Penetration testing is crucial for a company’s security on a broad level. Only since 2020, the average cost of a data infringement in the healthcare industry escalated to a whopping $7.13 million. On the other side, the standard rate of global data breach cost used to be USD 3.86 million. The data leaks and thefts majorly affected the business sector in the year 2018. But what went wrong? And what was missing?
These businesses should seek help from a pen testing company for a hack-proof security system and information management. Pen or penetration tests are an ethical attempt that gains access to a secure system to detect potential cybersecurity flaws in that specific system before the cybercriminals do. These tests are part of maintaining internal information security.
Penetration testing offers analytical insight into your business software’s risk posture and suggests concrete solutions to an unbreakable app security system. But businesses are not eagerly drawn to pay heed to these security concerns to avoid investments but in the end, this negligence cost them an arm and a leg.
So, what are the misconceptions the business owners have about pen testing?
6 Popular Misconceptions about Pen Tests
Here are some of the most popular misconceptions about pen tests that should be dispelled instantly:
1. Pen Tests Focus on Technical Aspects and not on Physical Security
Generic pen-testing tests the software on different devices including physical and network security to trigger a real-world attack which helps in determining the weak security areas that need more improvement. There are different kinds of pen testing techniques including to provoke real-time attack i.e.:
• Physical Pen Tests: These determine gaps in physical security equipment like cameras, sensors, lights, and locks.
• Application Pen Tests: these tests figure out SQL installation, cross-site scripting (XSS) risks, and problems in the HTML code.
• Network Pen Testing: The network pen testing regulates the system and network problem areas such as wireless network vulnerabilities, weak passwords, system misconfigurations, and default accounts.
2. Only Business Tycoons Use Pen Tests
According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigation Report, above 60% of cyberattacks hit small-level enterprises. It is crucial to understand that pen testing is important for both small and giant level business corporations. Why? because pen tests can assist your business’ protection from malware assaults such as phishing attacks, ransomware, Trojans, and other dangerous viruses that majorly try to gain access and damage the PII (personally identifiable information) or control the financial data.
3. Pen Testing is an Expensive Procedure
Pen tests require highly skilled professionals according to a particular project. It can sometimes take more than two for a single test. Therefore, to meet the criteria for a strong security system a robust pen testing company Kualitatem must be outsourced. The company customizes the pen tests according to the business and financial requirements requisites. Tests can be adjusted for more severe areas if you have a small budget and limited business requisites.
4. Pen Tests & Vulnerability Assessment are the same concepts
The reality is different because both Pen Testing and Vulnerability Assessment are two different concepts. A pen testing company is provoking and simulating a cyber-attack and creates a detailed report about the loopholes in the software’s security system that allowed a breach. On the flip side, vulnerability assessment determines and prioritizes identified vulnerabilities in a descriptive report for the mitigation of recommended security errors.
5. Pen Tests Interrupts the Business Activities
Businesses feel pen-testing disrupt their everyday corporate activities. QA and test engineers use the same methods a real cyber-attacker would use. A good pen test execution aims to skeptically identify and fix glitches across apps, networks, and the entire system without troubling the rest of business operations.
6. Hire Any Pen Tester on Contractual Basis
You can employ part-time vendors for pen testing as long as your business is secured from all the security risks. Therefore, if you are going to hire a pen tester on a contractual basis do a background check as well as do the paperwork to avoid misuse of the exploited information during a real-time cyberattack on your software. If done right, pen tests can provide long-term security insights to safeguard your business information and reputation.
Conclusion
Pen tests can make a huge difference to your everyday business activities as the technique defends firewalls your security system from any potential cyber hazards. If neglected, your business can suffer a lot in terms of ransom and lost user information. In such cases, data and reputation recovery becomes a difficult process.
Therefore, do not believe in unnecessary pen-testing myths and outsource well-reputed pen-testing firms for safer exploitation of the information, other the hacker would!