How to Deal with Security Threats Effectively?

Have you ever wondered how many apps a human uses every day? A lot of studies suggest an average human uses around 9 to 10 applications a day. The type of app and the usage time highly depends on the purpose. It clearly tells the importance of software applications in our daily life. If we were to live without all of the apps for a week, I am sure we would not be able to do that. Would you be able to do that?

Irrespective of genre and purpose of the software, it goes through the same procedure and steps to ensure a perfect outcome. Before the final product is rolled out in the market, the software house hires a pen testing company to seek penetration testing services. That brings us to two important questions. What are penetration testing services? Why are these services important? You can find multiple answers to all of these questions and they vary to some extent as well. I have gathered some not-so-technical answers for you to understand them easily.

What are Penetration Testing Services?

Software companies are aware of threats present on the digital platforms so whenever they develop new software, they want to be sure it is safe. Although programmers are instructed to make every feature with full-fledged security, it is better to double-check than to be sorry later. Pen Testing Services tests a software by attacking it just like a hacker would. The group of experts makes different sets of attacks to bring out present vulnerabilities. The list of discovered vulnerabilities is used to suggest solutions, make amendments, and repeat the whole cycle multiple times. 

This activity ensures the safety of a software house, its customers, and employees. Since a lot of businesses are depending on the software, it has become a necessity rather than a luxury. However, is it necessary that you pay a heavy cost for it? Are you ready to risk your security for the sake of software? We know the answer is a huge no and it should be!

Penetration Testing Services Ensuring Security

As we have established the definition of these services, it is time for us to discover their importance. Well, there are hundreds of reasons these services are important for all software that is developed. Although software houses run their own tests on the software before handing it to the pen testing companies, there are always errors that skip through their eyes. Here are some security threats eliminated by pen testing companies all over the world.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is one of the most common security threats. A hacker gains your password by brute-force. He can either use your account for shopping, getting sensitive information, or just spread wrong news. Did you know around 33% of US adults become victims of identity theft every year? Pen testing companies establish strong passwords and two-step authentication for software to ensure security.

Corrupting System

When it comes to shared-software, there are greater risks than identity theft. One such risk is a corruption of the system where a hacker gets into a system and starts destroying its functionalities. It can harm not only the company but its customers as well. As the machines are always connected to the internet, the possibilities of cybercrimes are unlimited once a hacker gains access to your system. Through pen testing, all loopholes are closed to stop hackers from getting in.

Testing Security Plans

As I shared before, every software comes with some sort of security backup. However, there is no guarantee for these security plans to work with 100% efficiency unless they are tested. Penetration testing services check the health of these security plans. It uses a hit and trial method for every security plan and observes how long it can stand attacks. It helps companies to improve their security plans and make them more powerful.

Decreasing Recovery Time

Since no software is 100% secure, programmers always build a recovery system just in case the software comes under attack. The recovery plan consists of codes that help kill or contain bugs and reboot the system to bring it back to its normal state. Penetration testing helps testers evaluate the recovery time, review the code, and improve recovery time so the attacker would not stay in the system for a long time. This helps in decreasing the loss of data as well.

Unstable Business Operations

As we are living in the world of technology where everything depends on computer systems, it is easy for hackers to not only bring down a system but the whole business. There are hundreds of business operations that depend on software like hiring, ordering, investment management, and a few more. Once a system is compromised, the hacker can easily tweak business details and hurt business in unimaginable ways.

Should You Be Afraid of Hackers?

Given the long list of security threats, we advise that you should be afraid of hackers. They have the power, knowledge, tools, and technology to attack and gain hold of your business. However, getting afraid of them is not going to help much. What should you do then?

You should prepare your mind and software to face hackers and their attacks. Make sure that your software is built with security checks and good recovery plans. Moreover, you should hire one pen testing company to test your software from every angle. Testers would suggest a plan for testing software chunk by chunk and then in combinations and execution timeline. Based on the test results, testers would suggest some changes for the software to gain extra strength and additional security shield ensuring the safety of the company, employees, and customers.

Conclusion

With the world progressing at a faster pace, a lot of new technologies and software are emerging every day. Are all of the new software secure and worth paying for? Yes, they are secure if they have gone through extensive testing and have adopted the suggested solutions as well. Now, consumers are well-aware of cybercrimes and techniques used to avoid them so it is better that software companies opt for penetration testing services rather than regretting losing their customers.