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As hackers become more skilled and sophisticated, it puts more and more pressure on companies to ensure that their cybersecurity systems can protect against threats. One of the most important tools that companies can use to defend themselves is that of penetration testing.

In penetration testing, a cybersecurity expert or ethical hacker utilizes the same techniques as a criminal hacker to gain access to an organisations’ IT system. They will try to break into an organisations network and exploit its vulnerabilities using methods such as password cracking, viruses or even social engineering.

By conducting penetration tests, you can learn much about the potential security holes in your environment and develop solutions before a malicious hacker can find out about them. Here are four reasons why you should invest in penetration testing to keep your company secure.

 

4 reasons why penetration testing is important

 

1. Test the response of your team
In conducting penetration tests, it is advisable that you don’t inform the IT security team. With that, they will be given a real experience on how to deal with an attack. You will find out how they will respond to a network attack properly. Penetrations attacks will reveal whether security policies implemented are effective or not.

2. Knowledge of the actual security holes
Having a controlled cybersecurity professional hack into your system means that instead of your learning through a costly real attack, the security holes or vulnerabilities in your network can be put right before a malicious hacker attempts to get into your system. The cybersecurity professional will also be able to advise you on what risks must be addressed first based on the amount of risk exposure it involves. This gives you the knowledge on what areas of your system you should invest to improve cybersecurity and prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities.

3. Outsider Perspective on Your Security
Many companies trust their IT professionals to be putting in place a strong system that is as free from weaknesses as possible. It is often the case that their cybersecurity and computer systems run in-house and that they never get a second opinion. But then you can be left with blind spots. So it is important to have a penetration test done to get an outside perspective on your system.

4. Help to Comply With GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has come into force last May 2018. One of the major aspects of the GDPR is the businesses that are hacked and lose personal data as a result of poor cybersecurity can face much larger penalties and fines. Having a penetration test to expose your weakness so that you can ultimately fix them can help ensure that you are properly prepared for GDPR, and other data protection or privacy regulations.

To be able to protect corporate data and maintain an excellent level of cyber security of your IT infrastructure, it is worth to consider to have experts do penetration tests to assess the security of all systems and applications being used in a companies network. However, tests must be conducted on a regular basis to ensure that the company remains secure at all times. Work with an experienced team of penetration testers to help you improve your system.

Not sure if penetration testing is right for you? Talk to our penetration testing experts.
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