Red Mosquito - Blog

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing can be a useful tool for businesses to utilise as part of a cyber security audit.  Regular penetration testing will help your business identify any weaknesses, in your IT systems or applications, before they are exploited.   They can be a valuable tool in your multi-layered cyber security defence – if they are planned and executed properly!

RedMosquito manages penetration testing for many of our IT Support customers throughout Glasgow, Edinburgh and central Scotland.  We deliver a thorough analysis of the IT infrastructure, scrutinising every device in network.  Penetration testing (trying to crack into the network from the outside) and  vulnerability scanning (identifying problems from within your network) are both required to pin-point weaknesses and identify potential attack vectors, previously unknown weaknesses and entry points.  

We work with our IT Support customers to outline the scope of the test and establish objectives for the testing programmeWe then plan the test to minimise the impact on your business operations and avoid downtime.  The outcomes of the testing exercise are gathered into a report and we then work with you to explain the findings –  interpreting all the IT jargon for you! We provide guidance on what should be prioritised and what you can do to remedy any issues identified.  It is important to make sure you have the right controls in place and they are configured properly and working as intended – we do this for you.

If you are serious about information security – like we are! – and have ISO 27001 in place – like we have! – then you will know that regular penetration testing is required to achieve that standard.  It is also a key requirement of other regulatory and industry standards such as Cyber Essentials Plus and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Penetration testing should be completed at least once a year and preferably more frequently to ensure emerging vulnerabilities are not exploited by cyber criminals.  If you would like more information on our penetrating testing or IT Support services – just contact us today.

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