What is Intrusion Testing?
Intrusion testing (or white hat attacks) is a method of not only identifying the vulnerabilities in a business’s security but attempting to exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorised access or cause other malicious activity. The process can be automated or manual and involves gathering information about the target, such as possible entry points, attempting to virtually or physically break in, and reporting back the findings. As Intrusion Testing determines security weaknesses, it can be used to test employee security awareness, an organisation’s security policy compliance and ability to identify and respond to security threats.Will Intrusion Testing Benefit my Business?
Anything that can identify weaknesses in your security controls allowing you to improve and reinforce your security is extremely beneficial to any business.
Here are just a few ways that Intrusion Testing can benefit you. It can allow you to:
Identify and Fix Physical Security Control Flaws
Whether it’s a weakness in your system or application configurations, your physical security measures or the actions and habits of your staff, Intrusion Testing will find and exploit these vulnerabilities. Only when you find them can you fix them, so the reporting from this testing allows you to improve your overall security. Read:- 6 Easy Ways to Find Security Weaknesses in Your Business
- You’ve got IT security in place, but how do you know if it works?
Understand the Level of Real-World Risk to Your Business
Carrying out Intrusion Testing can show you and your employers just how serious these threats are and how they can really impact a business. Seeing what an attacker could do in the ‘real world’ should ensure that security measures are enforced and security is taken more seriously.Test and Manage All of Your Defences
Intrusion Testing can be used for all aspects of your security from cybersecurity to physical measures and it can help you identify which vulnerabilities are critical, significant or false positives. This not only helps you to see what areas of your security need to be improved upon the most, but it also allows you to allocate your security resources more effectively. Read: Is your business really as secure as you think?
Run Your Business Cost-Effectively and Without Disruption
Recovering from a security breach can cost an organisation more money than it can afford, not to mention that any breach disrupts the running of your business, so think of Intrusion Testing like a business continuity audit. Each disruption has a negative impact on business, so Intrusion Testing ensures that you don’t suffer the effects of unexpected downtime or loss of accessibility.Meet Regulatory Requirements and Avoid Fines
Every organisation needs to meet certain security and legal compliance requirements and auditing regulations and Intrusion Testing can help you do just that. The detailed reports from intrusion tests can be used to show ongoing due diligence to auditors as the tests are held in high regard as they assess real-life consequences.Maintain Trust with Your Employees and Clients
Having weaknesses in your security can lead to compromised customer data and compromised data can lead to loss of clients, suppliers, and partners as they lose confidence and trust in your brand. Intrusion Testing allows you to keep your data as safe as it can be, helping you to maintain the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build and therefore the trust and loyalty of your customers.
If you don’t test your security, how can you be sure your measures are sufficient when a threat actually occurs?
Intrusion Testing is essential to any business from testing the current effectiveness of your security strategy to helping you improve your defences, making it a valuable addition to your complete security and threat management plan. So, what are you waiting for? Make a proactive effort to identify risks to your business before any breaches occur. Trust us when we say, the consequences of not doing so make this well worth your time and effort.Read the next in the series: Why You Should be Intrusion Testing and How Often
