This testing is important for a variety of reasons, including:

  • Education – A penetration test can educate an organization in several ways ultimately helping to strengthen its cybersecurity posture, build awareness and guide strategic investments. Specifically, penetration testing:
    • Reveals real world vulnerabilities – Penetration tests simulate real-world cyberattacks, revealing technical weaknesses that might otherwise go unnoticed. In doing so, pen tests not only expose these vulnerabilities but also demonstrate the potential consequences if exploited. It will show how an attacker could move through your systems, access sensitive data or disrupt operations.
    • Provides a benchmark for continuous improvement – Penetration tests offer a clear benchmark for measuring your organization’s security maturity over time, so you can track progress and identify areas for investment. The insights gained also drive meaningful improvements in policies and internal processes ultimately ensuring that security measures evolve alongside emerging threats and operational needs.
  • Data protection – Aside from a myriad of data privacy laws you should always be compliant with, even the smallest of breaches could damage your relationship and trust with your clients.
    • The modern consumer is more internet-savvy than ever before. They are more aware of how their information is used by businesses like Google or Apple, for example. Expectations for how their data is protected and their real perception of how data is protected are two very different things. This is a great opportunity for you and your company to build trusting, long-standing relationships with your clients by ensuring the data that you collect and retain is vigilantly protected and secure.
  • Financial loss – IBM reported the average price of a data break in 2023 was $4.45 million, which is a 15% increase over the previous three years. One singular data breach can demolish a company’s bottom line and cause it to permanently close its doors. Cybercriminals try to stay ahead of the game with tech-savviness and clever approaches. These consequences can include permanent destruction of data, a halt in productivity, theft of intellectual property, fraud, embezzlement and damage to your company’s reputation.