Vulnerability Archives

How to Do Vulnerability Assessment Testing?

Chinmaya Choudhury / February 28, 2025

A vulnerability assessment testing is a set of weaknesses in an IT system at a point in time to show the vulnerabilities to be resolved before hackers use them. Humans make mistakes, and since software is written by humans, it is always going to contain bugs. Most of these bugs are harmless, but some can become exploitable weaknesses, compromising the security and usability of the system. This open door makes it prime territory for vulnerability assessment to come in and help organizations discover vulnerabilities like SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) that hackers could exploit. Let us discuss the step-by-step process of how to do vulnerability assessment penetration testing. Why are Vulnerability Assessments Important? In 2022, there were over 25,000 new software vulnerabilities discovered and disclosed publicly. To outsiders, this number seems alarming. But those communities familiar with cyber security are no longer easily shocked by such numbers. Sure, not all 25,000 will find their way into any organization’s systems. But all it takes is one for immeasurable damages to ensue. Hackers are hounding the Internet for these vulnerabilities, and if you do not wish your company to be a victim, you, therefore, have to be the first to know about it. Be proactive in the management of your vulnerabilities: An important first step toward this proactive posture is having a vulnerability assessment. Vulnerability Assessment vs Penetration Test It’s not difficult to mix up vulnerability testing and penetration testing. Most security firms provide both, and it’s easy to blur the boundaries between them. The simplest way to distinguish between these two options is to observe how the heavy lifting in the test is performed. A vulnerability assessment is an automated test, i.e., a tool does all of the heavy lifting, and the report is created at the end. Penetration testing is a manual process based upon the knowledge and expertise of a penetration tester to discover vulnerabilities within an organization’s systems. The best practice would be to combine automated vulnerability tests with periodic manual penetration testing to provide more robust system protection. But not all companies are created equal, and of course, where security testing is required, their requirements are dissimilar. Therefore, if you’re just beginning and unsure as to whether or not you need to conduct a vulnerability assessment versus a penetration test, we have created a useful guide on security testing that responds to this dilemma. What is the Purpose of a Vulnerability Assessment? There is a significant difference between believing you’re at risk from a cyber attack and knowing specifically how you’re at risk, because if you don’t know how you’re at risk, then you can’t stop it. The objective of a vulnerability assessment is to bridge this gap. A vulnerability assessment scans some or all of your systems and creates a detailed vulnerability report. You can use the report to repair the issues discovered to prevent security breaches. Also, with more and more companies relying on technology to get their daily chores done, threats in cyberspace, such as ransomware, can make your business grind to a complete halt within minutes. For instance, additional SaaS clients nowadays need regular vulnerability scans, and having evidence of security testing will also help you bring in more business. Latest Penetration Testing Report Download Vulnerability Assessment Tools Vulnerability scanning is an automated activity that is carried out by scanners. This means it is available to everyone. Most of the scanners are targeted at cyber security professionals, but there are products suited for IT managers and developers in organisations that don’t have security teams. The vulnerability scanner tools are of many types: some are good at network scanning, others at web applications, API security, IoT devices, or container security. Others assist with attack surface management. Small business owners will find a single scanner that scans all or the majority of their systems. Large organizations with intricate networks might rather integrate several scanners to obtain the level of security they need. See our vulnerability scanning guide to discover more regarding the process of vulnerability scanning and which scanner is best suited for your company. Steps to Conduct a Vulnerability Assessment With the proper tools at your disposal, you can conduct a vulnerability assessment penetration testing by following these steps: 1. Asset discovery You must first determine what you wish to scan, which is not always as easy as it appears. Perhaps the most prevalent cybersecurity issue that organizations encounter is a lack of insight into their digital infrastructure and the devices that are connected to it. Some of the reasons for this are: Mobile Devices: Smartphones, laptops, and so forth are intended to disconnect and reconnect repeatedly from the office, employees’ residences, and other remote sites. IoT Devices: IoT devices belong to corporate infrastructure but could be connected mainly to mobile networks. Cloud-Based Infrastructure: Cloud services providers simplify spinning up new servers on an as-needed basis without the need for IT. It can be difficult just to know what various teams are posting online, or modifying, at any particular moment. This visibility problem is a problem because it’s impossible to lock down what you can’t see. Fortunately, the discovery part of this process can be automated to a great extent. For instance, certain contemporary vulnerability scanning tools can discover public-facing systems and link directly to cloud providers to find cloud-based infrastructure. Discover more about asset discovery tools or experiment with our interactive demo below to observe it in action. 2. Prioritization Once you know what you’ve got, the next thing is if you can afford to scan all of it for vulnerabilities. In an ideal world, you’d be scanning your vulnerability assessment regularly across all your systems. Vendors, however, tend to charge per asset, so you can use prioritization where the budget cannot pay for every asset the company holds. Examples of where you might want to prioritize include: Internet-facing servers Customer-facing applications Databases holding sensitive data It’s also interesting to note that

