The Importance of Penetration Testing for Small Businesses
In an increasingly digital world, the data that businesses hold is now one of the most important and most valuable assets that they can have. This means that the type of crimes that they are most likely to be a victim of will come from the digital world rather than the physical one as cyber criminal aim to get their hands on this valuable data or cause massive disruption to businesses.
This has meant that most businesses have some form of cyber security in place, but how can you be sure that it is robust enough? In this article, we take a look at the role of penetration testing and how it can help your small business to be more secure.
What is Penetration Testing?
You might have firewalls, virus protection and all kinds of cyber security measures in place, but you will only ever know how effective any of it is when you are attacked, and by then it could be too late. Penetration testing is a process that allows you to simulate a cyber attack in order to identify the areas in which you might be vulnerable.
During a penetration test, experts will scan your networks and devices to look for any vulnerable services that you might have and any open ports. As they will have prior knowledge of already identified vulnerabilities in particular applications or systems, they will also attempt to exploit these. A penetration test can also perform a brute force attack against user accounts and social engineering attacks against employees to find any other weaknesses in your defences.
By gaining access to your systems, penetration testers are able to exploit any vulnerabilities that you may have and will be able to see whether they are able to gain control of your systems or your sensitive data.
It is important to remember that this kind of testing is performed by experts and is done in a controlled manner to make sure that no actual damage is done. Once the test is complete, a report can be compiled showing you exactly where you might be vulnerable and with recommendations on what you can do to fix this.
A penetration test might seem like a daunting task, but it can be essential in providing you with the opportunity to fix problems and eliminate weaknesses before they are identified by real attackers.
As cyber crime is something that can move on at a rapid rate, it is important to ensure that you carry out regular penetration testing. This is because the security measures that may once have worked might not be effective any longer as cyber criminals work out ways to get around them. This ensures that you are able to make sure that your business is not just secure, but that it remains that way.
The Benefits of Penetration Testing for Small Businesses
Often, when we think of cyber crime, we can picture huge networks of attackers aiming to take down big businesses, but this is not actually the case. In reality, these large businesses are often the ones with the greatest levels of security in place, and the challenge of hacking into these can be too big.
That is why the majority of cyber attacks are aimed at small and medium sized businesses.
Many cyber criminals believe that the security measures that these businesses have in place will be less robust and can therefore make much easier targets. By going through a process of penetration testing, you can ensure that your business is fully protected, and can guard against many of the attacks that might come your way, making the size of your business less of a factor.
It is well known that the repercussions of a cyber attack can be devastating, and this is particularly true in the case of small businesses. As cyber criminals might look to take over your website, lock you out of your systems and either steal your data or hold it to ransom, an attack is likely to have some massive consequences.
Bigger businesses might have teams in place to deal with this and will be able to recover much more quickly, but for a small business, the outcomes of this can be crippling. It can take much longer to tackle the problem and to get back on your feet, and the reputational damage that can be done is likely to affect you for a long time to come. Therefore, preventing this can be essential to your survival.
When handling data belonging to other people, there are a number of GDPR laws that you must abide by in order to ensure that it is kept safe. If you have not taken reasonable measures to make sure that this is as secure as possible otherwise you may find that your business is left facing some very severe penalties.
Penetration testing might seem like another expense that your business does not need, but it can actually be a cost-effective measure that is worth taking. It can enable you to identify security measures that are not doing their job, meaning that you will not be paying for unnecessary protection.
If a cyber attack does occur, then the financial consequences will be massive. A lot of time and money will need to be spent on putting right any damage that was done by the hackers, and it can result in huge amounts of lost business that many small enterprises are not built to withstand. This means that going through a regular process of penetration testing can save you money in the long term.
When we are becoming more dependent on the digital world in order to run our businesses, it stands to reason that this is likely to be the area where many small businesses are at their most vulnerable.
It is therefore essential to do all that you can to protect your business interests and the privacy of your customers by undertaking penetration testing and eliminating the weaknesses that could leave you exposed to some devastating crimes.
