Although vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT) are two different tests, they are often combined to identify and address cyber security flaws. This technique provides an extensive analysis of the vulnerabilities of a system and enables the organization to implement better security protocols.
Vulnerability Assessment
Business growth, digitalisation and the evolving threat landscape create constant security challenges for your organisation. The majority of cyber security incidents are the result of attackers exploiting publicly disclosed vulnerabilities to gain access to systems and networks. Attackers will, often indiscriminately, seek to exploit vulnerabilities as soon as they have been disclosed. So it is important to install security updates as soon as possible to protect your organisation.
Cyber attackers are always looking for gaps and vulnerabilities in your system that can be exploited. Hence, it’s imperative to identify and resolve those flaws to prevent security breaches.
Vulnerability assessment is the surface-level evaluation to find and classify the security vulnerabilities in a system. In the results of this test, some mitigation procedures are also recommended to eliminate or at least reduce the risks. Silver Touch’s Vulnerability Assessment service helps you to respond by identifying, classifying and addressing security risks and providing the ongoing support and guidance to best mitigate them. At Silver Touch we use both commercial tools and in-house methods to identify potential issues. The results are then verified and compiled into a report for you.
Benefits
- Gaining confidence that you are keeping your systems and data protected as new vulnerabilities emerge
- Having the ability to assess and prioritise vulnerabilities that are not straightforward to fix
- Reducing the chance of you being a source of onward infection to other organisations you work with
The general flow of a vulnerability assessment is as follows
- Index all the resources and assets of a system.
- Give quantifiable significance to each resource.
- Identify the potential threats that can affect every resource.
- Resolve the most dangerous issues for the most important resources.
Penetration Testing
Also known as pen testing, this technique is more direct than vulnerability assessment. A penetration test is an assessment designed to find weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your company’s defences. A pen test exploits authentication issues, cross-site scripting problems, source code flaws, logic flaws, and insecure network configurations. It is a test of all of the software and technical infrastructure that keeps your computer systems up and running.
Several techniques and tools are used as the tester simulate a real cyber-attack, the most sophisticated and intelligent cybercriminals uses, in an attempt to exploit the vulnerabilities in the system, infrastructure, or applications of the company. At the end of the testing, all the identified security flaws are reported alongside their possible remediation and gives clarity to where your security system is weak. The general flow of penetrating testing is mentioned below.
- Determine the scope of the test.
- Gather the required information for penetrating the desired data.
- Make attempts to breach through the security system.
- Gather the sensitive data of the organization.
- Clean everything up and make a report of the findings.
Types of Penetration Testing
External Pen Testing
External penetration testing removes the uncertainty and risks of an external attack on your computer systems. It simulates an outsider attack and again identifies the weaknesses in your systems and/or website. An external penetration test will help your company Identify and address weak spots, where sensitive information can be exposed. The resulting report will highlight systems that an outside attacker could take control of.
Internal Pen Testing
Internal penetration testing is a process that will allow you to fully understand the potential threats from within. The test is designed to help you reduce the risks that are posed by individuals who have legitimate access to your computer systems and your network. Our ethical hackers will simulate an insider attack to see how far into your systems an insider can get while remaining undetected. The hacking test will highlight what information can be extracted or accessed from within your premises and environment.
Testing style is usually defined as either white box, black box or grey box penetration testing.
White box penetration testing
White box penetration testing, sometimes referred to as crystal or oblique box pen testing, involves sharing full network and system information with the tester, including network maps and credentials.
Black box penetration testing
In a black box penetration test, no information is provided to the tester at all. The pen tester in this instance follows the approach of an unprivileged attacker, from initial access and execution through to exploitation.
Grey box penetration testing
In a grey box penetration test, also known as a translucent box test, only limited information is shared with the tester. Usually this takes the form of login credentials.
The security needs of different businesses and organizations can vary from one another. As a result, the type of penetration they require will also differ. Therefore, it’s not possible to apply the same type of assessment on each system. We, at Silvertouch, realize that and offer the following types of penetration testing.
- Infrastructural testing
- Wireless network testing
- Social engineering testing
- Mobile and web application testing
- Configuration review testing
Why Choose Us?
Cyber security is probably the most important aspect for any organization in today’s world. Therefore, it’s vital to select the right partner for your business. An ideal VAPT provider should have the necessary expertise and experience to take care of your company’s needs and must provide the possible solutions after pointing out the risks.
Our experienced and professional team fulfills all these criteria. We perform a thorough assessment of a company’s system during the VAPT to compile a full list of flaws. Once, we have the vulnerabilities, each one of them is ranked in terms of the risk they pose.
Other than examining the code, we also look for any missing functionalities in the security system that may result in a breach. For example, our security consultants check whether there are any backdoors in the system that can help minimize the damage in case of a breach. If not, they will guide the IT experts of the company to implement this useful use case to keep the system safe.
Our world-class professionals use the latest tools and methodologies to ensure that we get fewer false positives. This gives them more time to figure out the ways to mitigate genuine threats, rather than sifting through non-issues. As a result, we can make an effective report that will help you to mitigate most risks.
So what are you waiting for? Contact us NOW for an assessment and we assure you that a vulnerability assessment and penetration testing with us will boost the cyber security of your organization.
When commissioning a pentest, it’s important to ensure the company has the necessary expertise to not only detect a wide range of vulnerabilities, but also provide the assistance you need to remediate them as quickly as possible.
Silver Touch through its CREST accredited alliance pen testers can be trusted to provide the comprehensive testing programmes to meet your business needs. Our experts help organisations in a range of industries uncover and address complex vulnerabilities across their internal and external infrastructure, wireless networks, web apps, mobile apps, network builds and configurations and more.
Our pen test services include complete post-test care, actionable outputs, prioritised remediation guidance and strategic security advice to help you make long term improvements to your cyber security posture.