Beware the Hidden Costs of Pen Testing

"Penetration testing helps organizations ensure IT systems are secure, but it should never be treated in a one-size-fits-all approach. Traditional approaches can be rigid and cost your organization time and money - while producing inferior results. The benefits of pen testing are clear. By empowering "white hat" hackers to attempt to breach your system using similar tools and techniques to an adversary, pen testing can provide reassurance that your IT set-up is secure. Perhaps more importantly, it can also flag areas for improvement."

"As the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) notes, it's comparable to a financial audit. "Your finance team tracks expenditure and income day to day. An audit by an external group ensures that your internal team's processes are sufficient." While the advantages are obvious, it's vital to understand the true cost of the process: indeed, the classic approach can often demand significant time and effort from your team. You need to get your money's worth."

"There's no one set form of pen test: it depends on what exactly is being tested, how often the pen test occurs, and how it takes place. Nevertheless, there are some common elements of the classic approach that could generate significant costs, both financially and in terms of your employees' time. Let's take a look at some of the costs that might not be immediately obvious."

"Administrative overheads There can be significant admin involved in arranging a "traditional" pen test. First, you need to coordinate schedules between your own organization and the testers you've hired to conduct the test on your behalf. This can cause significant disruption to your employees, distracting them from their day-to-day tasks. What's more, you'll need to develop a clear overview of the resources and assets at your disposal before the test can occur, by gathering system inventories, for instance. You'll also need to prepare access credentials"

Penetration testing enables ethical hackers to simulate adversary attacks and verify IT system security while identifying areas for improvement. The exercise functions like a financial audit by validating internal controls through external review. Traditional pen tests can involve significant hidden costs, including scheduling coordination, administrative overhead, and staff disruption. Preparations often require compiling asset inventories, securing access credentials, and allocating internal resources. No single pen-test model fits all needs, so testing should be tailored to balance thoroughness with organizational time and budget constraints.

Read at The Hacker News