Having a strong online presence is essential for any company hoping to be successful in today's consumer market. Unfortunately, websites often become the target of hackers looking to access sensitive information. As a business owner, you must know that your web applications are secure. There are a couple of approaches that you can use to test the security of your website and ensure that all your company's data is protected against unauthorized access in the future. The two approaches you should employ are vulnerability scanning and penetrating tests.
Vulnerability Scanning
The first step in protecting your web applications is determining if they are vulnerable to attack. A vulnerability scan is a diagnostic procedure that checks for weak spots in your web application. You will be checking to ensure that security patches have been installed and that your system is properly configured when conducting a vulnerability scan. The information that you gather during the scan can be used to direct your attention to problem areas that will need to be reinforced if you want your web applications to remain secure.
Penetrating Tests
A penetrating test, commonly referred to as a pentest, is a simulated attack on your system by an outside source. Companies typically hire IT security professionals to complete pentests randomly throughout the year. The major benefit of a pentest is that it can reveal unknown vulnerabilities in your security system layer that may provide hackers with access to your data.
An IT professional will use specialized software programs to simulate the actions of a hacker during a pentest. Some of the scenarios that will be used to try and access your data during a pentest include SQL injection, cross-site request forgery, security misconfigurations, and password cracking. If the IT professional is able to break through your security layer and access sensitive data, the simulated attack can be used to reconfigure your security system to guard against an actual attack in the future.
Importance of Secure Applications
You might not think that your company is large enough to need a comprehensive web application security system. The truth of the matter is that hackers can target any website at any time. Should your company's data be accessed by a hacker, serious problems may ensue. Fortunately, regular pentests carried out by an experienced IT professional will help prevent the loss of data that could lead to a strained relationship between you and your customers.
For more information, contact a company that provide application penetration testing.
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