Penetration testing is just as important for mid-market as enterprise.

Penetration testing is the practice of testing a computer system, network or web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. Most network will will suffer from some level of misconfiguration, human mistakes, poor security policies and other vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an attacker.  To defeat them, organisations should conduct penetration testing on a regular basis.

At the most basic level a proper penetration test will allow an SME to:

• Identify vulnerabilities in their networking infrastructure.
• Validate the effectiveness of their security safeguards.
• Quantify the risk to the internal systems and confidential information.
• Help identify and address security issues before they are exploited.
• Help to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance.

Having another set of eyes that can carefully discern the state of your security infrastructure just makes good business sense. Penetration testing provides IT with a way to find holes before a malicious source does, identifies gaps in compliance (for instance, if a certain device was not properly patched), and also verifies what configurations are already working or need to be strengthened.

Moreover, it highlights the need for better employee security training and preparedness. If a penetration tester gets access to your infrastructure without anyone raising a red flag then this is obviously cause for concern. Overall, penetration testing should be considered like insurance for your business.

Think of a Penetration Test as an annual medical physical. Even if you believe you are healthy, your doctor will run a series of tests (some old and some new) to detect dangers that have not yet developed symptoms.”

Conclusion

Testing your systems to see where you are vulnerable is the first step in protecting your business and your reputation.