confident about leaving their data in your hands.
Key Benefit 4: Ability to Prevent Hackers from Infiltrating Systems
The basic process of penetration testing involves carrying out strategies that an actual hacker would engage in. A professional who understands the mind of a hacker takes the same actions they would in order to see how your system, application, or infrastructure handles that kind of attack.
When you have regular penetration testing done, you are proactive in taking real-world approaches to evaluate how secure your IT infrastructure truly is. This process can help you find problems with your security, which allows you to take care of those issues before someone who attempts an attack can be successful.
Key Benefit 5: Option to Prioritize and Identify Potential Risks
When done regularly, penetration testing allows a company or organization to evaluate the security of internal networks, external networks, web and mobile applications, and more. The purpose is to help you understand what security controls you need to ensure your people and data are kept safe.
Once you know what risks are present, you can prioritize which are the most important to rectify. This is an excellent way to help you prevent attacks from occurring by incorporating additional security measures.
Hire Our Team of Professional Security Testers
Penetration testing is essential to keep data safe and prevent attacks that can impact your reputation, income, and use of time. Pensive Security is the number one option for high-quality penetration testing and other cybersecurity services. We are THE experts in penetration testing and have performed security assessments for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in between.
All employees are certified professionals who offer cutting-edge security testing, comprehensive reports, and development guidance to ensure you have the security you deserve. Reach out to us today at pensivesecurity.io to schedule your next round of penetration testing. You can also visit our services pages to see what our other main offerings are.