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All About Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

All About Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

Home » Guide » All About Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing

A vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT) is an important tool that organizations should implement to keep up with their network’s security, identify possible weak points and plug them before an attacker can use them against the organization. 

What is Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT)?

Vulnerability Assessment and Testing (VAPT) are two different types of testing for vulnerability. These tests are different in their strengths and are usually mixed to produce greater depth in the vulnerability analysis.

It is a form of security testing process to detect security weaknesses in a network, application, endpoint, and cloud. Both Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing have their strengths and are usually performed together to provide a complete analysis. 

Why is VAPT important for your organization?

Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing are important for your organization because it helps you identify vulnerabilities in your systems and networks. Here’s a list of a few benefits that VAPT offers: 

  • It allows your organization to stay one step ahead of hackers. 
  • It can reveal potential weaknesses in your system, which can be fixed before hackers exploit them. 
  • It is more cost-effective than fixing a vulnerability after it has been exploited by a hacker – because then you have to not only find the vulnerability but also fix it!
  • VAPT helps identify risks within an organization’s network and provides information about vulnerabilities that may exist on devices connected to the network. 
  • With VAPT, risk assessments can be conducted periodically or whenever there is a change in business processes or systems. 
  • Any issues found through penetration testing should be addressed immediately and should not just be noted for future reference. 
  • The process for conducting this test will vary depending on whether the goal is simply identifying possible vulnerabilities or exploiting them for proof-of-concept purposes. 

How does VAPT improve overall Cyber Security Posture?

VAPT can help improve an organization’s overall cyber security posture. A more secure cyber environment will make it less likely for the organization to be compromised by attackers. 

Furthermore, effective VAPT processes minimize disruptions or downtime of critical business operations due to IT outages from malware or data breaches. There are many approaches when performing VAPT depending on the scope of the project; however, there are three main phases: Discovery, Assessments, and Remediation. 

The discovery phase is designed to identify any open ports on devices that could provide access to networks and systems.

Importance of VAPT in Regulatory Compliance?

To ensure the safety and security of your organization’s data, it is important to conduct vulnerability assessments and penetration tests regularly. This will help you identify any potential weak points in your system that attackers could exploit.

The health care industry, for example, is required by law to conduct vulnerability assessments and penetration tests every three years. By employing these best practices at regular intervals, health care organizations can ensure that their systems are protected from cyber criminals who seek access to private information such as names, addresses, health reports phone numbers and social security numbers. 

Additionally, penetration testing allows IT professionals to identify specific network weaknesses and fix them before a cyber attack occurs. In addition, it gives an organization insight into its overall network strength.

How to choose the best service provider for VAPT requirements?

When looking for a service provider that offers Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT), it is important to consider a few factors. Here is a list of a few:

  • First, you need to ensure that the provider has experience with the system you are using. 
  • Second, you need to verify that the provider has a good reputation and is certified by a reputable organization. 
  • Third, you need to get quotes from multiple providers to compare costs.
  • Fourth, you need  to ensure they have training and support available for your staff. 
  • And finally, you need to ask what kinds of reports they provide and how often these reports will be updated. 

The answers to these questions should help narrow down your search for the best VAPT service provider for your needs.

SharkStriker VAPT Offerings

Here at SharkStriker, we offer various Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing services to ensure the safety of your digital assets. Our professionals will tailor the approach to each client’s needs to provide the most comprehensive coverage possible. Our experienced security professionals will work with you to identify and mitigate potential risks. 

Benefits of Choosing SharkStriker:

  • Insightful feedback on how to improve company security posture 
  • A comprehensive report detailing any vulnerabilities discovered during testing
  • Affordable rates tailored to individual budgets 
  • SharkStriker offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee!
  • Learn how to fix bugs according to your issue and reproduce them with video Proof of Concepts (PoCs).

Frequently Asked Question

  • What is a VAPT?
  • What comes under VAPT?
  • What is the VAPT methodology?
  • How do you conduct a VAPT?
  • Is VAPT mandatory?
  • How does VAPT help?
  • Why do you need VAPT?
  • When should VAPT be conducted?

Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT) are two security solutions that concentrate on identifying security weaknesses within the system’s server, network and infrastructure.

Vulnerability Assessment focuses on the security of an organization’s internal systems and security, while Penetration Testing focuses on the external risk.

Penetration testing can also be conducted to test defences against simulated attacks by hackers and may be known as penetration testing or ethical hacking.

It can also refer to merely exploring the digital space to learn about potential vulnerabilities within the target environment.

The VAPT process begins with scoping, then involves vulnerability scanning, which identifies new vulnerabilities, penetration testing, which aims to exploit these vulnerabilities and finally includes remediation of these newly discovered risks.

Vulnerabilities should always be mitigated when found, but there is no guarantee that all of them will be addressed during this process.

In most cases, the first step taken by a VAPT company is to audit the company’s current IT system looking for existing vulnerabilities. Once any vulnerabilities have been identified, the next step will involve finding out how those gaps could be exploited.

Finally, any problems found must be fixed before moving on to the next round of assessment.

No, it is not mandatory. However, if a business wants better protection from vulnerabilities of any kind, it should consider hiring professionals who can perform a security assessment for them.
A VAPT helps organizations improve their cyber-security posture. It looks at their policies, procedures, and controls and determines what needs to be improved. A VAPT evaluates an organization’s readiness for data breaches and other cybersecurity events.
As mentioned earlier, VAPT also allows companies to improve their cyber-security posture. An organization might find out that its staff does not know about some important cybersecurity aspects that were never discussed due to a lack of awareness.

Conducting VAPT quarterly in general and immediately after a new product update is pushed ensures that your entire application stack has been scanned for vulnerabilities.

If a product update increases your security posture, conducting the scan sooner rather than later provides an opportunity to address any shortcomings before applying the updates to production.

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