How Does Penetration Threaten My Cyber-Security?
Cyber-attacks against business is headline news today. Hacking, malware, spyware, and ransomware are now part of our vocabulary. If companies with the best security in the world can be penetrated, small- and medium-sized businesses better pay attention.
What is Penetration Testing?
Penetration Testing (or pentesting) is how you test your cyber security. Your pentesting partners are “good” hackers who will simulate everything the bad guys can do to get in and destroy or steal your data, and then help you to put protections in place.
So How Do I Choose the Right Pentester?
Finding a trustworthy company to partner with for pentesting is vital; you’re entrusting your proprietary, fiscal, and other information to them. So how do you make sure your company is in safe hands?
5 Questions to Ask
• Are They Experienced? How long have they been in business? What sort of clients have they worked with in the past? How experienced are the individual technicians?
• Is pentesting even safe? Hiring an IT firm to unleash a team of hackers on your company’s information may seem like a nightmare. Penetration testing companies do extremely thorough background examinations and require Certified Ethical Hacker certifications. There are several organizations that offer the certification, such as the International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants.
• What certificates and degrees have the testers obtained? Penetration testers are highly paid and should have degrees you can verify. Within a standardization agency, there are different certification levels, degrees, and training programs
• Are they equipped to handle the testing of an organization such as yours? Good pentesters are creative in simulating cyber attacks that will tell them how to help you to protect your data, so approaches will vary. A good company will work with you beforehand to determine if they are a good fit for your company.
• Does the contract protect your company’s network and hardware? Any time you let an outside organization into your company’s computers, you want to protect yourself. Before they begin their attempts to penetrate your company’s infrastructure, make sure that the contract makes them liable if they damage it.
In the end, no one knows your company better than you do. Make sure that you’re comfortable with the Penetration Testing Partner you’ve chosen, but do it before you’ve had a security breach or loss of data.
We Can Help
Call Quikteks Tech Support at (973) 882-4644 to schedule a meeting to talk about your network’s security.