Penetration testing is like a medical examination. It should be done regularly, and most companies should probably do it more often than what it is being done now. Anytime there is a significant change in your environment, a pen test should be conducted to evaluate the security of the said environment.
CYBRI recommends each company perform a minimum of one annual pen test on their entire infrastructure. These can be broken up into smaller tests throughout the year or done as a single extensive test.
Beyond that, critical infrastructure should be tested more often. This includes areas that store client data, confidential information, or essential operations of business.
If your company has an internal team, penetration testing is likely conducted as a continuous cycle, but if not, an external team can come in and evaluate periodically. A regular or continuous vulnerability scan is best paired with pen testing, which allows your company to validate the findings and give you a valid risk assessment.
Why should you conduct annual penetration testing?
Penetration testing should be done annually because it keeps security a regular part of your program and correctly gauges how the environment has changed from year to year. That helps to make sure your exploitable vulnerabilities are kept at a minimum and prevent problems like data breaches.
Companies that skip one year often end up missing more and neglect their security posture. An annual pen test helps to reveal any changes that may have occurred or utilize newly released vulnerabilities or tools. Just like the hackers don’t stop improving, neither do pen testing techniques.
What are the top compliances that require annual and ongoing penetration testing?
Many compliance standards, such as PCI-DSS and ISO27xxx, require annual pen testing.
In addition, vendors may be required to have a recent pen test that year to meet third-party audits.
While your company may not be required to meet any of these right now, it may be on the road map. Even if it is a few years away, having the pen test earlier will mean that the one done to achieve compliance will be cleaner and have fewer significant findings as those would have been addressed already.
When should penetration testing be performed?
A new pen test is warranted if there has been a significant change, release, or other development to the environment.
For these, it can be done just in the new environment that has been changed. Pen testing should be performed before any major seasonal business increases. This way, it minimizes the impact during the increased load and ensures you are protected before becoming busy.
About CYBRI
The Cybri network pen testing team is entirely US-based and consists of highly experienced and certified penetration testers. Our expertise helps us see any security flaws and give you the insights to strengthen your network security further.
We follow a transparent process with well-documented artifacts that will keep you posted and well informed of any findings that we make. We value visibility and are always available to sort out any queries you may have.
Contact Us
433 Broadway, NY, NY, 10013
