what is it penetration testing

IT penetration testing – a security exercise where cybersecurity experts or ethical hackers test your digital assets, including applications, networks, cloud, etc. for potential vulnerabilities. Cybercrimes happen way more often than you think. As per a recent study by The University of Maryland, on average, there are 2,244 cyberattacks each day. This means there’s about one attack every 36 seconds. If you are not serious about cyber security, you should be, because there is a high chance you might be the next victim. Fortunately, there are ways through which you can prevent cyber threats from harming your business.  In this blog, you will get to know about penetration testing, its various benefits, and its different types. Check out the entire blog if you want to secure your business digitally. Definition of IT Penetration Testing As data breaches and cyberattacks grow, the need for penetration testing increases. But what exactly is penetration testing and what is its purpose? Penetration testing or pen testing is a manual security testing process where ethical hackers test the given environment to find security flaws that real hackers could exploit. Before hackers attack an organization, they employ cyber security companies to assess the strength of their security measures to find and fix faults. Pen testers are certified in offensive exploitation, and everything is done under the approval of the organization. IT penetration testing is when the organization tests each of its IT infrastructures, including networks, clouds, web applications, mobile applications, and more. Purpose of IT Penetration Testing Simply put, the main purpose of IT penetration testing is to find vulnerabilities in IT infrastructure and assess their level of risk. IT companies invest heavily in their development of digital infrastructure. However, they often struggle to implement the necessary steps to secure and protect their assets after deployment. Once an attack occurs on their applications or networks, they react immediately with a response team to review their system – rather than approaching proactively with penetration testing. When they say, prevention is better than cure, it applies to cybersecurity too. Usually, the cost to fix the systems after a cyberattack is much more than the cost of conducting security testing. With regular pen tests, you can not only protect your IT infrastructure but also increase your reputation among customers. Secure your IT infrastructure from cyber threats today! Drop us an mail and we will contact you [email protected] 7 Benefits of IT Penetration Testing Up until now you already know that IT penetration testing helps find vulnerabilities in various digital structures. Yet, we want you to know all the benefits of conducting penetration tests. With that in mind, here are 7 top benefits of conducting regular IT penetration testing: 1. Identify and Remediate Vulnerabilities As discussed above, the main benefit of IT penetration testing is to identify potential vulnerabilities, determine their risk level, and remediate them. Trained ethical hackers test your systems to detect security gaps that you may never realize existed. With pentesting, businesses will be able to find potential weak points in the systems that cybercriminals could use to infiltrate. It is also a crucial part of the software development life cycle (SDLC). By testing the application or software before it is launched, you can prevent potential issues, bugs, and errors from affecting users and ensure a smoother and more reliable user experience. 2. Check the Strength of your Current Security Measures Another advantage of IT penetration testing is to check how strong are your defenses and how resilient your security measures are against a cyberattack. With the identified vulnerabilities, you can know where your defense is the strongest and where it is weak. As a result, you can prioritize those areas and allocate your resources accordingly to improve them. For example, if your network has several vulnerabilities like outdated software and weak authentication methods, the IT team can prioritize patching those vulnerabilities and implementing stronger access controls. 3. Meet Compliance Requirements IT penetration testing benefits organizations by ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Many industries have made it mandatory for organizations to conduct security testing in order to protect public information. Not complying with these regulations will result in fines and legal penalties. As a result, with penetration testing, organizations can fulfill these requirements with ease and prevent embarrassment in their respective industries. Common industry standards include: 4. Protect Sensitive Data Data is gold in the IT industry. If you are not keeping your company and customer data secure, you are risking a severe breach and data theft. IT penetration testing helps discover potential security gaps that hackers exploit to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. For example, customer records, financial information, and intellectual property. If any data is left unprotected, a pentest will let you know about it. You can then make changes based on the pentest result, to improve your security measures. Additionally, keeping sensitive data safe can help you with compliance and market reputation. 5. Enhance Customer Loyalty and Trust With new hacks and data breaches happening every day, clients and customers are always worried about their confidential information. If the results of your penetration tests are positive, you can share them with the world. Otherwise, if they are negative, you can make necessary fixes and then share them once they are resolved. As a result, it will show your commitment to security and prioritizing customer data. This is an excellent way to build trust between you and your customers. They will feel that you are handling your systems and their information securely. They’ll also feel safer while working with you or using your services. This can therefore increase customer loyalty and also help you attain more customers Penetration tests are all about providing evidence that you prioritize security. It shows that you’re fixing issues regularly and working very hard to provide the best service possible for your customers. 6. Get a Cyber Chain Map As a penetration test simulates real cyberattacks, you can see the direction a real hacker might go through in