The Necessity of Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing (VAPT)

It has been proven time and time again that if you, as a business have a VAPT programme in place, your ability to proactively detect and mitigate against threats drastically improves.

This is done by merging essential characteristics of Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing.

Penetration Testing is used to hunt for, and highlight, vulnerabilities in your network, applications, and devices by emulating real-life external and internal attacks. Testing is conducted in a controlled environment, without compromising routine business activities.

Vulnerability Assessment is used to highlight vulnerabilities across all digital platforms, including internet, applications, systems, cloud, and hardware. The objective of performing vulnerability assessments is to proactively highlight vulnerabilities that exist in your environment, allowing you to apply appropriate mitigating controls ahead of time.

VAPT combines the two, to rapidly identify, classify, prioritise, and respond to potential threats.

• Meet compliance requirements more efficiently and successfully.
• Safeguard business from potential damage/costly fines.
• Secure assets from both internal and external malicious and accidental threats. 

Identify Loopholes in Your Systems

VAPT is often an underrated but necessary part of your cyber security defence. It is much like going to the gym, forcing yourself to do that workout can be tedious, but if you want to stay fit and grow stronger, then it is essential. The same applies for your cyber security posture, if you want it to stay healthy, and grow with the business, then VAPT is a must.

To keep data secure, the right assessments need to be conducted. VAPT identifies loopholes in your system and applications that threat actors may take advantage of. This is done via a methodology derived from leading frameworks and guidelines such as:

–             OSSTMM, OWASP, NSA Security Guidelines.

–             Vast experience from expert security analysts, on hand, 24/7.

–             Utilisation of automated tools (commercial, propriety and open source) and manual testing to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.

Key Benefits of VAPT

1. With VAPT the user can access a high-level overview of security gaps and the business risk associated.
2. The user can review an in-depth analysis of identified vulnerabilities and put in place remediation steps and validation of remediation measures.
3. Receive a detailed view of threats facing business posture and put in place the right risk management before data is exfiltrated.

Having conducted incident response investigations across a wide range of industries, and with clients across the globe within the sector, SecurityHQ are best placed to work with organisations both large and small, and across numerous technical environments to reduce the impact of a cyber security incident. For more information on how to improve your security, or if you have a question about a service, speak to an expert here.