VAPT

What are VAPT Audits? Their types, costs, and process

[email protected] / October 29, 2024

VAPT: What is it? Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT) are security methods that discover and address potential flaws in a system. VAPT audit ensures comprehensive cybersecurity by combining vulnerability assessment (identifying flaws) with penetration testing (exploiting flaws to determine security strength). It is the process of identifying and exploiting all potential vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, ultimately reducing them. VAPT is carried out by security specialists who specialize in offensive exploitation. In a nutshell, VAPT is a proactive “hacking” activity where you compromise your infrastructure before hackers arrive to search for weaknesses. To find possible vulnerabilities, a VAPT audit’s VA (Vulnerability Assessment) uses various automated technologies and security engineers. VA is followed by a penetration test (PT), in which vulnerabilities discovered during the VA process are exploited by simulating a real-world attack. Indeed, were you aware? A new estimate claims that with 5.3 million compromised accounts, India came in fifth place worldwide for data breaches in 2023. Why is the VAPT Audit Necessary? The following factors, which are explained below, make vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, or VAPT, necessary: 1. By Implementing Thorough Assessment: VAPT provides an in-depth approach that pairs vulnerability audits with pentests, which not only discover weak links in your systems but also replicate actual attacks to figure out their potential, its impact, and routes of attack. 2. Make Security Your Top Priority: Frequent VAPT reports might be an effective way to enhance security procedures in the software development life cycle. During the evaluation and production stages, vulnerabilities can be found and fixed by developers prior to the release. This enables organizations to implement a security-first policy by effortlessly moving from DevOps to DevSecOps. 3. Boost the Safety Form: By organizing VAPT audits frequently, companies can evaluate the state of your security over time. This lets them monitor progress, detect continuing errors, and estimate how well the safety measures are functioning. 4. Maintain Compliance with Security Guidelines: Organizations must conduct routine security testing in order to comply with several rules and regulations. While pentest reports help with compliance assessments for SOC2, ISO 27001, CERT-IN, HIPAA, and other compliances, frequent vulnerability checks can assist in making sure businesses meet these standards. 5. Develop Stakeholder Trust: A VAPT audit displays to all stakeholders the commitment to data safety by effectively finding and addressing issues. This increases confidence and belief in the capacity of your company to secure private data, especially with clients and suppliers. What Is the Procedure for VAPT Audit? Download a VAPT report for free here! Latest Penetration Testing Report Download The Important Types of VAPT 1. Organizational penetration testing Organization penetration testing is a comprehensive evaluation that replicates real-world attacks on an organization’s IT infrastructure, including the cloud, APIs, networks, web and mobile applications, and physical security. Pen testers often use a combination of vulnerability assessments, social engineering techniques, and exploit kits to uncover vulnerabilities and related attack vectors. 2. Network Penetration Testing It employs ethical hacking methodologies to meticulously probe your network defenses for exploitable data storage and transfer vulnerabilities. Standard techniques include scanning, exploitation, fuzzing, and privilege escalation. Adopting a phased approach, penetration testing experts map the network architecture, identify systems and services, and then leverage various automated tools and manual techniques to gain unauthorized access, mimicking real-world attacker behavior. 3. Penetration Testing for Web Applications Web application pentesters use both automatic and human technologies to look for flaws in business logic, input verification, approval, and security. To assist people with recognizing, prioritizing, and mitigating risks before attackers do so, skilled pentesters try to alter sessions, introduce malware (such as SQL injection or XSS), and take advantage of logical errors. 4. Testing for Mobile Penetration Mobile penetration testing helps to improve the security of your application by identifying weaknesses in a mobile application’s code, APIs, and data storage through both static and dynamic evaluation.Pentesters frequently focus on domains such as unsafe stored data (cleartext passwords), intercept personal information when in transit, exploit business logic faults, and gaps in inter-app contact or API integrations, among others, to find CVEs and zero days. 5. Testing API Penetration In order to find vulnerabilities like invalid verification, injection errors, IDOR, and authorization issues, API vulnerability evaluation and penetration testing carefully build requests based on attacks in real life.In order to automate attacks, fuzze data streams, and identify prone business logic flaws like payment gateway abuse, pentesters can use automated tools like Postman. 6. Penetration Testing for Clouds Identifying threats in your cloud setups, APIs, data storage, and accessibility limits is the ultimate objective of cloud pentests and VAPT audits. It uses a variety of methods to search for zero-days and cloud-based CVEs, including automated tools with traditional testing. These commonly include SAST, DAST, API the fuzzing technique, server-less function exploitation, IAM, and cloud setup methods. How to Select the Best VAPT Provider for You? 1. Know What You Need Understand the unique requirements of the business before looking into provider options. Consider the IT infrastructure’s scale and degree of complexity, industrial rules, timeline, cost, and aimed range of the VAPT. 2. Look for Methodological Depth To ensure a thorough evaluation, look for VAPT providers who use well-known techniques like the OWASP Testing Guide (OTG) or PTES (Penetration Testing Execution Standard). Ask them about their testing procedures and how they are customized to meet your particular requirements.3. Make open and transparent communication a priority Select a provider who encourages honest and open communication throughout the VAPT procedure, as these tests can take ten to fifteen business days.In order to reduce obstacles and improve the effectiveness of the VAPT cycle, companies should give customers regular progress reports, clear clarification of findings, and a joint remedial method. 4. Look Past Cost Although price is a crucial consideration, seek out VAPT providers who deliver quality in terms of return on investment (ROI) above the appraisal. Assess the depth of the reports, any customized measures, post-assessment support, remedial suggestions, and reconfirmation options. People having a track record of success in VAPT, particularly in the