Vulnerability IT Scans for Businesses
The following are considerations when protecting your business's critical data.
Most businesses think if they have antivirus in place, then they are protected. Not a lot of small business take into account the multiple ways you can protect your business. In this brief, we want to talk about vulnerability testing. Some business finds out they are vulnerable only after they are hit with ransomware or if there were a data breach and client and financial data has been taken.
What most small businesses don't know is they can plan and know what their network vulnerabilities are before the worst happens.
Over 61% percent of small businesses are victims of cyber attacks every year, and one in five them. Companies can take action to know if they are vulnerable without having to face the financial hardship security breaches can cause.
Businesses can conduct vulnerability tests which are a comprehensive audit of a businesses security flaws that a hacker could take advantage of, and the review can outline the potential consequences. The results of a vulnerability test provide information that will allow you to know what your security risks are and help your business plan your security policies moving forward.
Vulnerability test should be done on a regular basis by an outside consultant or in-house IT department if possible. Depending upon the size of business, you should do it every quarter if you are a midsize business, monthly if you are an enterprise business and once a year or every size months if you a small business. There are different types of vulnerability tests and here are the different options.
Pen-Test: A pen-test stimulates an attach on a business's network to test the strength of the security technology in place. With pen-tests, you will have a particular objective (e.g., steal a piece of specific data).
Vulnerability Scan: A vulnerability scan is more general, and it tells you where the weaknesses are in your network as opposed to a pen-test which tells you how bad a specific weakness is.
How often should you pen-test: Different Industries will have different government-mandated requirements for pentesting. One of the more broad-reaching regulations is the PCI DSS test which requires pen-testing every year. It is nice though if you do more than the minimum. You should also conduct a pen-test every time you have:
- Added new network infrastructure or applications
- Made significant upgrades or Modifications to any infrastructure or applications
- Established new office locations
- Applied a security patch
- Modified end-user policies
