20 May 2024

3 compelling reasons why you need automated penetration testing

This year, 40 percent of UK businesses reported cyber security breaches or attacks. A fifth of these companies ended up losing money, data, or other assets as a result.

To avoid falling victim to cyber threats, penetration testing is essential. Human-led penetration testing is particularly effective, as specialists can identify complex threats and provide logical next steps. 

However, automated testing should not be overlooked. It serves as a valuable complementary service that reduces the workload for specialist testers, allowing them to focus on issues that require their expertise and critical thinking. So, with that in mind, here are three compelling reasons why you should use automated testing.

1. Automated pen testing saves time

Automated penetration testing scans your infrastructure and applications, handling large volumes of data and quickly detecting those easier-to-spot vulnerabilities. It also enables you to run multiple tests at the same time.

What's more, automated scanning offers results quicker and in large volumes. (Of course, verification is needed, too).

But, despite its speed, it often fails to detect more complex threats, while it's also known to interpret false positives as real issues. That's why it's crucial to combine it with human-led penetration testing.

So, you'll get a true view of your security, with in-depth reporting that tells you what is wrong, and how you can fix it.

2. It can run 24/7

While any testing is better than no testing at all, a single penetration test represents the security for that singular point in time. So, what's true one day is not necessarily true the next. In this ever-evolving threat landscape, that's hardly a reassuring thought, is it?

If you run automated tests one after the other, you'll getcontinuous scanning for emerging threats. But this works best when deployed, handled, and interpreted by experts. This means that a tester verifies each vulnerability first, so you don't waste time remediating non-existent issues.

3. It verifies fixes

With automated pen testing, you can scan your infrastructure for a baseline level of assurance. But it's usually up to the specialists to identify the more severe and complex threats.

That said, once you apply measures to address these, you'll still need to confirm they're fixed. And so, yes, automated scanning can be used to verify a fix, but it is always strictly under the supervision of staff, and based on strict testing scenarios that someone has set to the scanner.

Using automated pen testing as a complementary service to human-led testing will allow you to quickly verify quality fixes and help put your mind at rest.

Improve your security, continuously

Penetration testing is necessary to identify vulnerabilities in your systems. But while automated testing will scan large amounts of data quickly, human-led pen testing will
provide more accuracy.

Continuous Security Testing (CST) combines the best of both worlds. It will assess your infrastructure with continuous automated scans. CST also comes with manual vulnerability verification, manual pen-testing, and instant vulnerability notifications.

Then, once the scans are complete, our team of CREST-approved experts will then interpret them. We'll use critical thinking, technical knowledge, and our 25 years of experience to provide a wider scope and a truer picture of your security landscape.

And, because we're human, we don't shut down once we've finished the tests. We'll provide you with the support you need to improve your security, continuously.

If you want to benefit from industry-leading technology coupled with our expertise, find out more here.