10 Reasons Every Company Should Conduct a Penetration Test
Any organization, big or small, can benefit from a pentest and the reports that come out of it. A penetration test is a simulated attack against your organization for vulnerabilities. This can cover networks, websites, wireless, physical, and social aspects of your business. Here are ten reasons why an organization should have an outside company conduct a pentest on their environment.
#1 - Shows your strengths
Many organizations are wary about conducting a pentest because they don't want an outside organization to come in and explain everything that is wrong with their environment. While some testing companies may conduct business like this, Lavish Life Technology does not. We strive to show you what you are doing wrong, but also what you are doing right so that you can bring our report back to your teams and give them praise on their successes. This is extremely important for morale and shows the teams that we aren't there to just rip them apart.
#2 - Trains Security Teams
A pentest is a great opportunity for the security teams to look out for the attacks and see if the tools and processes currently running are detecting them. Penetration tests can be conducted discretely or by making as much noise as possible. This is ultimately up to the customer, but in either case security teams can gain a large amount of experience in a short amount of time. This is also a great opportunity to further develop an organization’s incident response process.
#3 - Protects Critical Data
In these times, many attackers aren't trying to steal money; they are trying to steal as much data as possible. According to IdentityForce, a leading identity security company, there have already been 11 data breaches in the first two months of 2021, which equates to around 300 million individuals' data. This is a staggering number. A pentest can help prevent this by finding the vulnerabilities in an organization in order to correct them before an attacker can exploit it.
#4 - No Stone Left Unturned
LLT does its very best to make sure we cover all areas and paths for exploitation. While this does depend on the scope given to us by the customer, we strive to discover as many vulnerabilities as possible. This of course includes networks and servers, but also includes people. The weakest link in a security organization is usually based in human error. We can conduct physical and social pentests in order to verify a building and its people are following the policies and good security practices of an organization.
#5 - Meets Compliance Mandates
Many organizations fall under some sort of compliance regulation in order to conduct business. In many cases, these regulations require penetration tests to be conducted annually. If your organization falls under PCI-DSS, SOX, HIPAA, FISMA, or GDPR then your organization should have pentesting done in order to meet those requirements. An organization who is non compliant risks fines and possible lawsuits.
#6 - Justifies IT Budget
Any well structured organization has a strict budget. In the Information Technology world, managers are always struggling to get enough money allocated in order to keep up with the evolving field of IT. Pentests can help with this by showing management why it is important to allocate additional expenses into IT and security. A pentest report from LLT will give an organization hard data and real evidence that vulnerabilities exist and how to correct them.
#7 - Shows Consequences
Unfortunately, many organizations don't invest in or worry about security until it's too late. Having a pentest conducted on an organization can give a simulated experience to a real attack. It can show first hand how data can be compromised and what can happen when an attacker starts to target and destroy your organization. This has a lasting effect on managers and employees that will show them what needs to be worked on and how important security truly is.
#8 - Saves Money
It might sound counter intuitive to say spending money to conduct a penetration test will save you money, but hear this out. A pentest allows an organization to prioritize paths for exploitation and correct the ones that have the greatest risk and impact. If an attacker gets to these paths first, the organization will need to conduct an investigation, risk possible lawsuits, and in many cases hire an outside security company to help with incident response. Having to go through that devastation costs much more than hiring a company to conduct a penetration test before any issues arise. While an attack on an organization can happen at any time, having a pentest conducted greatly reduces the risk and attack surface.
#9 - Enables Different Viewpoints
While conducting vulnerability scanning and trying to fix exploits in your own organization is definitely good practice, having a fresh set of eyes on your organization can help you get there faster. Vulnerability scanning is not the same as a pentest. Vulnerability scanning tools aren't intelligent and can apply possible vulnerabilities to targets that don't exist or miss vulnerabilities entirely. Many penetration testers run vulnerability scans, but follow up on them to see if they are truly exploitable. Having someone experienced in pentesting and views your organization as an attacker will provide a much larger benefit over a smaller period of time.
# 10 - Proves Value
Organizations invest a lot of money in IT and security. Sometimes managers don't understand why all that money is needed and think it should be going somewhere else in the budget. A pentest gives IT and Security managers the opportunity to prove that all the money, tools, and processes were put into place to be ready when an attack happens. This gives justification to the training that was allocated and opens doors for opportunities in the future.
Lavish Life Technology is a growing IT consulting company that strives to give our customers the best possible experience, no matter the task. Penetration testing is just one of the many things we are able to do for an organization. If you are interested in learning more about LLT and our pentesting opportunities, contact us here.