The Evolution of Cybersecurity: Running Virtual Penetration Tests (Part 5)
Regardless of how many resources you’ve spent building your digital fortress to protect against cyberattacks, there is only one way you can be certain it will hold up to potential threats—by putting it to the test. Specifically what is being referred to is a penetration test, where trusted cybersecurity professionals are authorized to simulate a cyberattack. Here, a variety of tactics are employed which are commonly used by cybercriminals to attempt to gain unauthorized access to the network system. Of course, the cybersecurity professionals don’t actually do any damage by performing the simulation. This is why this procedure is often known as ‘ethical hacking’, or hacking without fraudulent intention. Essentially, by practicing cyber attack scenarios businesses can learn both how their defenses would perform when challenged with a security threat, and whether or not they can actually be confident implementing those same defenses in the real-world. Moreover, they can also keep track of performance statistics, find out where improvements need to be made, and ultimately develop a more secure network system.
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