Forget fear, uncertainty and doubt: it’s time cybersecurity got proactive.

With just 51% of companies currently taking action to identify cyber risks, it’s clear firms are all too often prepared to live with fear, uncertainty and doubt. Even though no organization can consider itself safe from cyber attacks, many try to muddle through with a let’s-wait-and-see outlook.

Well, we’ve waited and we’ve seen: 90% of large organizations and 74% of UK SMBs suffered a security breach in the last 12 months.

Why? Scott Borg, Head of the United States Cyber Consequences Unit, sums it up: “People are not thinking about who would attack us, what their motives would be, what they would try to do. The focus on the technology is allowing these people to be blindsided”.

It’s all in the mindset.

To stay secure, you need to know your weaknesses. If you don’t understand what your critical assets are, where your business is vulnerable, or how hackers are most likely to attack, you’ll never be able to reduce cyber risk effectively.

That’s why we at SensePost love ‘pwning’ organizations. As SecureData’s elite consulting arm, we spend much of our time conducting reconnaissance, compromising assets, taking control of systems and stealing data.

We use the same mindset, tools and techniques as malicious hackers to help organizations assess and enhance their security posture. Of course, all our work takes place within safe limits and under strict controls to ensure customers always remain secure.

We start by asking “what do you have that an attacker would want to steal?”. Our security assessment services are all built around a deep understanding of the way hackers think, behave and select targets, allowing us to isolate the risks that really matter to individual firms.

How can we help?

With a complete assessment of your security posture, we can understand which issues could do the most damage, or are most likely to be exploited by attackers. Then we deliver actionable advice, expert consultancy and training to reinforce underlying processes and better defend critical assets.

Here are some of our stand-out services:

1 – Managed Vulnerability Scanning – To protect your business, you need to find and eliminate vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them – but that’s easier said than done.

Traditional vulnerability scans can hinder business-as-usual, interfering with network availability, overwhelming IT staff, and potentially wasting scarce resources on irrelevant risks. Meanwhile, changing systems, services, applications and threats are always creating new weaknesses, making one-off scans of limited use.

SensePost’s ‘always on’ Managed Vulnerability Scanning does things differently. We provide regular, on-going scanning that manages network vulnerabilities much more effectively. Armed with industry-leading tools, our world-class cyber analysts will identify and prioritize weaknesses across your IT estate without interrupting the day-to-day

2 – Advanced Footprinting – The Internet has a lot to say about your business. That’s why cybercriminals prepare for an attack by using reconnaissance tools and techniques to ‘footprint’ your organization – building a detailed picture of your web assets, network touch-points and key employees.

Fortunately, SensePost can now turn the same skills and techniques to your advantage, building a complete picture of your true Internet Attack Surface.

By proactively understanding the weaknesses in your networks, infrastructure and applications that a hacker could discover online, we can actively strengthen your security posture and make you a far less tempting target.

3 – Spot Check Penetration Testing – Sometimes the best way to test your security is to try to beat it. A Spot Check Penetration Test isn’t a comprehensive review of your security, but it will give you an indicative snapshot and reveal whether a more rigorous security assessment is in order.

Working under strict ethical constraints, we can examine your systems from the perspective of a malicious actor to try to compromise any target you specify, such as specific applications or data. In just days we can reveal security flaws around your most critical assets, all vetted for accuracy and prioritized by risk, as well as recommending remediation steps.

4 – Phishing as a service – Phishing attacks are on the rise – up 55% in 2015 – and they’re becoming more ingenious daily. Fraudulent emails are still most common, but cybercriminals can use any communications channel to trick employees into compromising your security.

That means your business is only ever as secure as its least security conscious user, so educating staff on the risks should be a top priority. By simulating a real Phishing attack and monitoring responses, we can gauge your current level of exposure and dramatically strengthen your defences at a minimal cost.

These ‘live’ attacks will educate your users on real tactics and security best practices, with campaigns tailored to any level of knowledge. We’ll even drill down into specific user and device vulnerabilities, ensuring you can take action before the hackers do.

Ultimately, there’s no longer any excuse for tolerating fear, uncertainty and doubt. By assessing your defences, we can help you achieve real peace of mind – not a false sense of security.

Get in touch!