RJ2 Perspective
Written by: Jeff Dann, President of RJ2 Technologies
How Vulnerability Scans, Penetration Testing, and Zero Trust Security Will Help Protect Your Business:
Introduction
Cybersecurity is an important issue for any organization that relies on the internet or computer systems. While most organizations already have a basic level of security in place, it’s important to test your network security. That’s because hackers are constantly developing new ways to attack networks and break into systems. The best way to protect yourself against these threats is by testing your security systems regularly so you can find vulnerabilities before they’re exploited by criminals—and before the damage is done!
What are vulnerability scans?
Vulnerability scans are used to test the security of your network. They can be done manually or automatically, and they’re designed to find potential issues that could lead to security breaches.
There are two types of vulnerability scanning methods: active and passive. Active scanning involves sending probes or requests into a network in order to detect vulnerabilities. Passive scanning involves analyzing traffic on a network without sending any requests or probes, which can then be used as an indicator of weakness in the system’s security. Most organizations today use both active and passive scanning methods because they each have their strengths and weaknesses: active scanning will find more problems but requires more effort on your part (and likely less accuracy), whereas passive methods can only detect issues if someone actively tries to exploit them but don’t require any additional steps from you (and thus tend toward higher levels of accuracy).
What is penetration testing?
Penetration testing is a method of evaluating the security of a system by simulating a real-world attack on it.
Penetration tests are typically used to test the security of an information system (such as a network), but they can also be performed against physical or logical systems such as servers, routers, switches, and databases. No network is completely secure from attack; however, penetration testing is an important part of network security.
A successful pen test will effectively find the weaknesses in your network and identify issues that could put your systems at risk. Penetration tests are often conducted before deployment so that any problems can be identified and fixed before users start using the system.
Why are penetration tests and vulnerability scans important?
Penetration tests and vulnerability scans are essential tools in maintaining the security of your network. They help you to find holes in the defenses that may allow an attacker to gain access to sensitive data or disrupt operations.
Vulnerability scans are automated processes that look for known vulnerabilities in specific systems, software, networks, and applications. Penetration tests go a step further by using actual tools used by hackers (such as malware and phishing attacks) to attempt to break into your system from outside. This allows you to see how well-protected your systems are against real-world threats rather than theoretical ones identified by vulnerability scans alone. Both types of tests are essential to maintaining a secure network.
Why is network testing important?
Network testing helps you understand the vulnerability of your network, the quality of service (QoS) offered by your network and the speed with which it processes data. This is important because:
- The more efficiently a business can process data, the better its customer service will be. If a company has slow internet speeds or unreliable servers, it may not be able to provide high-quality customer service.
- It also helps businesses identify potential threats before they become problems; this could include anything from malware attacks to brute force attacks on their firewalls.
- By knowing where there are weaknesses in their networks and how many resources they need to properly secure them, businesses can make informed decisions about how much money they should spend on security solutions such as firewall updates or hiring IT specialists who specialize in information security management (ISM).
What is zero trust security?
Zero trust security is an approach to cybersecurity that assumes unauthorized users are already present within a network. To limit their access to critical resources, it requires identity verification at every step of an employee’s journey.
Examples of zero trust include (but are not limited to):
- Identity-based access control systems that use virtual tokens to authenticate users before granting them access to sensitive data or systems
- Device identity verification using digital certificates and fingerprint readers, which requires employees to prove they possess physical devices owned by the company
Cybercriminals have become smarter, more sophisticated, and bolder about stealing information
They’re targeting individuals and companies, government agencies, healthcare providers and more.
Cybercriminals are becoming better at hiding their tracks by encrypting their malware through a series of algorithms that makes it difficult for security teams to detect them. This makes it harder for organizations to stop an attack before the damage is done or limit the amount of stolen data that’s leaked online.
Zero Trust Security helps you prevent breaches by establishing commensurate trust levels at every stage in your network—from the endpoint through application gateways to cloud environments—to ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR while preventing unauthorized access across all devices without slowing down productivity or performance of employees.
A simple way to think about zero trust security is “never trust, always verify.”
Instead of assuming that unauthorized users aren’t present within your network and making sure only authorized users are able to access resources, zero trust security assumes that unauthorized users are already present within the network.
As such, it is a proactive approach that focuses on continuous identification and access management as opposed to just providing basic perimeter security for physical or logical boundaries like firewalls and VPNs.
Conclusion
All in all, I would say that the main takeaway is to invest in cybersecurity. By checking your network security and testing it with the right tools, you can avoid many threats to your company’s data. The best way to do this is by working with a professional who can help you find vulnerabilities before attackers do. Get in touch with our team today to discuss with an expert how penetration testing and vulnerability scans can help your business.
