Penetration testing is a virtual cyber attack conducted within an organization by professional hacker-consultants to identify security loopholes and weaknesses. The ethical hacker uses many tools and techniques that are available to malicious hackers to find out the security weaknesses.
Hacking has become easier than before because of available tools and technologies. Given below are the advantages of conducting penetration testing.
Advantages of Penetration Testing
Reveal Vulnerabilities
With the help of penetration testing, you can find out the existing weaknesses in your application configurations and network infrastructure. It can also help to identify the actions and habits of the employees that can lead to data breaches and cyber-attacks. At the end of penetration testing, a report is generated that explains the security vulnerabilities in software and hardware. It also includes recommendations for improving identified security loopholes.
Show Real Risks
With the help of penetration testing, you can also understand beforehand the real risks that your organization may face when a cyber-attack happens. It can show you how the attacker can access sensitive data, and perform operating system commands. A penetration testing will show how vulnerable your organization is to possible security exploitations.
Test Your Cyber-Defense Capabilities
Penetration testing will enable you to detect attacks and respond to them timely. Once an interruption is detected with the help of a penetration test, you can easily start investigations, discover intruders, and block them on time. During penetration testing, the experts test the effectiveness of your protection strategy and provide feedback on what actions need to been taken to improve your security strategy.
Ensure Business Continuity
For better service, a firm needs 24/7 communications, network availability, and access to resources. Disruption in the system leaves a negative impact on the business. With the help of penetration testing, you can reveal potential threats and ensure that your business does not face any downtime and loss of accessibility.
Get Third-Party Expert Opinion
Penetration testing by a third-party will provide you with a neutral and broader insight into your overall security. When your security is assessed and problems are identified by third-party experts, you get an outlook of your cybersecurity from a hacker’s perspective. You can then take quick actions to resolve potential threats before an attack
Circumvent the Rate of Network Downtime
Recovering from a security flaw is very expensive. Penetration testing helps a firm to protect its IT remediation efforts, retention programs, customer data, legal activities, revenues, employee output, and vendor ties.
Protect Customer Loyalty and Company Image
With the help of penetration testing, a firm can avoid potential data breach incidents that can put the company’s reputation and reliability at stake. Safety of customers data is the priority of every firm and any compromised customer data can destroy a firm’s reputation and name.
