Penetration testing is so much more than a technical exercise and an IT hoop for organisations to jump through. It’s a critical stress test that offers insights into real-world risks and organisational resilience.
When conducted as part of a wider cyber risk strategy, pen testing not only plays a role in ensuring that an organisation is prepared to withstand and respond to cyber incidents but also demonstrates strong governance.
Penetration testing: moving from a box-ticking exercise to business insights
All too often, penetration testing is considered to be a chore and a task that has to be navigated once a year in order for an organisation to get back to business.
When valued as part of an organisation’s commitment to driving standards and making meaningful improvements, however, penetration testing has a much bigger role to play. After all, a comprehensive pen test provides teams with practical insights into some of the real-world risks the organisation faces, which can inform future investment in broader operational decisions as well as security decisions.
By simulating cyber attacks against critical systems, applications and infrastructure, a penetration test identifies weaknesses before threat actors can. This informs immediate remedial requirements, of course, but it can also be a strategic tool that feeds into an organisation’s business continuity, compliance and governance.
Having identified how an attacker might access data and interfere with systems, internal teams can then more adequately address how they:
- Manage customer data
- Avoid disruption to operations
- Reduce the likelihood of financial loss
- Mitigate the risk of reputational damage
Crucially, all of these considerations stretch far beyond IT and information security teams. They are board-level concerns and issues that require buy-in from all departments of an organisation.
The results of any penetration test should be utilised to gain valuable business insights that feed into ongoing business improvement and strong governance.
Penetration testing’s role in prioritising risk
A key challenge for leadership teams is knowing where time, money and resources should be focused in order to mitigate risk and improve security most effectively. Not all risks are created equally, and when it comes to cybersecurity, they certainly shouldn’t be treated equally.
One of the benefits of undertaking a penetration test is that it offers feedback on where priorities lie – distinguishing between critical risks that require immediate attention and those that can simply be monitored and managed on an ongoing basis.
By focusing remediation efforts on those issues that matter most, it is also possible to avoid spending significant sums on low-impact risks. Gaining a clearer picture of the risk landscape also allows decision makers to align security investment for the future with key business priorities.
In this way, it is possible for an organisation to make risk management more strategic rather than reactive.
Turning cyber responsiveness into cyber resilience
Preventing attacks is just one aspect of an organisation’s broader cyber resilience. As is often stated by security experts, it’s a case of “when” not “if” an attack will occur, and so investment in resilience is always necessary to ensure that attacks are tackled effectively and don’t bring down operations altogether.
Penetration testing contributes to cyber resilience in a number of ways, including:
- Identifying single points of failure
- Finding gaps in access controls
- Identifying routes attackers might take to escalate privileges
- Highlighting opportunities to improve detection and response.
From here, a penetration test can be utilised in conjunction with incident response and business continuity plans to map out how cyber incidents may develop and where preparation may help to minimise the damage caused by any breach.
Ultimately, these steps can help to improve recovery times, improve the response process and protect critical services.
The role of penetration testing in compliance and governance
Penetration tests are required by a number of security frameworks such as PCI DSS, ISO 27001 and SOC2 – precisely because they lie at the heart of any effort to identify and mitigate cyber risk.
Regulatory frameworks typically demand evidence of due diligence in managing cyber risk and the effective implementation of security controls. So, identifying vulnerabilities via a penetration test helps to ensure that these elements are functioning as they should – in a systematic rather than a reactive fashion.
Of course, a penetration test in isolation is not a cybersecurity solution. Instead, it’s part of a broader programme of work to demonstrate effective governance. From risk assessments to security architecture reviews, staff training to incident response planning and supplier risk management, many elements contribute to overall cyber resilience.
How business leaders should think of penetration testing
As we now know, penetration testing is anything but a tick-box exercise, and it has a role to play within ongoing improvement strategies – not just as an annual obligation. The most resilient organisations have senior managers who understand this; decision makers who are willing to invest in penetration testing as a source of risk intelligence, a planning tool and a cornerstone of good governance.
Only by understanding vulnerabilities, exposure, impact and preparedness can an organisation begin to work towards a mature cyber risk posture.
If your organisation is looking to test the effectiveness of your resilience work, get in touch with the team at Arcanum Cyber Security.