If you’re an IT professional, you’ve probably heard of penetration testing. Penetration testing, also known as “pen testing” or “ethical hacking,” is a popular and effective way to test the security of your web applications, networks, and systems. However, finding the right pen tester can be difficult. Most organisations don’t have the time or resources to conduct thorough research on every pen tester they consider hiring; instead, they rely on word-of-mouth referrals from other IT professionals who have used them in the past.
Understanding Your Organization’s Needs
When choosing a security penetration testing services, it is important to understand your organization’s needs. You should first understand what you are looking for in a service provider.
- What are your security needs? Do you need help with implementing solutions for specific vulnerabilities or an overall assessment of how well-protected your business is?
- What is the allocated budget for this project? If the cost of hiring an external firm seems too high, consider using internal resources instead. Your IT department may be able to perform some penetration tests internally or provide recommendations on other ways that they could assist with securing company data and systems.
Aligning Services with Your Security Objectives
- Understand your organization’s needs.
- Know what you want to achieve.
- Define your objectives.
- Make sure you have a clear understanding of the services offered, and understand the differences between different types of services (e.g., manual vs automated).
Evaluating the Provider’s Track Record in Penetration Testing
When evaluating a security penetration testing service, it’s important to know what has been tested and how. This means understanding the results of previous tests, how the provider’s services have evolved over time, and whether or not they use tools that are familiar to you. It also means knowing their success rate and how often they find vulnerabilities.
If you’re interested in using manual methods versus automated ones (for example), make sure your provider is experienced with both approaches so that they can provide an unbiased analysis of your company’s security posture.
Industry-Specific Knowledge
To be effective, you need to know your target and its business processes. You also need to understand the technology they use and how it is deployed. This includes knowing what security controls are in place, as well as how they work together with other systems to protect the organization’s assets.
Finally, you should be familiar with their security policy and how it affects everything else on this list (and vice versa).
Regulatory Compliance
When it comes to regulatory compliance, there are several factors that need to be considered. These include:
- Compliance with regulations. Regulations from federal and state governments can have a significant impact on how your company operates, including how you implement security policies and standards. It’s important for security professionals to understand these regulations so they can determine whether or not they’ll have any bearing on their organisation’s ability (or inability) to comply with them.
- Compliance with industry standards. Many industries have established guidelines for what constitutes acceptable behaviour within their particular industry, and this includes IT security as well as other fields like healthcare or finance. Security professionals should always keep an eye out for new or upcoming industry-specific standards so they know what their clients need in order not only to stay compliant but also to stay ahead of the competition.
- Compliance with company policy, internal procedures, security policy, and security standards You may already be familiar with some of these terms from our first bullet point; however, it’s worth mentioning again here because all five are related: Company policies typically dictate how employees should behave at work (e.g., “no drinking during work hours”), internal procedures describe how certain tasks should be performed within an organisation (e.g., “the HR department handles all employee complaints”), etcetera.
Establishing Effective Working Relationships
Selecting the appropriate security penetration testing service provider holds significance, and fostering a strong relationship with the provider can maximize the value of your investment. Here are some tips on how to do so:
- Establishing Effective Working Relationships – The importance of building a good relationship with your provider.
- How to Build a Good Relationship With Your Provider – How to know if you have a good relationship with your provider.
- Communication – The importance of communication.
Flexibility in Testing Schedules
- Flexibility in testing schedules is important. You need to test during different times of day, different days of the week, and even when employees are on vacation or away from their desks. The more you can test under various conditions, the better your pen-testing team will be able to find holes in security systems and processes that could be exploited by hackers.
- If possible, try to schedule some tests at night or on weekends when employees may be working overtime or have extra time on their hands due to vacations or other commitments. This will give you a better idea of how easy it would be for someone with malicious intent (or just plain mischief) to access your company’s data without disrupting normal business operations too much and giving them ample opportunity for mischief.
Making the right choice of penetration testing service is a crucial decision
In order to choose the right penetration testing service, you need to understand your organization’s needs and align services with your security objectives. You should also evaluate the provider’s track record in penetration testing, as well as their industry-specific knowledge. Finally, it is important that you establish effective working relationships with your chosen provider.
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you understand the different types of penetration testing services available and how to choose the right one for your organization. Remember that not all security testing providers offer the same services or have the same level of expertise. So before making any decisions, make sure you do your research and ask questions.
