67% of businesses that fall victim to ransomware attacks tend to lose part or all of their corporate data, according to the PC world website. One in every four companies will spend several weeks trying to regain access to their data. This situation isn’t expected to change anytime soon as the threat landscape in cybersecurity is ever dynamic. One of the most effective methods to safeguard your business from such losses would be to invest in state of the art cyber security tools.
While it is one thing to invest in cyber security tools, it is another to actually invest in tools that offer you services worth your investment. Without enough levels of attention to detail, it is quite easy to leave your company exposed to vulnerabilities with the idea that you are using the best security tools out there. Luckily, conducting a penetration test can help take you out of your comfort zone, especially if you do it right.
Here are four tips to help you increase the success rate of your penetration tests:
Commit To Monitoring the Pen Tests
Most pen tests are not supposed to be stealthy, as their aim is to identify any vulnerability that might be slowly waiting to affect your organization. As a result, it is necessary for optimal visibility on what is actually happening during the different penetration tests. In most cases, investing in a suitable log management solution will suffice in identifying and monitoring your application both during the penetration test and during the normal periods of using the software.
When choosing a solution, however, you need to invest in one that will make room for any future changes that you desire for your company. In most cases, investing in logging as a service (LaaS) will ensure that you can scale your solution with relation to your business with time. Not to mention the benefit of having the solution in-house. Additionally, tool updates will be a breeze as vendors will only require updating the tool on their end.
Handle the Vulnerabilities As They Are Discovered
Pen tests are meant to identify flaws in your systems, which makes them less useful in case you cannot make use of the information that they provide you with. For instance, you might have omitted or even interchanged codes when designing your apps. In some cases, the test might expose other major threats such as zero-day vulnerabilities that could all lead to the downfall of your business.
Always correct any flaws that the penetration tests reveal. In fact, the penetration test should act as a feedback loop to help identify the aspects of your app that need changes.
Encourage Communication
The mere fact that you chose a specific pen test team means that you already have enough trust in how they perform their craft. However, this might be one of the best times to learn how hackers might try to circumvent your security measures and cause damage to your application. While the goal is to let the team run independently, they should also work hand in hand with your DevOps team.
Ensure that the team provides the pen testers with enough information to proceed with their work. Additionally, this emphasis on communication will make it easy to determine and rule out application test activities that destabilized the app.
Add a Social Aspect
Often times, employees are the weak link in the organization’s security. Through leveraging social engineering techniques, cybercriminals can gain access to company data and eventually wreak havoc. Given the threat that this poses, it is vital to request penetration testers to include aspects of social engineering such as phishing to gauge how ready your employees and company is. You can then look to patch any vulnerability you identify.
Conclusion
Data security should never be taken lightly. All hackers require is a single vulnerability to burn your business to the ground or even impair it. Consider the penetration testing tips above to reinforce the security measures that you already have in place.
