What Is Penetration Testing? Why Is It Important?

Penetration testing is not a question; it is the answer.

An answer to what, exactly, you may ask? Well, to the question of, “where is my business most vulnerable? what cyber weaknesses can a hacker exploit?”

Remember, malicious minds could not care less about what kind of identity access management system you have set up for your business. It is only interested in knowing how they can use vulnerabilities to their advantages.

With that said, conducting penetration tests regularly will help make sure that your business’ defences are as strong as ever.

To help further convince you why paying someone to hack into your system purposely is a good idea, we rounded up a couple of reasons down below:

1. It gives your in-house personnel a chance to experience what a cyberattack would be like. 

Because penetration tests are done without the knowledge of staff members, a company can test for possible weak spots and vulnerabilities. You can think of the tests as your typical fire or earthquake drills.

2. Test all possible worst-case scenarios. 

Speaking of vulnerabilities, cybersecurity isn’t something that you just put into place. Hackers are always on the lookout for ways to exploit the slightest weaknesses.

You can address any possible weaknesses of your company’s cybersecurity system by identifying what kind of problems arose during a routine penetration test.

3. Gather data and insights on how to improve security. 

Penetration tests are primarily legal hackers. They think and act like one. As a result, they’ll tell you more about your business’ security more than you’d expect. Using the reports generated from their attacks will tell you a lot about what kind of improvements you’ll need to do for your business. Like, for example, whether or not a Singapore singpass F2A setup is necessary or not, among other things. You can also seek assistance from cyber security companies in Singapore that offers blockchain security.

4. Prepare the team for attacks in the future. 

If your company’s IT security team sees what an attacker does to the company’s security system, they will find out more about their lapses and mistakes. This allows the team to improve on their mistakes and minimize the chances of an actual attack happening.

Businesses who are not taking advantage of regular penetration tests are not doing themselves any favours. They are allowing hackers with malicious intent to get their way.

Your organization deserves the best security that it can afford. But, even then, it doesn’t matter how “comprehensive” your company’s cybersecurity measures are. Because, if you are not routinely testing its system for weak spots and vulnerabilities, then you’re only leaving it open to potential attacks.

So, do your business a favour and schedule regular penetration tests starting today.

The first few penetration tests may give you some rather shocking results, but that only show how much your business needs to improve on its security against cyber threats.