When it comes to cyber security, the world is full of hackers, threats, and vulnerabilities. It’s important to have a plan in place that can mitigate these risks before they become a reality. That’s where pen testing comes in. Pentesting is an essential part of any cyber security strategy that helps organizations identify potential problems and create solutions for them. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through some common types of pests available today and how each one can benefit your organization.
Web Application Security Testing
Web application security testing involves scanning for vulnerabilities in web applications and web-based systems. It is a critical part of the application development lifecycle, helping identify potential risks before they can be exploited by hackers. If you’re looking for reliable pentest services to ensure the security of your web applications, consider consulting with specialized companies that offer expertise in penetration testing.
Mobile Application Pentesting
Mobile application pen testing is the process of testing a mobile app for vulnerabilities and other issues. Mobile apps are growing targets for hackers, cyber criminals, cyber terrorists, and other malicious actors. This is because they’re often installed on devices that have sensitive data stored on them (e.g., smartphones).
Mobile applications are also being used by organizations as part of their digital transformation strategies, which means that they’re becoming more important than ever before. In fact:
- 70% of employees use mobile devices at work regularly or occasionally;
- 80% of consumers say they would be willing to pay extra money for better security features on their phones.
Cloud Infrastructure Security Assessment
A cloud infrastructure security assessment is an assessment of your cloud infrastructure to identify and address any vulnerabilities. Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) offer users a wide range of services, such as web hosting, storage, and computing power, however, these services are vulnerable to attacks. For example:
- Malicious actors can use brute force attacks against your account login credentials or steal them from other sources such as phishing emails or social media sites. This could allow them access to your AWS account which could lead them directly to sensitive data related to your business processes or personal information about customers/employees stored on the server(s).
- Another common way of attacking a cloud environment is through SQL injection techniques where hackers attempt to exploit flaws in programming languages like PHP that may have been used by developers while building websites hosted on AWS EC2 instances (Elastic Compute Cloud) etc.. This allows malicious code injection into an SQL query which then allows hackers access to backend databases containing sensitive information such as credit card numbers.
Safeguarding Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks
- Wi-Fi is vulnerable to attacks.
- Mobile networks are vulnerable to attacks.
- The tests that can be done include:
- Wireless network security testing (WNS). This type of test examines the security of your Wi-Fi network and its associated devices, including routers, access points, and client devices like laptops and smartphones. It also checks for unauthorized access points or rogue devices in your environment that could be used by attackers to gain access to confidential information or disrupt operations on the network. You may be surprised at how many vulnerabilities there are.
- Penetration testing (PT) involves testing a target environment from multiple angles with the goal of identifying weaknesses in its defenses before an attacker does so instead, and then fixing those weaknesses before they become problems down the road.
- Vulnerability assessment (VA), VA allows organizations to identify potential risks associated with their IT assets as well as prioritize remediation activities based on risk levels identified via VA assessments
Social Engineering Testing
Social engineering is a form of hacking that relies on human interaction and often involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures. Social engineers use phone, email, or in-person contact to convince their victims to give up information or perform actions that allow them entry into systems.
Social engineering is used to gain access to computer systems, networks, or data by manipulating people into performing actions they would not otherwise perform if they were aware of the consequences. The goal of a social engineer is generally either financial gain (by stealing money) or political power (by stealing information). Social engineering attacks can take place over the phone, via email, face-to-face at an office building, or even on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
IoT Security Assessments
IoT security assessments are a great way to ensure the safety of your IoT devices. A third party can perform an in-depth scan of your devices, looking for vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors. In some cases, these assessments can even be done remotely with automated tools that scan software code and look for flaws in it. This type of testing is especially important if you have many different types of IoT devices on your network because it will help identify any issues across all platforms at once instead of having one system at a time tested by hand (which would take much longer).
Database Security Testing
Database security testing is a specialized field of information security that focuses on the protection of databases from unauthorized access, modification, or destruction. It includes scanning for vulnerabilities, testing for access control, and performing penetration testing. Database security testing can be performed as part of a vulnerability assessment to determine the state of database security in an environment or as part of an incident response plan when responding to an attack against a database system. For more information on database security in the education sector, you can explore https://www.dataart.com/industries/education solutions for the education industry.
Simulating Real-World Cyber Attacks
Simulating real-world cyber attacks is one of the most important types of pentest services. The goal of simulating real-world cyber attacks is to test the security of an organization’s defenses against real-world threats so that they can fix any vulnerabilities before they become a problem.
Simulating a real-world attack involves setting up a fake environment that looks like your company’s servers or networks, and then sending malicious traffic through it to see how effective your security measures are at stopping attacks. You can do this by hiring an external penetration tester who has access to all kinds of tools and techniques, from phishing emails with malicious attachments sent from spoofed email addresses (so they look legitimate) to bots that try brute-force attacks on passwords, or you can purchase products on the market today such as Rapid7 Metasploit Pro or Immunity Canvas (formerly known as Canvas).
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many types of pentest services available. No matter what type of business you run or how much money you have to invest in cybersecurity, there is a solution for you. If you want more information about which type of assessment would be best for your organization, contact us today.
