What is a penetration testing report?

A penetration test is a simulated attack against a computer system, application or network, using a number of standardized tools and applications, in order to identify its exploits and weaknesses. Penetration testing can include attempted breaching of application software, including the API and frontend/backend server, and the network infrastructure, in order to uncover vulnerabilities, such as unsanitized inputs that are susceptible to code injection attacks.

After a penetration test is completed, the testing party generates a report. Amongst other things, the report will list the vulnerabilities and exploits that the target system is affected by. It will also classify the attack results, provide analysis, and make necessary recommendations on fixes to be appied. A penetration test report shows the systems defense capabilities and looks assesses how an attacker can hack into it. Penetration testers effectively measure the defense capability of the system and provide ways to improve it.

How Does a Penetration Test Report Really Help Your Business?

Nowadays, many organizations purchase penetration testing services because they are an externally mandated requirement, either to qualify for certain vendor status, to qualify to service enterprise customers. But it is important to understand that a penetration test is a good tool for any business owner to understand and improve the cybersecurity posture of his company. Ultimately, a penetration test report or vulnerability audit lays out key information to help in all areas of the company’s growth, including customer acquisition, hiring and employee confidence.

Here are 12 Ways a Penetration Test Report Will Actually Help Your Business

A penetration test should help any management team answer the following questions:

How well is your organization prepared for attacks? Can you recover from an attack? What are your recovery plans? The answers to these questions should ideally faciliate important discussion points for the senior management team of an organisation to determine their security posture moving forward.

It Provides the organisation’s leadership with critical insight.

A penetration test should show the real risks to an organisation’s profit and loss statements in the event of a successful attack. It can serve as a jump-off point to assess the financial impact of a data loss or breach, and should spark projections towards covering the cost of recovery. It is therefore a useful tool to align critical cybersecurity needs with other key organisational metrics such as cost management, performance and growth. It integrates cybersecurity into the organisation’s long-term strategy.

Classifies vulnerabilities according to risk level

The penetration test will list and categorize exposed vulnerabilities according to the risk each item poses to the organization. This lets the organisation follow up accordingly, by prioritizing the resources to be allocated to the necessary fixes and rectification. Vulnerabilites are categorized into low, medium, and high risk and a timeline assigned to address each of these areas. You can then prioritize not only budget but time and other resources which vulnerabilities to fix first and which ones will take the most time and resources for the organization.

Improve Business Continuity Preparedness

A penetration test can form the foundation of a business impact analysis report, showing the extent to which an attack will impact the business. It is therefore also an important contributing factor of the organisation’s business continuity plan (BCP) because it outlines essential ways the business will maintain its operations after an attack or disruption. Conducting a regular penetration test allows the organisation to refresh its business continuity plans and ensure its backup and restore capabilities are in line with its latest needs.

Set budget expectations

Once a penetration test report is issued, the organization can not only assess the financial impact of a malicious attack, but also the true cost of remedial effort. There will be a clear picture in terms of what critical spending areas are, and the rest of the annual budget can be set accordingly.

Might identify problems that you may not have known about

Even with an able IT team in place, a penetration test could sometimes still uncover “holes” or exploits within the network, application, and data security issues that may have been put aside and become afterthoughts. Some incidents identified in the past include DNS server misconfiguations, or servers with unpatched OS because they were seldom used. To enhance the security posture of the organization, a penetration test identifies the key security controls that are recommended. You may need to prioritize remediation events, patch IT assets, or layer more security defenses in your organization. Once you can identify the vulnerabilities, your security engineers can work on fixing the major vulnerabilities in the network and applications. This is a critical part of tightening up an organisation’ssecurity posture as the vulnerabilities can lead a hacker all the way through the network to sensitive data.

Assess the system and team’s strengths (not just their weaknesses)

A quality penetration test might not only show the weaknesses in security posture but also where the team excels in terms of Incident Response (IR). After the security incident has been analyzed, you can track how well the remediation team reports, communicates the event, and then implements a permanent fix. This is particularly important as you develop your Incident Response and Remediation Plan. A pentest can also show you how well the IR team can assess the damage and cost of an attack.

Affirm security strategies that are already in place

If a solid security strategy and policies, a qualified penetration test report is like renewing your driver’s license. It confirms the organization’s capabilities and security postures are up to date.

Expose weak or poor internal processes

A pentest could also reveal poor workflow practices within your team. Some areas our penetration tests have brought up before include importnt patches or hardening processes are routinely missed, firmware not being updated, or warranties and security subscriptions that was not renewed. A penetration test would highlight these potential areas of improvement. flaws within the network that you might not expect as well.

Improve team confidence

Although a penetration test may produce a lot of remedial work, it should also be a source of relief and confidence for any team, as it provides clear steps towards tightening your organisation’s security posture and updates your blahbblah. making them More confident of detecting and responding to threat actors.

Help inform governance and compliance improvements

For public-facing sites and enterprise customers, penetration tests and vulnerability assessment audits are already regular requirements. If your business has a wide customer base, showing proof of regular cybersecurity assessment helps to meet governance and compliance requirements.

Protect critical data

A penetration test is actually one of the best tools to secure your organisation’s critical data. A pentest will allow your organization to safeguard your data assets and hopefully prevent an attack before it reaches your data assets.

Boost customer trust and loyalty

Regular vulnerability assessment and penetration testing is a great way to boost customer confidence and loyalty, as it confirms that their vendor is doing its best to protect their data. The pentest offers you an opportunity to reaffirm your commitment to security and instill trust in your customers. Your customers will be relieved to know that your company conducts regular penetration testing exercises and their data is safe in your hands.

Interested to find out more?
We provide several managed cybersecurity solutions, including penetration testing and vulnerability assessment solutions. Please see more information about our Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessment services