Penetration testing is a systematic process of probing for vulnerabilities in your applications and networks. It is essentially a controlled form of hacking in which the ‘attackers’ operate on your behalf to find the sorts of weaknesses that criminals exploit.
The process of penetration testing involves assessing your chosen systems for any potential weaknesses that could result from poor or improper system configuration, known and unknown hardware or software flaws, and operational weaknesses in process or technical countermeasures.
An experienced penetration tester can mimic the techniques used by criminals without causing damage.
It has never been easier to develop and deploy a great website.
The availability of web applications and services makes it possible for individuals, small businesses and enterprises to assemble rich, full-featured platforms in a way that was unimaginable a decade ago. Unfortunately, the widespread use and availability of these tools makes them attractive to criminal hackers, who can compromise your site by seeking out and attacking vulnerable web application deployments.
The security of your web applications is of paramount importance to business continuity and integrity. Although traditional firewalls and other security controls are an important security layer, they can’t defend against or alert you to many of the attack vectors specific to web applications.
Penetration testing provides visibility of the risks associated with application vulnerabilities.
Breaking into systems can be relatively simple if someone has not properly patched and secured systems against the latest vulnerabilities. However, keeping systems up to date has become increasingly difficult.
Unfortunately, hackers have a window of opportunity between the moment someone publishes a vulnerability and the moment that vulnerability is patched or addressed. The longer this window stays open, the more the odds of compromise increase. Penetration testing helps to identify configuration holes that could allow an attacker to gain access to a system.
Why is network testing so important?
Infrastructure-related vulnerabilities tend to arise from poor hardware configurations, ineffective system configuration parameters and weak security system controls. Other important factors include poor design and coding standards.
Exploiting a vulnerability allows a user to gain privileges, enabling them to access resources on the network. Once in a privileged state, the hacker can choose to access sensitive data, modify data, cause the system to operate abnormally or crash the system.
Findings from a network penetration test could include the discovery of weak or default passwords, systems that are unpatched or poorly configured, the location of malware, or confidential data that is not properly secured.
The Wi-Fi threat presented by criminal hackers
Criminal hackers use rogue access points as a simple way of gaining access into business systems to capture sensitive data.
Attackers can snoop on Internet traffic using a bogus wireless access point. Fake access points can be set up by configuring a wireless card to act as an access point. They are hard to trace, since they can be shut off instantly. The counterfeit access point may be given the same SSID and BSSID as a nearby Wi-Fi network.
Wireless network traffic can then be easily recorded. Criminal hackers can gather proprietary information, logins, passwords, intranet server addresses, and valid network and station addresses. They can steal Internet bandwidth, transmit spam, or use your network as a springboard to attack others. They can capture and modify traffic to masquerade as you, with financial or legal consequences.
Protect your business with a wireless penetration test.