Any group that handles delicate knowledge have to be diligent in its safety efforts, which embody common pen testing. Even a small knowledge breach may end up in important injury to a corporation’s repute and backside line.
There are two foremost the reason why common pen testing is important for safe internet utility growth:
- Security: Web functions are consistently evolving, and new vulnerabilities are being found on a regular basis. Pen testing helps establish vulnerabilities that may very well be exploited by hackers and lets you repair them earlier than they will do any injury.
- Compliance: Depending in your trade and the kind of knowledge you deal with, chances are you’ll be required to adjust to sure safety requirements (e.g., PCI DSS, NIST, HIPAA). Regular pen testing might help you confirm that your internet functions meet these requirements and keep away from penalties for non-compliance.
How Often Should You Pentest?
Many organizations, massive and small, have yearly pen testing cycle. But what’s the very best frequency for pen testing? Is yearly sufficient, or do that you must be extra frequent?
The reply is dependent upon a number of components, together with the kind of growth cycle you’ve got, the criticality of your internet functions, and the trade you are in.
You might have extra frequent pen testing if:
You Have an Agile or Continuous Release Cycle
Agile growth cycles are characterised by quick launch cycles and speedy iterations. This could make it troublesome to maintain observe of adjustments made to the codebase and makes it extra possible that safety vulnerabilities will likely be launched.
If you are solely testing yearly, there is a good probability that vulnerabilities will go undetected for lengthy intervals of time. This may go away your group open to assault.
To mitigate this threat, pen testing cycles ought to align with the group’s growth cycle. For static internet functions, testing each 4-6 months ought to be ample. But for internet functions which might be up to date steadily, chances are you’ll want to check extra usually, similar to month-to-month and even weekly.
Your Web Applications Are Business-Critical
Any system that’s important to your group’s operations ought to be given further consideration with regards to safety. This is as a result of a breach of those methods may have a devastating affect on what you are promoting. If your group depends closely on its internet functions to do enterprise, any downtime may lead to important monetary losses.
For instance, think about that your group’s e-commerce web site went down for an hour as a result of a DDoS assault. Not solely would you lose out on potential gross sales, however you’ll additionally need to take care of the price of the assault and the adverse publicity.
To keep away from this situation, it is necessary to make sure that your internet functions are at all times accessible and safe.
Non-critical internet functions can normally get away with being examined yearly, however business-critical internet functions ought to be examined extra steadily to make sure they aren’t liable to a serious outage or knowledge loss.
Your Web Applications Are Customer-Facing
If all of your internet functions are inside, you might be able to get away with pen testing much less steadily. However, in case your internet functions are accessible to the general public, you have to be further diligent in your safety efforts.
Web functions accessible to exterior site visitors usually tend to be focused by attackers. This is as a result of there’s a better pool of assault vectors and extra potential entry factors for an attacker to take advantage of.
Customer-facing internet functions additionally are inclined to have extra customers, which signifies that any safety vulnerabilities will likely be exploited extra rapidly. For instance, a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in an exterior internet utility with thousands and thousands of customers may very well be exploited inside hours of being found.
To shield towards these threats, it is necessary to pen take a look at customer-facing internet functions extra steadily than inside ones. Depending on the dimensions and complexity of the appliance, chances are you’ll have to pen take a look at each month and even each week.
You Are in a High-Risk Industry
Certain industries usually tend to be focused by hackers because of the delicate nature of their knowledge. Healthcare organizations, for instance, are sometimes focused due to the protected well being data (PHI) they maintain.
If your group is in a high-risk trade, it is best to think about conducting pen testing extra steadily to make sure that your methods are safe and meet regulatory compliance. This will assist shield your knowledge and cut back the probabilities of a pricey safety incident.
You Don’t Have Internal Security Operations or a Pen testing Team
This would possibly sound counterintuitive, but when you do not have an inside safety staff, chances are you’ll have to conduct pen testing extra steadily.
Organizations that do not have devoted safety workers usually tend to be weak to assaults.
Without an inside safety staff, you will have to depend on exterior pen testers to evaluate your group’s safety posture.
Depending on the dimensions and complexity of your group, chances are you’ll have to pen take a look at each month and even each week.
You Are Focused on Mergers or Acquisitions
During a merger or acquisition, there may be usually numerous confusion and chaos. This could make it troublesome to maintain observe of all of the methods and knowledge that should be secured. As a outcome, it is necessary to conduct pen testing extra steadily throughout these occasions to make sure that all methods are safe.
M&A additionally means that you’re including new internet functions to your group’s infrastructure. These new functions might have unknown safety vulnerabilities that would put your complete group in danger.
In 2016, Marriott acquired Starwood with out being conscious that hackers had exploited a flaw in Starwood’s reservation system two years earlier. Over 500 million buyer data have been compromised. This positioned Marriott in sizzling water with the British watchdog ICO, leading to 18.4 million kilos in fines within the UK. According to Bloomberg, there may be extra hassle forward, because the resort big may “withstand $1 billion in regulatory fines and litigation prices.”
To shield towards these threats, it is necessary to conduct pen testing earlier than and after an acquisition. This will provide help to establish potential safety points to allow them to be mounted earlier than the transition is full.
The Importance of Continuous Pen Testing
While periodic pen testing is necessary, it’s not sufficient in as we speak’s world. As companies rely extra on their internet functions, steady pen testing turns into more and more necessary.
There are two foremost varieties of pen testing: time-boxed and steady.
Traditional pen testing is finished on a set schedule, similar to yearly. This kind of pen testing is not sufficient in as we speak’s world, as companies rely extra on their internet functions.
Continuous pen testing is the method of repeatedly scanning your methods for vulnerabilities. This lets you establish and repair vulnerabilities earlier than they are often exploited by attackers. Continuous pen testing lets you discover and repair safety points as they occur as an alternative of ready for a periodic evaluation.
Continuous pen testing is very necessary for organizations which have an agile growth cycle. Since new code is deployed steadily, there’s a better probability for safety vulnerabilities to be launched.
Pen testing as a service fashions is the place steady pen testing shine. Outpost24’s PTaaS (Penetration-Testing-as-a-Service) platform allows companies to conduct steady pen testing with ease. The Outpost24 platform is at all times up-to-date with a corporation’s newest safety threats and vulnerabilities, so that you will be assured that your internet functions are safe.
- Manual and automatic pen testing: Outpost24’s PTaaS platform combines guide and automatic pen testing to provide the better of each worlds. This means you could find and repair vulnerabilities sooner whereas nonetheless getting the advantages of professional evaluation.
- Provides complete protection: Outpost24’s platform covers all OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and extra. This means that you may be assured that your internet functions are safe towards the most recent threats.
- Is cost-effective: With Outpost24, you solely pay for the providers you want. This makes it extra reasonably priced to conduct steady pen testing, even for small companies.
The Bottom Line
Regular pen testing is crucial for safe internet utility growth. Depending in your group’s measurement, trade, and growth cycle, chances are you’ll have to revise your pen testing schedule.
Once-a-year pen testing cycle could also be sufficient for some organizations, however for many, it’s not. For business-critical, customer-facing, or high-traffic internet functions, it is best to think about steady pen testing.
Outpost24’s PTaaS platform makes it simple and cost-effective to conduct steady pen testing. Contact us as we speak to be taught extra about our platform and the way we might help you safe your internet functions.