Vulnerability testing is designed to identify weaknesses in your network, which tells you where and how to strengthen your security posture. Left untested, unknown weak spots can facilitate security incidents like ransomware attacks, malware, and data breaches.
When was the last time you tested your company’s network and applications to look for vulnerabilities? If it’s been a while, or if you haven’t done this at all, keep reading to find out why you need IT vulnerability testing.
Cybersecurity is priceless
An IT vulnerability assessment will uncover weak spots in your network so you can prevent hackers from exploiting those weaknesses. However, testing needs to be ongoing to be effective.
Saving money is the worst reason to skip an IT vulnerability assessment. You can’t put a price on protecting your business, but even so, it’s not as expensive as you might think. In fact, you might have access to testing already.
A cybersecurity audit should be part of a good managed services plan, so check with your provider if you haven’t had an assessment yet. Or, if you don’t have managed IT, consider getting this critical service, even if only to secure your company’s network and digital assets.
The cost of cyberattacks can range from insignificant to devastating, and data breaches often result in massive regulatory fines for compliance violations. Ransomware attacks are equally damaging when you don’t have a proper backup and business continuity plan. One incident can take your business offline for hours, days, or even weeks. If you’re completely unprepared, you could end up closing for good if your losses are unrecoverable.
Being on a budget is understandable, but add a cybersecurity audit to your IT budget because securing your business from vulnerabilities is worth the cost.
Data breaches are too damaging to risk
The cost of one data breach can be overwhelming enough to cause irreversible damage that extends beyond finances. Even after paying a ransom and/or regulatory fines, you still have to be concerned about reputational damage, the cost of altering your business practices, rising insurance premiums, and operational disruptions.
The long-term damage from a data breach carries the potential to put you out of business. This is possible even if you pay the fines because money can’t save your reputation.
Getting a cybersecurity assessment can help you avoid these devastating consequences by pointing out exactly what needs to change. For instance, you might want to start using end-to-end encryption for your stored data, encrypt all company emails, or change your third-party software providers.
Insider threats are real
You might think you already have an impenetrable cybersecurity system in place that works like Fort Knox. That might be true, but it won’t always protect your business against insider threats. If someone in your organisation decides to use their access privileges to steal data, information, or sabotage the company, the best security software in the world won’t prevent it from happening.
When you get an IT vulnerability assessment, you’ll see exactly how insider attacks might be carried out. Once these vulnerabilities are documented, you can start implementing access restrictions.
For example, you might need to move your digital assets into a cloud account where you can set permissions based on individual users and groups. The goal would be to provide access only to the highest level needed for each person/group to do their job.
Another example of controlling access might be limiting logins to registered devices and only during work hours. You can’t prevent all insider attacks, but you can prevent a good portion of them through strict access controls.
Threats constantly evolve
Of all the reasons to get a cybersecurity audit, the fact that threats constantly evolve should be all you need to take action. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for new ways to exploit networks and third-party software applications and if there is a new vulnerability, they’ll find it given enough time.
Thankfully, as threats become more sophisticated, so do security tools created to prevent them. When you get regular cybersecurity audits, your network will be tested for the latest known vulnerabilities, and if there are new security tools available, you’ll be given options to increase your security.
Prioritise IT vulnerability testing
Security incidents can happen at any time, even when you think you’re not a target. In fact, 43% of all cyberattacks target small businesses. If you want to protect your company network against security incidents like ransomware attacks, malware, insider threats, and data breaches, start getting regular cybersecurity audits to ensure all vulnerabilities get secured.