Penetration test: how to perform security risk assessments

Every 6 seconds, some hacker attacks at least one computer system somewhere in the world. The unlucky company loses thousands of dollars to restore a collapsed computer system. If earlier the banking environment and the financial business were mostly at risk, with the realities of the pandemic, the health sector, remote work, and online education are under threat. Every area that deals with online information are now in the spotlight of hackers. Therefore, more companies require a penetration test. What it is, will tell CQR.company engaged in site and server audit, as well as conducting pentests.

What is Penetration Testing?

Are your invaluable information assets, system components, or campaigns always at risk? Definitely yes. After all, cybercriminals are developing their activities and improving fraudulent technologies. You shouldn’t fail in this war, as it will cost an arm and leg to keep campaign information safe.

An effective method of combating attacks from online hackers is the process of training your online system. That is what the concept of a pentest means. Generally, this is what white hackers are called.

Penetration testing can take place in a game format. For example, there are attack simulators such as Red and Blue Team, social engineering simulations, website and application load testing, and other formats. The purpose of the simulation is to imitate an attack on the system (this is done by the offensive team). From the side of the computer system that is being checked, a defensive team is working. The victory of one or another team depends on whether you can resist hackers in a real war or fail not capable to oppose the power of hacking technologies.

Simulations, of course, train the system qualitatively, the owner of IoT or IT company cannot work without statistics. Penetration testing allows you to track how the process of teaching strategies is moving. By implementing penetration testing, you will have complete control over your Internet of Things. You will also learn about the current state of affairs in the system. After all, your primary task is to understand how well your technologies can withstand hacker attacks.

In addition to penetration testing, cybersecurity experts usually implement operational testing. This is how they judge what happens to the speed of a site under load.

The network security and vulnerability are assessed. Also, one-off penetration testing won’t help: you need to continually test your infrastructure. As well, in the case of a cyberattack, you can even resort to computer forensics to no longer repeat mistakes and protect your computer from repeats intrusion.

For example, the Cryeye project has assembled over 1,500 audit tools to optimize the security of the computer under test. As a result of this collaborative approach, testing efficiency has doubled. By improving security, companies increase their value in the market and reduce the cost of mitigating information leaks.

Five steps for a successful pentest

1. Define the assets that are at risk and the workforce most vulnerable to attack.
   The main task is to check not only the possibility of hacking the authentication system, but also to figure out what threatens the reputation of your company.
2. Simulating an attack is a team job.
   One tester might be familiar with hacking web applications. In the meanwhile, another player in the team is of great help for software engineering or IoT hacking. Only by joining forces, you will recognize your strengths and weaknesses.
3. Understand your information technology and cybersecurity infrastructure.
   It is important to check not only the DNS system but also to understand how you protect yourself against data leakage, typesquatting of domains. Consider how far you have progressed towards scouting threats. Also analyze firewalls, identity management, authentication, and datastore.
4. Decide which pentest you will be talking about
   Do you want to opt for white box testing? Or do you prefer black box testing? Are you interested in employee workstations or want to know what happens to the system when work is over? Perhaps, looking to deal with the risks of domain hijacking? The solution depends on the articulation of the problem.
5. Pentest is not enough.
   Penetration testing is just the first step to hardening your system. Pentest will show weaknesses, but only close-knit teamwork together with professionals will help protect your computer or the Internet of Things from hackers.