Security Pen Test: How your Business Benefits From It
A security penetration test is your best bet for your business growth. Your business benefits significantly from it; if you still don't know about its benefits, keep reading this article to learn more about how your business benefits from security penetration tests.
There are several benefits of a security penetration test to your business; it ensures business continuity, provides a new perspective on your system design, helps you allocate your security budget, provides thorough feedback for your employees and strengthens customer loyalty and trust in your business. Additionally, it keeps your data protected, helps you improve compliance, and exposes vulnerabilities.
Learn more about what you need to know before hiring penetration testers.
Security Pen Test: How your Business Benefits From It
If you own a business or run IT security in your company, you may have heard about security pen tests. But not entirely sure of what they are and what they can do for your business. A security pen test allows you to explore all aspects of your business, including; its perimeter, networks, computers, and more. They help to determine if any vulnerabilities exist that could allow an attacker to gain access to sensitive information or systems.
Here are the benefits of a security pen test on your business.
1. Ensure business continuity
Ensuring business continuity avoids productivity, revenue, and reputation losses. Testing your security systems and finding vulnerabilities allows you to identify fixes and correct the problem before it leads to something worse. Some organizations overlook their internal system checks and only spend money on external security measures like firewalls, antivirus software, and door locks.
2. Provides a new perspective on your system design
A security pen test will put your system to the test, examining how well it performs under simulated attack scenarios. It is an essential component of any company's defense-in-depth strategy because it provides a new perspective on your system design, uncovering design flaws and implementation errors.
3. Penetration testing can help you allocate your security budget
Penetration testing enables you to distribute your security budget and avoid spending time and money reacting to an attack. The process also gives you access to critical information about the threats your business faces, so you can make more informed decisions about how best to defend against them.
4. Strengthens customer loyalty and trust in your business
You can't expect your customers to stay loyal and give you their trust when you're not willing to do the work yourself. A security pen test strengthens customer loyalty and confidence in your business because it shows them that you care about their data security. This means that your customers will be more confident in doing business with you and have a more relaxed shopping experience. Also, they feel like they can trust what is happening with their personal information online.
5. Provides thorough feedback for your employees
One benefit to getting your business or company pen tested is that it provides thorough feedback on the company's strengths and weaknesses, giving you the information necessary to set your team up for success. A well-rounded pen test will expose various holes in your security systems and highlight strategies that are not currently utilized. By looking at your most vulnerable areas and applying countermeasures before an attack takes place, you'll be better equipped to handle cyberattacks.
6. Keeps your data protected
One way your business benefits from a security pen test is by ensuring you are protecting your data. These tests can be done remotely or in person, and they cover any weaknesses or vulnerabilities that may exist in your system.
7. It helps you improve your compliance.
The benefit of performing a security pen test is that it can help you improve your compliance with best practices and standards. Once a third party has assessed your network, it will be graded based on the systems and controls. An improvement plan will be recommended for each command that is found to be deficient.
8. Exposing vulnerabilities
Scanning your business for vulnerabilities can uncover potential breaches that may not have been found otherwise. A security pen test will also ensure that you meet industry standards. Evaluate your company against specific benchmarks, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements.
What are the Things you Need to Know Before Hiring Penetration Tester
If you have the budget and want to protect your business, you should hire an external penetration tester to help you. Penetration testers are skilled professionals who can test your company's vulnerabilities. And help you fix them as quickly as possible. Whether you have an in-house IT team or not, there are many things you need to know before hiring a penetration tester.
To help with this decision, Here are things you need to know before hiring a penetration tester.
1. Strong communication skills
Strong communication skills are crucial to ensure that the penetration tester and customer understand each other. It also helps when working with other members of the team, as they will be able to relay information back and forth without error.
2. Beware of fake consultants.
Often, these individuals have any experience in the industry. And this is not what you need when looking for penetration testers. Be careful because some companies can be tricky. Do your due diligence and ensure you work with an experienced and professional team.
3. Get involved with the security community.
Participating in local community events such as hackathons and security training events can be an invaluable source of information. It is the best way to be fully aware of the latest hacking techniques and threats that could directly affect your business.
4. Reputation is everything
If you're looking for the most trustworthy and skilled professional hackers, their reputation sets them apart from their peers. The best ethical hackers have a proven track record of providing their clients with comprehensive solutions that meet their needs on time and within budget. With that in mind, you can rest assured knowing that your company will be secure in these hands!
5. Hire passionate testers
A passionate tester will always have time for you and be interested in trying new tools to uncover vulnerabilities. A good pen tester will likely stick around after the contract ends or have valuable connections you can leverage. Passionate hackers may also come up with an idea that's never been considered before, which leads us nicely to the next point.
6. Don't be afraid of pentesters
You might be concerned about hiring pentesters for various reasons. You might not know who you're involved with or are unsure what pentesters do. Don't be afraid of them! Pentesters are just another set of eyes for your business. Helping catch vulnerabilities that you would otherwise miss. They specialize in all things related to cyber security and can detect unseen flaws in the system that could have otherwise been exploited and hacked.
What are the Skills a Penetration Test Expert Should Possess?
Penetration testing, also known as pen-testing, tests a computer system, network, or web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. When your business has decided that it's time to have its systems tested, you'll want to make sure you choose the right vendor or pen-testing provider, so you can be sure that you're getting value for money and peace of mind when it comes to your security. The below table shows the skills a penetration vendor should possess.
| Technical expertise |
The most important thing to consider when choosing a pen testing vendor is their experience with the type of app you're testing. If they don't have experience, it can lead to an incomplete and inaccurate analysis. |
| Data security |
Regardless of any assurances received during contract negotiations, it is important to ask about data handling before entrusting sensitive data to a third party. |
| Specialization |
Despite any assurances received during contract negotiations, it is important to ask about data handling specifically before entrusting. |
| Employee training | You have to consider and assess the security awareness among the team members. Training sessions are also vital to prevent any shortcomings. |
Conclusion
It would be best if you now understood pen testing and how your business can benefit from it. Before you go spending money on this type of security assessment, you need to be aware that there are a few risks involved going forward. With an investment, always know potential issues and research the company providing the service to ensure they are reputable and trustworthy. You can reach out to Guru solutions for effective security penetration test services.
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