Penetration Tests That Can Enhance Your Cybersecurity
You have a responsibility to your customers and your employees to do everything possible to modernize your security practices. The best way to make sure that your business is secure from cyberattacks is to learn how to perform penetration testing from an online cybersecurity class. Rather than have your company compromised by a hacker, learn hacking techniques yourself to test your own system.
The Goal of a Penetration Test
A penetration test is a planned attack that is meant to hit your security infrastructure. The goal is to find vulnerabilities in your security system so that you can then create patches to plug these vulnerabilities. A penetration test is something you may learn about in an online cybersecurity class.
Internal Penetration Tests
In addition to attacking the cybersecurity system from the outside, you might perform an attack from within your company to mimic the actions that a malicious employee would take to try to hack into the system. This type of test will also determine how secure the system is against an attacker who has already gained access through a phishing or malware attack.
Social Engineering Tests
Not every security hole is technical. One reason companies have their security systems breached is because employees are fooled by phishing attacks or other tricks. A penetration test can include a social engineering test in which you attempt to trick employees into giving access to systems.
If you are able to discover that an employee was tricked, you can use this evidence to design better training programs to make sure that your staff are not the weakest security link.
Team Competitions
To truly take your security to the next level, you might assemble your staff into two different teams. One team will secure assets and the other team will be in charge of bypassing security. These tests are best carried out after your staff members have completed online cybersecurity lessons.
Third-Party Penetration Tests
In addition to performing the penetration test yourself, you may want to hire a third-party service to perform a penetration test so they will be able to test your system while knowing nothing about how it operates. Some are experienced developers and others are former hackers who have decided to help companies improve their cybersecurity.
How to Learn How to Perform Penetration Tests
If you would like to learn how to perform penetration tests yourself, you can learn about penetration tests and various other cybersecurity techniques by taking an online cybersecurity class, such as WVJC Online. Then, you can juggle your work responsibilities with your online education.