Penetration Testing: Importance, Best Practices, & Tools for Cybersecurity

It take 20 years to build a reputation and a few minutes of cyver-incident to ruin it; said: Stephan Nappo

The world is becoming interconnected through technology. At the same time, it is facing substantial cybersecurity attacks. We recently saw the Conti Costa Rica Ransomware attack case, where over 600GB of data was stolen from the attack and leaked online. This caused Costa Rica to declare a state of emergency because of the incident.   However, penetration testing is so essential due to the growing sophistication of cyber threats. This is forcing organizations, including businesses in highly regulated industries like healthcare, finance, etc., to leverage this solution to identify vulnerabilities by testing a computer system, network, and web app before attackers exploit them.   In this blog post, we will learn all about penetration testing, its importance, key steps, best practices, and more.   Let's get the ball rolling.

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing is also known as pen testing. This is a security test that is used to launch a mock cyberattack in order to find out any vulnerabilities on any network device, whether it is an application, web service, or system, including networks.    There are a few types of penetration tests, which include:  

• Network penetration testing.
• Web app penetration testing.
• Wireless penetration testing.
• Physical penetration testing.
• Social engineering penetration testing.

Why is Penetration Testing Essential for Cybersecurity?

Security is vital to any organization and plays a massive role in its success. A small mistake, such as leaking information about a user, can put the organization at risk of facing liabilities, such as spoiling its reputation in the market.   Below, we are going to discuss significant pen testing reasons to make an informed decision.

1. Identify Vulnerabilities

It is part of a holistic security strategy, which includes ethical hackers scaling planned attacks. Thus, penetration testers can hunt down security vulnerabilities in any organization’s security infrastructure.

1. Regulatory Compliance

Every industry has specific compliance standards. Therefore, penetration testing plays a massive role, such as tailoring it to address the security needs of frameworks like HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, and DSS.

1. Protect Reputation

Usually, customers are concerned about how their information is handled. A single mistake in a data breach can ruin a business’s reputation and lead to loss of trust. Their pen test comes in to ensure that their service provider is taking action to protect data.

1. Cost-Efficiency

Why face any potential loss when the cost of pen testing is less than that? Implementing penetration tests saves organizations from harms such as costly data breaches, legal penalties, etc.

Know the Key Steps to Prepare for a Penetration Test

Here are the key steps for the penetration test. This will help you understand this process in detail.   Step 1: Define Objectives: Are you going to test the security of a specific application, network, or the entire organization’s infrastructure? You can outline your purpose in conducting this test. Moreover, you can define parameters like test duration and level of intrusion allowed and decide what type of test it is going to be, whether it is a black box, gray box, or white box.   Step 2: Assemble a Team: 

• IT administrators and security officers are needed for smooth coordination.
• Hire a cybersecurity firm that holds certifications like OSCP, CEH, or CISSP and conduct tests.

  Step 3: Gather Information: This process uses passive and active methods to gather data about the target network and system. The data can include employee information, physical locations, and business activities.

What Are The Best Practices for Effective Penetration Testing?

The practices discussed in this section will assist you in making sensible decisions to make your business’s foundation strong and deliver value to your business customers. Check all the crucial practices as mentioned below:  

• Conduct tests on a regular basis (quarterly or annually).
• Identify vulnerabilities
• Scope and budget 
• Assess your risk
• Choose a pen testing method
• Communication and Collaboration

Tool Commonly Being Used by Penetration Testers

Find out the standard penetration testing tools that make your IT infrastructure secure and avoid any exploitation.

• Wireshark
• John the Ripper
• Kali Linux
• Aircrack-ng
• Burp Suite
• Metasploit
• Nmap
• Sqlmap
• Nessus

Wrapping up

Now, you have a clear idea of how to utilize penetration testing that makes your organization’s foundation strong enough and prepares you for unwanted cybersecurity attacks. This avoids spoiling your brand reputation downtime and mitigates risks of liabilities such as pay penalties, leakage data, and more.   If you want to avoid any mishappening with your organization and want to run your business smoothly. In that case, spending little on penetration testing is worth more than spending a significant amount on fixing costly issues such as leakable data, looking at your brand image, and building it from scratch again.