Undergoing penetration testing or PT, within a company is equivalent to paying a cybercriminal to come in and hack the system albeit legally and with the intention of improving the organization’s security measures. PT is essential as a means to give businesses a real-world vision into the threats that are imposing themselves on their security.
Penetration testing with Kali Linux allows gaps to be identified before an actual hacker has the opportunity to find them by exploiting those weaknesses and providing the answers as to how to fix them.
Recommended Read: Beginner’s reference guide to NMAP command
Also Read: How to install WireShark on Linux (CentOS/Ubuntu)
Benefits of Penetration Testing (PT)
There are many types of pen testing & there are many pros for having penetration testing and very few if any, cons. Penetration testing allows an organization to place a safety barrier between their business and the cybercriminal world.
- Recognize and prioritize threats. Performing PT on a regular basis will give an organization the opportunity to assess their internal/external network and web application security. It also allows the opportunity to recognize what security measures are needed for the organization in order to provide protection to the people and the assets. In being able to prioritize the threats, businesses are given an advantage in anticipating the threat in order to stop potential attacks.
- Prevent hackers from getting into the system. A PT is much like a simulation by a real-time hacker performing a real-time hack. It gives a business the opportunity to be proactive as to how they would respond in real-world instances of assessment of their IoT infrastructure’s security. Holes in security are exposed allowing for remediation prior to an actual threat showing up.
- Maturation of the business environment. Having the threats put to rest and creating a secure environment for the business increases the competitive edge over other organizations within the industry. It shows to clients that their information is secure and that the business is completely trustworthy as clients’ security is made a priority.
- Avoid the expense of breaches and loss of operation. The recovery from a data breach is expensive considering legal fees, remediation within IT, loss in sales, programs for customer protection, and customers who are discouraged. The loss can mount into the millions. Participating in regular penetration testing can save the expense and the loss of valuable clients allowing the protection of the company’s brand and the overall reputation.
When Should Penetration Testing Be Performed
Regular PT should be performed at least one time per year but there are other times when analysis should be done.
- When there has been modifications or significant upgrades applied to the applications or overall infrastructure.
- A new office location has been implemented.
- A new application or network infrastructure has been added.
- Modifications of end-user policies are made.
- Application of security patches.
There are some national laws or some certifications such as ISO27001, PCI DSS that require businesses to do testing of their systems, e.g. penetration testing with Kali Linux. This isn’t why a company should do their testing. Tests should be done voluntarily as a means to protect the organization’s assets and people there. It is also vital to make sure to take action once the tests have been done in order to remedy the weaknesses that have been found. Just finding the problem and not doing anything about it is only leaving the business in a vulnerable state for an actual attack to take place.
