What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing (aka. 'pentesting') is a website service that involves simulating cyberattacks on an organisation's digital infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and potential security threats. The service is important for organisations that handle sensitive data or need to comply with industry regulations.

Penetration testing helps organisations to identify security weaknesses and provides recommendations for improving security measures. The process involves a team of experts who use a range of techniques and tools to simulate real-world attacks and identify vulnerabilities. Penetration testing can help organisations to prevent data breaches and protect their reputation.

Penetration testing is an essential service for organisations that want to ensure the security and integrity of their digital assets.

Benefits of Penetration Testing

1. Identifying vulnerabilities

Penetration testing helps organisations to identify security weaknesses in their digital infrastructure, including systems, networks, and applications. This allows them to take proactive measures to prevent potential cyberattacks.

2. Improving security measures

Penetration testing provides recommendations for improving security measures to mitigate the risks of cyberattacks. This ensures that the organisation's digital assets are secured against potential threats.

3. Compliance with regulations

Many industries have regulatory requirements for data security. Penetration testing helps organisations to comply with these regulations by identifying vulnerabilities and implementing appropriate security measures.

4. Saving money

Penetration testing can help organisations save money by identifying vulnerabilities before they are exploited by cybercriminals. This prevents the costly damage that can result from data breaches and other cyberattacks.

5. Protecting reputation

Data breaches and other cyberattacks can damage an organisation's reputation. Penetration testing helps organisations to prevent such incidents, protecting their reputation and brand integrity.

6. Peace of mind

Penetration testing gives organisations peace of mind by ensuring that their digital assets are secured against potential cyberattacks. This allows them to focus on their core business activities without worrying about the security of their digital infrastructure.

Data Breaches

Here are some of the biggest data breaches in history:

• Yahoo, 2013 - 3 billion accounts exposed - article
• Equifax, 2017 - 140 million records accessed - article
• Facebook, 2021 - 530 million users exposed - article

Denial-of-Service Attacks

Denial-of-service attacks are attacks that make digital resources unaccessible and render them completely useless. Some of the biggest onesare :

• The Google Attack, 2020 - 167 Mpps (millions of packets per second) were sent to Google servers - article
• Amazon Web Services, 2020 - lasted for 3 days and peaked at 2.3 terabytes per second - article
• The Github Attack, 2018 - peaked at 1.35 terabytes per second and lasted for 20 minutes - article

Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware is a type of computer malware that steals and encrypts data and cannot be unlocked until a ransom is paid. Major ransomware attacks:

• Acer Ransomware Attack, 2021 - demanded $50 million from Acer - article
• JBS, 2021 - JBS was reported to have paid $11 million to the criminals - article
• CNA Financial, 2019 - CNA reportedly paid $40 million - article