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Why your Suffolk Business Needs a Penetration Test

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Cyber Security

Put simply, a penetration test is an evaluation of your organisations network security. A penetration test (also referred to as a Pen test) is completed to identify any potential security weaknesses within your network. However, it will go beyond a traditional vulnerability assessment and have a look at the potential impact these security weaknesses could cause. This will then allow an organisation to determine the severity of weakness and prioritise actions accordingly. In this blog, Ipswich based, Business IT support provider Corbel will be having a look at why and when your business needs a pen test, and what you can do to make the most of your penetration test.

Why Businesses in Ipswich, Suffolk, and the Surrounding Area Need a Penetration Test

With cyber-attacks increasing rapidly over the past few years, it is becoming more and more important for your Suffolk business to regularly conduct a penetration test in order to identify any vulnerabilities as soon as possible. This will allow your business to ensure that your cyber controls are working and that you have the defences and management in place to prevent any attacks from occurring. There are various other things to take into consideration of why it is important for your business in Suffolk to get a pen test, including:

Helps you to Enforce a Security Strategy

After getting the results of your pen test, you will be able to see what it is exactly that is causing the biggest gap within your security. This may be end-user’s, human mistakes, weak passwords, or parts of your firewall unnecessarily open, but whatever it is – it will allow you to identify where you can strengthen elements of your security strategy. As a result, your security strategies and policies can be reinforced and strengthened where necessary – this ultimately will help to improve the overall Cyber Security strength of a business.  

Penetration Testing can Help your Business to Prioritise Budget and Spending

It can be overwhelming as a business in Suffolk, to know where to prioritise your spending, especially when it comes to keeping your business Cyber Secure. Although, you need to ensure that your Cyber Security is your priority and that you are investing enough, as with everything a balanced approach is required.

A pen test is a great place for any business to start in identifying the most critical areas for spending and being able to see what takes priority. For those who have 2023 and next year’s business goals at the forefront of their minds, a pen test can be an excellent way to help you to plan and prioritise spending for the next year and provide evidence to stakeholders.

Helps your Organisation Conform to Industry and Security Standards

Your organisation will need to meet a range of compliance and regulation standards, such as GDPR. A pen test will help your business to identify any potential gaps that are preventing you from reaching a compliance certification.

A pen test offers specific deliverables that can be improved, and it is possible for your business to relate these to specific industry security standards, where possible.

Reports will Provide Specific Advice

To summarise the above benefits, the final, but arguably one of the most important steps of a penetration test is the reporting of the vulnerabilities.

It is not going to be generic advice, and instead specific ranked reports that will rate and rank vulnerabilities and provide solutions and advice that can allow your business to react accordingly in the most effective way possible.


Penetration Testing Ipswich – When your Business Needs it

So now you know the reasons why your business needs a pen test, but how regularly should your business get a pen test. Whilst it is recommended at a minimum that penetration tests should be conducted on an annual basis, it is also a good idea for your business to get a pen test done in a range of other scenarios:

If you are Implementing any New Software and Services

When you are introducing a new application or website into your organisation, you need to consider the potential cyber threat this has and that there is the potential for new vulnerabilities to be present.

It is highly recommended that this should be checked with a penetration test – even more so if the application/service is linked to the internet as you are opening yourself up to a wider field and there is potential to be attacked by malicious third parties. You should also take into consideration if the application contains any sensitive data that it should also be a high priority for a penetration test.

Changes Within the Workplace Environment

When operating a business, there can be unpredictable changes, that businesses will not account for within their strategy.

For example – Covid-19 is a prime example of this. The pandemic resulted in us seeing a huge shift in the working world and there was ultimately an increase in remote and hybrid work like never before. But this undoubtedly opened up the increased potential for cyber-attacks as criminals could take advantage of those home working.

In situations like these, it is vital your business takes action to prevent any unwanted intrusions from occurring. A pen test will help you to scan any new potential vulnerabilities that have arisen from an unprecedented event.

If you’re Newer in Business

Small businesses may have the presumption that they have a known risk of data-breach, as they aren’t highly reliant on technology. However, with the rapid increase of data (not only within technology), but every company also needs to consider the implications this data being breached could result, the reputation and financial position of companies can be at stake here.

For organisations that are yet to conduct a penetration test, it is strongly recommended they do so, in order to reduce the risk of any form of data breach from occurring.

The Different Types of Pen Testing

Here at Ipswich based Corbel, we provide both internal and external pen tests.

An internal pen test will assess the extent of how vulnerable you are to insider attacks. An insider attack will occur from anyone who has access to an organisation or data – including employees and partners. The assessment will look at once someone has gained access into the network, what they can find and how quickly. For example, can they find payroll or employee documents?

Whereas an external pen test looks at the effectiveness of a business’s security controls outside a network to prevent any unwanted visitors from getting in. It assesses if it is possible for anyone to get within a network in the first place and if the effectiveness of cyber security barriers. An external pen test could identify flaws within patching, configuration, and authentication.

How to Make the Most of your Businesses Pen Test Results

There are various simple things businesses in Suffolk can do in order to maximise the results of your pen test:

Show Progress to Stakeholders

There are many stakeholders of your business who may be interested in the findings and success of a test. You want to be able to show to your stakeholders that the pen test was successful and that you are actively fixing vulnerabilities. Getting an updated pen test will show you and your stakeholders your business risk in priority order along with remediation strategies so that you have a clear path forward as part of your Cyber Security strategy.

Preparing your Team Prior to the Test

When a penetration test occurs, there may be some irregular activity that occurs during the test including increased traffic, increased junk in databases and excessive emails being sent. Making sure your team are aware of this can prevent any concerns amongst the team from occurring.

Additionally, prepping the team beforehand gives any security/IT departments to prep their questions prior to the test commencing.

Be Proactive and Maintain Communication

At the end of the day, your business is paying for a penetration test to be conducted and so you will want to make the most of this opportunity. Make sure you have questions at the ready regarding your organisation’s security – ask questions before, during and after.

Through implementing effective communication, you will be able to get the best value for money out of your test and see a valuable collaboration between your team and the tester.

Are you Looking to Get a Penetration Test for Your Business?

Conducting a penetration test is just one of the ways your business in Suffolk can better your Cyber Security. Through providing different risk categories, it has never been so easy for your business to prioritise the actions you are going to take. This is going to work hand-in-hand with the development of your technology roadmap, in terms of what direction you are going to take your IT strategy in. If as a business, you know exactly where your focus should be going then it is going to be easier to develop your technology roadmap accordingly to achieve the best possible results.

If you’re looking for some support with your Cyber Security, or want to find out more about getting a Penetration Test, then feel free to get in touch today by either emailing us at info@corbel.co.uk or giving us a call on 01473 241515.


Ipswich based Corbel work as a proactive business IT support partner for businesses across Ipswich, Felixstowe, and Stowmarket and the surrounding Suffolk area. Offering a range of services from Cyber Security Ipswich to IT consultancy Ipswich, whatever your IT needs are, big or small, Corbel can provide your business with support.

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