How to Select a Penetration Testing Provider?

February 17, 2022February 17, 2022 Dev Jain 0 Comments

Penetration Testing Provider: You’ve probably heard the statistic that 80% of all data breaches are caused by human error and negligence. Most business owners recognize the importance of keeping their data and systems safe from cyberattacks. Did you know you could effectively accomplish this through penetration testing? Penetration testing, or “pen testing,” is a process by which an organisation hires a third party to attempt to break into their networks and systems to find vulnerabilities. In this blog post, we will discuss why every business should consider pen testing, what to look for in a good pentesting service provider, and how to select the right one for your needs.

Contents

1 What is Penetration Testing?
2 Why Do You Need Penetration Testing?
- 2.1 Some key benefits to automated penetration testing:
3 Why Turn to Pen Testing Service Providers?
4 What Should a Good Pentesting Service Include?
5 How to Select a Penetration Testing Provider?
6 Conclusion

What is Penetration Testing?

It’s the process whereby an organisation hires a third party to attempt breaking into their networks and systems to find vulnerabilities. Organisations can use the results from these tests for security planning purposes, such as updating firewalls or improving password policies. These tests are usually done by experienced ethical hackers who work alongside network administrators at the target company so that they don’t accidentally cause any damage during the test itself (e.g., shutting down servers).

Why Do You Need Penetration Testing?

If your company handles sensitive data or has a high level of security concerns, then software penetration testing can be very beneficial. It’s also helpful when an organisation wants to improve its overall security posture but doesn’t know where to start. In these cases, pen testing can provide insight into what areas of an organisation are most vulnerable so that they can be fixed.

Some key benefits to automated penetration testing:

It helps you identify any weak points in your infrastructure before attackers exploit them.
This gives you peace of mind knowing that your organisation’s data is secure and protected against hackers or other threats.
Pen testing can help you comply with regulatory requirements, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, etc.
It can also help you discover vulnerabilities that could lead to loss of confidential information or other damages, such as intellectual property theft.
It can help you improve your organisation’s security posture and defend against future attacks.

Why Turn to Pen Testing Service Providers?

There are a few reasons why an organisation might choose to outsource pen testing:

They don’t have the in-house resources or expertise to do it themselves.
They want the tests done in an impartial and professional manner.
They need help incorporating pen testing into their overall security strategy.

What Should a Good Pentesting Service Include?

When looking for a pentesting service, it’s important to consider the following:

Vulnerability scanning:

Scanning the target to find any weaknesses that may exist and then reporting those findings back to you. Targeted attacks are used as a way of testing whether or not your systems can withstand an attack from outside hackers while also identifying vulnerabilities within them.

Targeted attacks:

These tests are done by experienced ethical hackers who work alongside network administrators at the target company so that they don’t accidentally cause any damage during the test itself (e.g., shutting down servers). This helps you identify where your weakest points are and what needs to be fixed in order fix them before an actual breach occurs.

Configuration assessment:

An assessment of how secure your system configurations are is required when pen testing because it will allow us to see if there have been any changes made without notice or permission from you, which could lead to vulnerabilities being exploited more easily than they would otherwise be able too.

Security audit and compliance check:

This is a process that verifies whether or not your organisation meets certain compliance requirements, such as PCI DSS.

Security incident response:

If an incident does occur, the pentesting service should have a plan in place for how to handle it and what steps will be taken to resolve the situation.

Threat intelligence:

The collection of information about current and potential threats to your organisation. This can help you stay ahead of any attacks that may be targeting you specifically.

Risk management:

This is especially useful because it allows you to understand and manage the risks associated with operating a business online. It’s crucial since it allows you to make well-informed decisions about where your security efforts should be focused.

Ongoing monitoring:

This is the process of constantly tracking and reviewing your organisation’s security posture to identify any changes or new risks that may have arisen.

Suggestions and remediations:

After a pentesting assessment is conducted, the service should provide you with a report that includes suggestions for how to improve your security as well as remediation steps for fixing any identified vulnerabilities.

Live updates and Client dashboard:

The client dashboard gives you real-time access to information about the pentesting project, such as what tests have been run, what findings have been discovered, and when reports will be available. This helps keep you informed on the progress of the assessment at all times.

Reporting capabilities:

The ability to generate comprehensive reports on all findings discovered during penetration testing engagements. These can then be used to find information about what exactly needs fixing first because sometimes even just one small change could stop all other problems from happening at once if done correctly.