Penetration testing, or pen testing, is an assessment carried out on your cyber defences to help understand whether they have flaws or vulnerabilities that could be exploited by criminals. Using the tools and techniques utilised by hackers, penetration testing uncovers the parts of your system that could be attacked.
However, you need to make sure you are carrying out your penetration testing effectively. Here we take a look at how that can be accomplished.
Work with outside cybersecurity specialists
The first thing to say is that many businesses make the mistake of thinking that penetration tests can be carried out in-house. This actually defeats the object of the test. The idea with pen testing is to establish whether someone without prior knowledge of the system can overcome the cybersecurity measures in place.
Those people inside the organisation already understand the types of defences that are in place, and may only test for the methods they already know about. It is a far better idea to work with cybersecurity specialists without a prior understanding of your system.
Look for CREST-approved suppliers
Of course, it is important to choose the right penetration testers to carry out your assessment. You want to feel that not only are they doing a good job of testing your system but also that they can be trusted with any data that they are able to breach.
It is a good idea to work with cybersecurity specialists with accreditation from CREST https://www.crest-approved.org/. This is the certification body for the cybersecurity industry.
Understand the limits of pen testing
It is worth thinking about what penetration testing isn’t designed to do. For example, penetration tests are not designed to assess the human side of cybersecurity, even though this actually plays an enormous role in the overall security of a business.
Pen testing typically is used to assess the capabilities of your infrastructure, cybersecurity software and procedures
Define the scope of your test
It is really vital to define the scope of your pen test. In reality, there are many different types of assessments that your business can pursue, and these will look at different areas of your cybersecurity. According to penetration specialists Redscan, there is a wide range of different types of tests that can be carried out, from network infrastructure testing and mobile security testing through to firewall configuration reviews and remote working assessments.
Just having a vague overall penetration test is not specific enough to really allow you to drill deep and make the necessary improvements to your overall security.
Have realistic expectations
You need to understand first that having one penetration test doesn’t mean that you have now solved all of the issues across your site. Firstly, potential flaws and weaknesses can arise all the time as hackers and cybercriminals change up their techniques and their tools become more sophisticated.
It is also worth pointing out that you need to have ongoing penetration testing to make sure that your defences are still up scratch as you move on.
Follow up on it
If you are going to go to the trouble of having proper penetration testing carried out, you need to make sure that you are making the most of it. At the end of your penetration testing, the cybersecurity team will provide you with a full report of what they were able to do and how.
Far too many businesses fail to immediately plan remediating action to deal with the issues that have been uncovered. It can be a great idea to talk with the cybersecurity specialists about what could be done to minimise the risk of this type of attack occurring, and the changes that you can make to your defences to prevent it. Failing to do so simply leaves you just as exposed.
Final thoughts
Penetration testing can be an invaluable weapon against cybercrime, but it is vital that it is deployed effectively. Working with specialists who really know what they are doing can go a long way to ensuring you get the penetration testing you need.