Why Outsourcing Vulnerability Testing Makes Sense

A professional vulnerability assessment can help your business in a myriad of ways. By partnering with the right team, you’ll be able to give your business a long-term edge. To fully grasp the real world value of vulnerability testing, we’ve broken down four of the primary elements for you to understand:

Let’s start with the basics. The first order of business is to define what vulnerability testing actually is. To put it simply, vulnerability testing is a risk management procedure that identifies the weakest areas of your network. This security assessment scans your software and evaluates where potential security risks could cause the most amount of harm. During this process, a managed IT specialist simulates a real-life security breach. These security experts intentionally poke holes through your network to determine which areas of your infrastructure need more support. This assessment concludes with a full remediation cycle, in which your IT provider fixes all vulnerabilities and adds extra layers of security to defend your network.

There is a significant payoff that occurs as a result of a vulnerability assessment. By using a vulnerability scanner on your network and mobile/web applications, you’ll be able to boost your company in a myriad of ways. These are just some of the main benefits that you’ll have the opportunity to take advantage of:

• Complete validation of any current security safeguards
• Helps steer dangerous cyber threats away from your network
• Prevents expensive repairs, maintenance, and early replacements
• Helps evaluate the performance of any third-party IT support
• Protects the integrity of your assets in case a malicious code is hidden
• Full identification of almost all vulnerabilities living within your system
• Automated vulnerability scans can be programmed to run on a routine basis
• Detailed remediation instructions to detect existing flaws and prevent future attacks
• Additional support for regulatory compliance (PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). HIPAA, etc.)

There are four specific kinds of vulnerability exercises to practice:

• Active Testing: This is an ongoing assessment where the tester adds new cases throughout the course of the assessment. This helps security specialists identify new risks that might be growing in your infrastructure over the course of time.
• Passive Testing: To put it simply, passive testing is a one-time procedure in which examiners monitor the result of running software without introducing new cases or data.
• Network Testing: This security evaluation measures the current state of your network as a whole. During this assessment, a tester examines the operating load to detect problems created by new services. Three groups of criteria will be tested during this security scan—utilization levels, the number of users in your network, and the amount that each application is utilized.
• Distributed Testing: Often referred to as a synchronization test, a distribution test examines specific parts of your server. Instead of assessing the sum of the infrastructure, a tester will assess specific applications one at a time.

One of the best things about vulnerability testing is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on extra hardware. Some assessments require specific software licenses but that depends on how often you choose to test your infrastructure and the type of test you choose to perform. There are plenty of online testing tools available, but the best thing you can do is talk to an experienced IT professional before putting the test into effect.

That’s where the experts at Outsource My IT can help most. We carry state-of-the-art vulnerability scanners to help companies identify where the biggest threats are. Our collection of [automated tools] helps spot risks in real time, so you can respond quickly, appropriately, and responsibly.