What Results Can You Get From a Penetration Test?

A Penetration Test can provide you with a wealth of information about the security of your systems and how vulnerable they are to attack. The results of a penetration test can help you understand where your weaknesses are and what needs to be done to fix them. These results are reviewed from low to critical to give you a clear understanding of how severe the vulnerability is.

What are Some of the Common Issues That Arise When Found in a Penetration Test?

Some of the most common issues in Penetration Tests are weak authentication practices, cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws, SQL injection vulnerabilities, and insufficient access control. Additionally, it is not uncommon for penetration tests to uncover insecure data storage practices or lack of encryption on sensitive data. It is also important to note that a Penetration Test may uncover a range of other security issues specific to your environment.

How do You Respond to These Results?

Once you have reviewed your Penetration Test results, it is vital to take action. Depending on the severity of the vulnerabilities in your systems, this could range from low to critical vulnerabilities, which require immediate attention.

For low to medium severity vulnerabilities, you can typically take a few basic steps to mitigate them, such as patching and updating your systems, deploying additional security measures and conducting targeted training sessions for staff. For more severe vulnerabilities, it may be necessary to contact cyber security experts that can deal with the situation as quickly as possible and that can provide a long-term strategy for the business to manage these in the future.

Why do all Organisations Need a Penetration Test?

With now being in a digital age where every single aspect is online for example, banking, online shopping and interacting with a lot of online networks, everyone must get all aspects checked for exploitation, especially the way software and hardware has developed over the past year. Having the correct security measures in place is paramount for any organisation and its customers. A penetration test helps identify any potential vulnerabilities that can be addressed before they can be exploited, eliminating the risk of a cyber attack occurring.

Conclusion

Interpreting and responding to Penetration Test results is essential to ensure the safety of your systems. Taking proactive steps such as patching, updating and deploying additional security measures is key in protecting against vulnerabilities that malicious actors could exploit. Contacting cyber security experts for more severe issues can help you get on top of any security flaws quickly and create a lasting strategy to prevent them in the future.

By following these steps, you can ensure your systems are secure and protected from hackers. Here at Pentest People, we are actively identifying and mitigating cyber risks to prevent a cyber attack from occurring. Check out our Penetration Testing Services here.

Have a listen to our podcast episode below to find out more.