Its true, technology has truly evolved over the past decade or so. However, not everyone understands the language or the intricacies of technology. Consequently, a lot of decision-makers end up hiring vendors that hand over penetration testing reports with a lot of vulnerabilities written all over it. The problem is, they don’t understand the difference between the two and hence they settle for a vulnerability assessment under the guise of a penetration test.
Hence our security experts decided on explaining the two security services so you can conclude the search for a quality vulnerability management vendor who provides penetration testing as well.
Vulnerability Assessment
As the title suggests, vulnerability assessment intends to discover the vulnerabilities in an existing network. This technique is deployed to gauge how susceptible is the network to various vulnerabilities with the use of automated scanning tools. Some of the findings mentioned in the vulnerability assessment report could be false positives since the technique is not backed by an attempt to exploit these said vulnerabilities.
A comprehensive Vulnerability Assessment report will contain the title, description, and severity of each vulnerability that is discovered so that the most severe ones can be patched first.
Penetration Testing
In contrast to vulnerability assessment, a penetration test not only discovers the existing vulnerabilities found in a network but it goes a step ahead and exploits them to penetrate into the systems. The purpose of this technique is to determine whether the vulnerability that is discovered is genuine or is it a false positive.
A penetration test is usually done manually where the tester tries to harm the patron’s network by various means. This step is not included in a vulnerability assessment test.
Vulnerability Management vs Penetration Testing
The Breath vs Depth Approach –
The primary difference between both the services is the coverage of the vulnerability assessment which is namely the breath and the depth.
A vulnerability assessment uncovers any existing vulnerability in the networks and should be done on a regular basis to maintain the network’s security status or when any new changes are introduced to the network. It’s necessary for organizations that are unsure about their security status and want to understand how susceptible their network is to a cyber attack.
In contrast, a penetration test is only to be conducted when the current or potential client is sure of their networks being secure but wants to check the strength of their network defense systems.
Degree of Automation –
As mentioned earlier, a vulnerability assessment is usually automated which allows a wider vulnerability coverage while the penetration test is usually a combination of automated and manual techniques that help dig deeper into the discovered weaknesses.
Choice of Professionals –
Vulnerability assessment is largely automated and hence an internal security team with the proper knowledge and certifications can perform the tests by themselves. Although there are chances that the security team might find some vulnerabilities that they can’t patch and hence would be skipped in the reports. In the light of such events its always advised looking for a third party vulnerability assessment vendor since they would have the capability to be more informative.
Penetration testing needs a very high level of expertise and hence is advised to always be outsourced to a quality vendor.
Some other differences between the two services.
How often should the service be performed?
Vulnerability assessment: Once a month and when changes are done in the existing network.
Penetration Testing: Once a year
What details are included in the report?
Vulnerability assessment: A complete list of vulnerabilities including false positives.
Penetration Testing: It includes the list of existing vulnerabilities that were successfully exploited.
Who can perform the service?
Vulnerability assessment: In house security team or a third party vendor
Penetration Testing: A certified provider of penetration testing services.
What value does the service add?
Vulnerability assessment: Uncovers a wide range of possible vulnerabilities.
Penetration Testing: Shows exploited vulnerabilities.
Choosing the vendor
Both the above services are essential to guarding network security. While network security is good for security maintenance, penetration testing discovers the real weakness in the network.
It’s only possible to take advantage of both the services if a high-quality vendor who understands and translates the customer’s requirement of vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.
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