As we become more reliant on technology for our business operations, the easier it is to fall victim to a cyber attack. Because cyber threats are everywhere these days, it’s crucial for all businesses to have strong network defenses if they want to keep their sensitive information secure. While it’s impossible to make your infrastructure 100% impenetrable, you can get awfully close by investing in cyber security improvement strategies. One of the most common and effective security strategies companies use is vulnerability testing.
What is Vulnerability Testing and Why is it Done?
Every day, hackers are searching for holes in your network’s security that they can use to invade your system. These security holes are called vulnerabilities. They are mistakes or weaknesses in your security procedures, designs, or implementation that leave your organization open to attacks.
Since vulnerabilities can be easily overlooked and difficult to find, it’s necessary to have a solution that can help your IT department identify these vulnerabilities. Here is where vulnerability testing comes into play. Vulnerability testing—also known as a vulnerability assessment—is a threat remediation procedure that’s designed to reveal cyber security blind spots in your firewall.
The purpose of vulnerability assessments is to flush out vulnerabilities so your IT staff can go in and apply fixes as needed. This helps to reduce the possibility of intruders gaining unauthorized access to your network, greatly enhancing the strength of your cyber security.
The Benefits of a Vulnerability Analysis
The key benefit of vulnerability testing is that it gives an organization a more detailed view of the threats facing its applications. This provides useful information that can enable your business to better protect its systems and data from malicious attacks.
Who Should Perform a Vulnerability Test?
It’s recommended that a vulnerability test be handled by someone outside of the organization. Preferably, this would be a professional contractor or a third-party provider—like Stability Networks. While it may be cheaper to conduct your own vulnerability assessment, you can’t beat the expertise of a provider that specializes in the area.
Every day, hackers are searching for holes in your network’s security that they can use to invade your system.
How Does Vulnerability Testing Work?
When a vulnerability assessment is performed, there are three main objectives you’re trying to accomplish, including:
- Identifying Vulnerabilities: Vulnerabilities can range anywhere from critical design flaws to simple mistakes.
- Documentation: Any vulnerabilities that are discovered will be documented. This allows your IT staff to easily identify and reproduce the findings.
- Guidance: Create reports to assist your IT team in remediating the identified vulnerabilities.
These three objectives are achieved by following a four-step process:
- Planning: This is the first step in the process. It involves beginning documentation, defining the scope of the test, and defining the rules of engagement.
- Gathering Information: After the first phase is complete, it’s time to start collecting and examining data.
- Discovering Vulnerabilities: Step three is the part of the process when the vulnerabilities are found. This is done through manual means and with vulnerability scanning tools.
- Reporting: Once everything is done, the results are analyzed and turned into a deeply detailed report that also offers recommendations on how to mitigate the identified vulnerabilities.
Types of Vulnerability Tests
There is more than one type of vulnerability assessment and each type is used for different reasons. Here are a few examples:
- Network-Based Scans: This is used to identify possible network security attacks. It’s also used to detect blind spots on wired or wireless networks.
- Host-Based Scans: A host-based scan can be used to locate and identify vulnerabilities in servers, workstations, or other network hosts.
- Application Scans: This type is used for testing websites. It’s able to discover known software vulnerabilities in-network or web applications.
- Database Scans: As the name suggests, this type of test is able to detect the weak points in a database.
Stay Secure with Stability Networks
The technicians at Stability Networks are highly trained and knowledgeable in all aspects of IT, including network security. As your partner, we won’t just help you identify cyber security vulnerabilities in your firewall, we’ll also assist in providing fixes for those weaknesses. Our goal is to make your business as secure as possible so you can rest easy.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you improve your organization’s cyber security, contact Stability Networks today!
