Penetration testing is the security procedure that involves examining your organization’s applications for weaknesses and susceptibility to cyber threats. It is also known as pentesting or ethical hacking. The vulnerabilities present in an application could be software bugs, configuration errors, etc.
Penetration testing can also be called white-hat hacking since an ethical hacker attempts to break into the system with the required permissions and standards granted by respective organizations.
And since the world is witnessing exponential growth in every aspect of technology, the requirement for penetration testers has also increased.
To be compliant with global security standards, companies should conduct security audits – at least once a year to ensure the security of the IT infrastructure they hold.
What is penetration testing?
Codes and related configurations are susceptible to errors. With the advancement of modern technologies, there is a high chance that the previous version can get outdated, which makes them vulnerable.
Simulation of attack by identifying the weaker points in a system helps companies analyze the diverse ways by which hackers can gain unauthorized access to sensitive information or the infrastructure.
By identifying vulnerable points in a system, companies can prevent hackers from conducting malicious activities which would result in data breaches. With penetration tests, we can analyze the levels of access an attacker can gain. Thereby allowing an organization to harden their systems and upgrade to a more secure state.
Why is penetration testing important?
Since companies have evolved into a data-driven engine, breaches can affect hundreds of millions of people at a time.
A single data leak can wreak havoc on an organization’s reputation, wiping out all the effort and time the organization has invested. According to recent reports, the world has witnessed over 1291 breaches in 2021, which is the largest in decades.
Let us have a glance at the key points which make penetration testing a vital component for businesses:
- Error analysis and secure code implementation
For organizations, penetration testing reports help developers to analyze errors and to implement secure code designing. Secure code design is helpful in learning more about security and to make less mistakes in the future.
- Risk identification
Penetration testing also offers insights into the risks and thus, an organization can implement the most suitable security measures. This helps to uncover major existing vulnerabilities within the system, which might have gone unnoticed.
- Helps to be prepared for cyber attacks
Penetration testing helps an organization to be prepared by identifying risks proactively before hackers can cause harm in any way.
Conclusion
The role of periodic penetration testing is getting higher day-by-day since hackers are always on the trail looking to exploit any open vulnerabilities in applications.
Setting up off-the-shelf solutions are no longer effective since cybercriminals have grown in tandem with time. Breach incidents at Yahoo (2013 & 2014), Alibaba (2019), and Facebook (2019) among others, can be classified as the most severe examples of such events in which customers lose trust in the most valued companies.
“Prevention is better than cure” is a concept that must be utilized in every technology to grant near-perfect services to customers.
