What Is Penetration Testing?

In my second newsletter for Cybersecurity Awareness month, I am posting another article on the various elements of cyber risk management and how it can assist firms in their mission to improve their cyber hygiene and form a strong cyber risk management program to prevent cyber-attacks! This week we are discussion Penetration Testing, otherwise known as Pen Testing.

Penetration Testing is another valuable tool in the arsenal of firms that are looking to protect their business by creating a simulated cyber attack on their systems essentially mimicking the way in which threat actors look to access and exploit cyber targets.

How Does Penetration Testing Work?

It usually works with a team following a multistep process including creating a plan for the test, preparation for the test, selecting a particular group or target, executing the plan and then reporting the findings back to the firm.

The test itself is carried out by someone whom is experience in accessing systems and identifying weaknesses in a firm’s IT infrastructure. Sometimes these are known as “Ethical Hackers” or “White Hat Hackers” that are identifying these weaknesses for the benefit of the target rather than “Black Hat Hackers” that would be doing so for more nefarious reasons.

Ethical Hackers would also use a number of tools to assist with their efforts in identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities such as Port Scanners, Vulnerability Scanners, Network Sniffers, Password Crackers and Web Proxies usually packaged up in some form or another with a example of a popular operating system that facilitates this being Kali Linux.

How Can Penetration Tests Help Business Owners?

There are many ways that Penetration Tests assist business owners both directly and indirectly and they are as follows:

Analysis of Incident Response – By undertaking penetration testing you can really put you incident response plan and teams to the test and analyse whether the people and the systems that you have in place are adequate in defending the business against cyber attacks.

Identifying Weaknesses – Perhaps the most direct and obvious one, penetration testing would help the business to unveil what vulnerabilities exist within the firm’s IT infrastructure and the reporting would allow for the company to start remediation works in preparation for the real thing.

Focusing Resources – Like Vulnerability Scanning, penetration tests assist with identifying weaknesses and therefore allows companies to focus their efforts and resources when carrying out remediation or when looking to develop their cyber risk management programme.

Minimising Business Downtime – By understanding the business’s exposure and strengthening cyber defences to prevent an attack, businesses ensure that they minimise any downtime that may be caused by a cyber attack or system outage!

Ongoing Risk Assessment – Undertaking penetration testing allows businesses to continuously monitor their strength and their risk exposure in respect of cyber and their IT Infrastructure allowing firms to take action when anything needs remediating!

?In summary, Penetration Testing is a proactive form of risks management that is key in preventing cyber attacks and system outages and remains a pillar of a robust cyber risk management strategy.

Get in touch to see how the Jensten Technology, Media & Cyber team can help you with your Cyber Risk Management strategy!

George Grimshaw

Senior Account Executive (Cyber & Technology)

Jensten Insurance Brokers

07900 598771

[email protected]

[email protected]