why and when perform penetration testing
Why Perform Penetration Testing?
Security breaches and service interruptions are costly
Security breaches and any related interruptions in the performance of services or applications, can result in direct financial losses, threaten organizations’ reputations, erode customer loyalties, attract negative press, and trigger significant fines and penalties. A recent edition of the "CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey" estimated the average annual cost of a security breaches to U.S. companies at $350,424 per organization, having more than doubled over the last two years, and the cost of a single serious breach can be significantly higher. The same CSI/FBI survey estimated the cost of a single data breach for a U.S.-based company at $203,000 per incident.
It is impossible to safeguard all information, all the time
Organizations have traditionally sought to prevent breaches by installing and maintaining layers of defensive security mechanisms, including user access controls, cryptography, IPS, IDS and firewalls. However, the continued adoption of new technologies, including some of these security systems, and the resulting complexity introduced, has made it even harder to find and eliminate all of an organizations’ vulnerabilities and protect against many types of potential security incidents. New vulnerabilities are discovered each day, and attacks constantly evolve in terms of their technical and social sophistication, as well as in their overall automation.
Penetration testing identifies and prioritizes security risks
Penetration testing evaluates an organization’s ability to protect its networks, applications, endpoints and users from external or internal attempts to circumvent its security controls to gain unauthorized or privileged access to protected assets. Test results validate the risk posed by specific security vulnerabilities or flawed processes, enabling IT management and security professionals to prioritize remediation efforts. By embracing more frequent and comprehensive penetration testing, organizations can more effectively anticipate emerging security risks and prevent unauthorized access to critical systems and valuable information. .
When Should You Perform Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing should be performed on a regular basis to ensure more consistent IT and network security management by revealing how newly discovered threats or emerging vulnerabilities may potentially be assailed by attackers. In addition to regularly scheduled analysis and assessments required by regulatory mandates, tests should also be run whenever:
- New network infrastructure or applications are added
- Significant upgrades or modifications are applied to infrastructure or applications
- New office locations are established
- Security patches are applied
- End user policies are modified
