A vulnerability assessment is a process that checks the security posture of your IT systems. As part of this assessment, your computer systems, hardware, or other components that made up an IT ecosystem will be scanned and any security vulnerabilities identified would be presented in the form of a report.

But exactly how essential is a vulnerability assessment? If your business is a regulated institution or dabbles in e-commerce and fintech, vulnerability assessments are mandated by regulatory authorities, especially in Singapore. With a priority in ensuring that your data is secure, vulnerability assessments are essential in keeping your networks and systems free from unintended access that could potentially manipulate or steal your data.

If you have not opted for regular security assessments, it is time to allow your systems to be scrutinised for any potential risks. And for these complex and technical processes, it’s best to leave the assessment up to accredited cybersecurity experts. These experts, especially cybersecurity companies that are CREST-certified in Singapore, have the experience in gathering and analysing advanced security vulnerabilities.

What does a vulnerability assessment provide you with?

The assessment identifies potential vulnerabilities and provide you with the actionable recommendations on how you should go about fixing them. More than simply listing out the vulnerabilities, a vulnerability assessment report is also helpful in classifying the risks according to severity of impact to assist you in prioritising the remediation work.

Why do you need a vulnerability assessment?

A vulnerability assessment analyses your overall security posture. Essentially, the Vulnerability Assessment (VA) report will reveal how vulnerable your system is, and the extent of damage that hackers could do. The report will not only prove the potential risks but the ability of your network to respond and resiliently withstand the attacks. If you have existing security devices such as firewall in place, the VA will validate the configuration and efficacy of such security devices.

Is a vulnerability assessment all I need to do?

While vulnerability assessments do help in analysing your security posture, they are not always enough. It is advised to conduct a follow-on penetration testing as well for the following reasons.

False Positives: Without penetration testing to validate the vulnerabilities detected, it is not possible to understand the full risk these vulnerabilities pose to your organisation’s security posture. This could result in you taking up unnecessary or incorrect security measures. This is because VA is a blunt tool used for providing an overview of potential risks, but it is not a precise means of verifying if these risks are a threat in reality.

Different Intent: Vulnerability assessments are used to identify vulnerabilities in the system that may be exploited while penetration testing is used to determine how well a system can withstand an intrusion attempt from a malicious actor and to what extent is the damage done.

Conclusion

Vulnerability assessments help organisations identify and fix security risks by applying a comprehensive and consistent approach to cybersecurity. With the help of these assessments, you will be assured that your security gaps are tightened, and sensitive assets are well-protected.

As your one-stop for vulnerability assessment and penetration testing services in Singapore, let GROUP8 help you build improve your security posture, tailored to your business needs.