A Complete List of Cybersecurity Companies in Spain in 2024
Explore the forefront of Cybersecurity Companies in Spain with our in-depth analysis of the top 10 Cybersecurity Companies.
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Why do Banking and Financial Services Need Security and Penetration Testing Today?
Because of the importance of the sensitive data they handle, the banking and financial industry is one of the most actively targeted industries for cyber-attacks. Cybercriminals are always seeking system flaws to exploit and steal sensitive information such as personal and financial information. According to cyber security financial services statistics, the average cost of a data breach in the financial industry globally in 2023 was 5.9 million US dollars, down from 5.97 million US dollars in 2022. Furthermore, the global average cost of a data breach across all industries evaluated was USD 4.45 million. To prevent such assaults, organizations must undertake frequent penetration testing for financial industry on their IT infrastructure and data. In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of pen testing in financial organizations. We’ll also shed light on the challenges faced in testing and the threats discovered in the financial industry. Keep reading to learn more. Book a consultation call with our cyber security expert Schedule a meeting Free of cost Talk to our Cybersecurity Expert to discuss your specific needs and how we can help your business. Schedule a Call What are the Threats in Financial Services? The financial services industry (mostly banks) is facing a slew of security concerns. If hackers gain access to client data and key financial information, all hell will break free! For instance, if the institution does not have in-house security testing skills, partnering with an established security testing provider is helpful. The following are the main security concerns confronting the financial services sector: DDoS attacks (Distributed Denial-of-Service) DDoS assaults degrade website performance, rendering it largely (or totally) inaccessible to end users. DDoS protection technologies might be useful in such situations since they safeguard the site from such harmful attacks. Malware and Ransomware Many of these malware and ransomware flaws involve internal personnel who connected to compromised workstations or mistakenly submitted user credentials in phishing campaigns. According to Forbes, ransomware costs over $75 billion in harm to various enterprises each year. Phishing Phishing assaults are growing more complex and difficult to detect. In addition, to make their messages look more authentic, attackers frequently utilize bogus email accounts, mimic real website domains, and employ social engineering methods. Web Application Exploits HTTP-based web apps all utilize port 80, whereas HTTPS-based applications use port 443. Banking customers should first verify that the website uses the HTTPS protocol; otherwise, their data is not safe. Cloud Service While BFSI firms increasingly choose cloud-based services over on-premises storage, their service providers are becoming frequent targets for data breaches. The issue is that cloud solutions with insufficient authentication or encryption security expose BFSI data to hostile attackers. Benefits of Penetration Testing for Financial and Banking Services The following are some of the primary advantages that penetration testing provides to the banking and financial services sectors: Showcase Genuine Risks This provides firms with a view into the types of actions that real-world attackers may take. Due to the difficulties in exploiting a potentially high-risk vulnerability, testers may advise firms that it does not constitute a large real danger. Such detailed research necessitates the knowledge of a professional, prompting many firms to outsource their penetration testing operations. Examine Cyber-Defense Capabilities and Responsiveness In the event of a cyber-attack, your defense measures should be able to identify and respond to such situations quickly. When an intrusion is detected, a quick investigation should be launched to identify and block the invaders, whether they are genuine hackers or experts evaluating the efficiency of your security plan. Comply with Requirements and Certifications Penetration testing levels prescribe your industry and regulatory compliance needs. Consider the ISO 27001, PCI DSS rules standard, which mandates all managers and system owners to undertake regular pen testing and security inspections with qualified testers. This is due to the fact that pen testing focuses on real-world implications. Customer Data Protection Banking and financial services firms are responsible for safeguarding their clients’ financial information. Penetration testing identifies weaknesses that might lead to data breaches and protects the security of consumer data. Keeping a Good Reputation Banking and financial services firms rely on client trust to sustain their reputation. A successful cyber assault can harm this reputation and cost the company money. Regular penetration testing aids in the identification of vulnerabilities and the prevention of successful attacks, hence protecting the organization’s reputation and consumer confidence. Untrustworthy Third-Party Services When outsourcing technology and business process services, the security procedures of third-party service businesses that rely on systems become the principal source of vulnerability. Financial institutions also utilize a large number of third-party service providers that operate on the platforms and pose a huge risk to all fintech firms. Insights into Security Penetration testing entails “ethical hackers” attempting to penetrate your network’s cybersecurity and then offering a report and suggestions. The test results advise your security team on how hackers may attempt to circumvent safeguards and where your most major weaknesses are. This allows you to better prepare for current dangers and makes it easier for a program to react to IT’s ever-changing threat landscape. Challenges in Banking App Penetration Testing It would be a huge undertaking to test an application that has been operating for more than 20 years. What are some of the difficulties that may arise when testing such applications? We have the following key issues while testing such applications: Lack of Transparency Banks are often seen as companies governed by severe and stringent regulations. They are well aware that a flaw in their system might be disastrous. Furthermore, banks are frequently unwilling to give any information on how their systems work behind the scenes, making testing banking applications difficult. Data Quantity The amount of data accessible on a daily basis is so vast that testing all of it is difficult. We must test the application for numerous situations on a certain day. A day has several data points that must be retrieved and evaluated for the application. System Migration The IT sector is always evolving with new frameworks and
