Why Is Vulnerability Assessment And Penetration Testing Important?

Today, most people use the internet, and security has become one of the major concerns. Professional hackers can break the security and gain access to confidential data. To avoid these threats, Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is used. VAPT helps to keep data secure and does not let go into the wrong hands.

Vulnerability is a flaw or weakness in the network system from which a hacker can enter and exploit the system. The more the network system is vulnerable, the greater the chance of a threat. The vulnerabilities are caused by weak passwords, faulty configuration, software bugs, non-patching of the software, and the operating system.

To identify the weak points in your system, keep the system secure from hackers and stop cyberattacks, you need VAPT services.

Vulnerability Assessment (VA)

Organisations use IT infrastructure to move toward their goals. Once the IT infrastructure is deployed, the main aim is to keep their data secure. Therefore, vulnerability assessment is used to find any flaws in the system.

Vulnerability assessment/ Vulnerability analysis is a process that identifies the loopholes in the network, computer or the communication infrastructure. It includes a series of systematic measures which are used to review and prioritise the vulnerabilities in a network, communication system or application. It helps to determine the security of the environment and the level of exposure to threats.

Vulnerability assessment should be performed in fixed time intervals like quarterly basis. This helps to detect any vulnerabilities in the network system. It uses a single or a combination of manual and automated scans of the network infrastructure.

Vulnerability management involves processes such as discovering the vulnerabilities, prioritising assets, assessing, reporting, remediating and verification.  

Discover

This step involves creating a proper record of operating systems, network assets and other devices. All the vulnerabilities should be listed on a regular schedule.

Prioritise assets

In this, the assets are categorised and assigned values based on their importance and need in the business operation.

Assess

In this, the basic and major risk profile is determined based on asset priority, risks and vulnerabilities.

Report

You can archive a security arrangement, screen suspicious actions, and depict known vulnerabilities. 

Remediate

Fix vulnerabilities according to the business risk, enable access controls and cover the flaws in your network system.

Verify

Perform a security audit to verify if the vulnerabilities found have been eliminated.

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing/Pen-testing/Security testing helps you to discover the vulnerabilities in the system before the hacker can exploit them. It involves gaining access to the network and system resources without the knowledge of the user credentials. It helps you to check if any vulnerabilities are present in the system and if penetration is possible from there.

The penetration test can help to visualise the remedial measures to protect the network and enhance security. The penetration test report also depicts the satisfactory security approaches used by the security professionals. 

A penetration test may discover a vulnerability today, but it may not be valid after a month. This is because after the test, the system may have been patched or updated. This can lead to a new vulnerability in the system, which may not have been reported in the previous test report. Therefore, to maintain a secure system, constant vigilance is necessary.

Common Network Vulnerabilities

Networks are used to transfer information and data between devices. The information and data have to travel out of devices like computers, mobile phones and more. When the information and data move out of the devices, there is a greater threat that they may be compromised. Some of the common network vulnerabilities are:

Default or weak password

Most systems are configured with a default or weak password. Hackers can easily guess the passwords and break into the system. Therefore, you should not use such passwords. It is recommended that you use a strong password so that hackers do not enter the system.

Missing patches

Security patches are software provided by developers after research on the operating system and software. Security patches can be installed on the operating system to cover any vulnerability in the system. Recommended patches must be installed on the operating system to cover the vulnerabilities.

Misconfigured firewall rules

One of the best ways to prevent unauthorized access and malicious activities on your system is to use a firewall. But misconfiguration of the firewall can lead to vulnerabilities. Firewalls must be configured according to the proper standards.

Other vulnerabilities include authentication bypassing, bypassing plaintext passwords, weak encryption algorithms and keys, wireless key enumeration and more.