Most businesses experience some kind of cyber attack each and every year. While the widespread adoption of new technologies certainly brings many benefits and unrivalled value to businesses, it also opens up a whole new can of worms; it increases the chances of a failure, a breach, or a breakdown of processes.
Quite simply, the more technologies you use in the workplace, the more opportunities a hacker, or someone with malicious intent, has to identify vulnerabilities and exploit these weaknesses. Does this mean that you should stop using tech? Absolutely not! Being aware of the risks isn’t about backing down or giving up… it’s about gaining an understanding of the best ways to help you protect your network.
There are actually many different ways in which you can significantly reduce your risk, but here we’ll focus on two of the most effective security assessments that businesses with advanced infrastructure may wish to consider:
1. Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is a simple assessment that looks for any possible ‘penetration points’ in your network; any flaws that could act as a gateway into your system. The way it’s undertaken is unusual yet effective. Essentially, it’s simulated hacking that’s done in a controlled environment. The tester will use known methods to try and access your data through a wide range of different entry points. The benefit is that you can work to close up these penetration points and secure your system before problems pop up.
2. Malware Vulnerability Testing
Malware vulnerability testing is recommended for small businesses for two reasons. Firstly, this type of test explores the hardware and software you use to keep them free of viruses. Viruses can appear for any number of reasons, including acting on phishing emails, and using out-of-date software. Secondly, it’s designed to boost awareness of risk within the workplace to ensure that your employees do not increase your risk through installing spyware or other types of malware. Once again, the assessment is simple.
Why are Security Assessments Important?
Right now, businesses hold more data relating to their customers than ever before. Consider what information you store about your own B2B clients… names, contact details, payment details, order history… all stored on desktops, in the cloud, on tablets, smartphones, and so on.
A breach today is about more than just the financial damages to an organisation… it’s about the reputational damages, too. At a time when businesses are trusting us with their data, it is our responsibility to protect this data by taking the appropriate measures. For many, these measures will include security assessments such as penetration testing and malware vulnerability testing.