Penetration Testing in Cybersecurity: A Complete Guide
If you invest one dollar in cybersecurity and do not perform “Penetration Testing”, you are doing something wrong. To limit the danger of cyberattacks nowadays, contemporary firms must do extensive and regular pen testing. Facts, numbers, forecasts, and data assist CISOs and cybersecurity professionals comprehend industry dynamics. Here are some additional stats you should know about: This blog will shed light on everything you need to know about pen testing. We’ll cover what pen-testing is, how it works, why you need it, and tips to choose the best company. Continue reading to learn more. What is Cyber Security Penetration Testing? Cyber security penetration testing is analyzing an application’s security and exploiting discovered vulnerabilities and security risks inside an asset such as a website, server, database, network, or mobile application to determine the degree of the threat to security. Furthermore, during a pen test, a tester discovers security flaws in an application, network, or system and assists you in addressing them before attackers find and exploit them. Pen testing is an essential step for every application or business owner. What is the Objective of Performing a Penetration Test? A penetration test’s purpose is to determine by the sort of allowed activity and your compliance requirements. Organizations can benefit from pentesting in the following ways: Why is Penetration Testing Important? Here are a few reasons why companies should do a penetration test on themselves: A security breach can compromise accounting data, reducing the organization’s income. Cyber security penetration testing as a service not only helps corporations discover the length of time it takes an attacker to penetrate the system but also confirms the companies’ readiness to prepare security teams to re-mediate the danger. If an organization’s security staff is doing a good job and is confident in their efforts and ultimate outcomes, penetration reports will confirm that. Additionally, having an outside party operate as a confirming agent of whether the system’s security gives a view that does not reflect internal preferences. It aids in the identification of system deficiencies. The importance of reputation cannot be overstated. It keeps the world turning and is the primary focus of most enterprises. A company’s reputation may either make or break it. A one news story about a company’s data leak may demolish all the reputations you’ve created over time. The concept of risk assessment discloses the risks and their consequences. You may do it yourself or hire an expert for an impartial risk assessment. Furthermore, the risk assessment should produce a set of priority objectives that you must achieve to safeguard your firm. What are the Methods of Penetration Testing? Let’s get into a thorough understanding of the techniques of pen testing: The primary goal of White Box testing is to validate the code and internal structure of the product being tested. A tester is inspecting the input-output processes here, emphasizing the product’s inner workings. Behavioral testing, often known as Black Box testing, is a process in which the tester is unaware of what they are testing. These tests are typically functional, and websites are examined with a browser, some data is entered, and testers evaluate the results. Grey Box testing is an amalgamation of White Box and Black Box testing. The tester hopes to identify all potential code and functionality flaws using this strategy. At this point, a professional can test the end-to-end functions. The Step-by-Step Process of Performing Penetrating Testing Gathering reconnaissance or Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is a critical initial step in pen testing. A pen tester’s job is to obtain as much information as possible about your business and prospective targets for exploitation. Furthermore, depending on the sort of pen test you choose, your penetration tester may have varied degrees of knowledge about your business to expose vulnerabilities and entry points in your environment. The following stage determines how the target application will react to intrusion attempts. This is usually done with: A vulnerability assessment is performed to obtain preliminary knowledge and discover potential security flaws that might allow an outside attacker to access the environment or technology to be examined. In contrast, a vulnerability assessment should never be used in place of a penetration test. The goals of attackers range from stealing, modifying, or destroying data to shifting cash or hurting a company’s reputation. Furthermore, pen testers decide which tools and tactics to use to access the system, whether through a flaw like SQL injection or by malware, social engineering, or anything else. Once pen testers have gained access to the target, their simulated attack must remain connected long enough to achieve their aims of data exfiltration, modification, or abuse of functionality. It is necessary to demonstrate the possible impact. Following the completion of the exploitation phase, the purpose is to document the tactics utilized to access your organization’s critical information. After completing the pen testing recommendations, the tester should clean up the environment, reconfigure whatever access they have to breach the environment and prevent future unwanted entry into the system by all means required. Reporting is the most important element of a pen test. It is where you will receive written suggestions from the cyber security penetration testing business and have the option to discuss the report’s findings with the ethical hacker(s). The report should include how entry points were discovered during the threat modeling phases and how to address security concerns uncovered during the exploitation phase. Once vulnerabilities have been fixed, you can choose whether to retest your systems to ensure that the patches were effective and to see whether any new vulnerabilities were introduced due to the remediation. However, successful, thorough pen tests should offer business leaders clear, intelligible, and actionable results and provide corporate technical teams with an explicit knowledge of the security threats on their targeted systems. What are the Types of Penetration Testing? Here are major types of cyber security pen testing you should know about: This security penetration test focuses on vulnerabilities in your apps, from conception and development to implementation and use. Assessors check for vulnerabilities in the