The amount of data enterprises store is much bigger than SMBs. A lot of this data includes sensitive information of customers and clients such as bank details, social security numbers, emails, contact numbers, etc.
For those new to data security, penetration testing is a simulated cyberattack against your computer systems to check for exploitable vulnerabilities.
Before diving into the details of penetration testing, let's discuss sensitive data exposure.
Sensitive data exposure happens when an organization's precious bytes, containing personal, financial, or business-critical information, are well indecently exposed.
Data exposure and data breach are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings.
Data Exposure: Data Breach: Intentional: Malicious actors actively steal data through hacking, phishing, or other attacks.
Data exposure is like accidentally leaving your door unlocked, whereas a data breach is like someone breaking into your house.
Sensitive data can be exposed in various ways, depending on its state: data in transit, data at rest, and data in use.
Data in Use Weak access controls: Granting access to sensitive data to unauthorized users or granting excessive permissions can increase the risk of exposure.
Malware and phishing attacks: Malware can be used to steal sensitive data from infected devices, and phishing attacks can trick users into revealing sensitive information.
Insecure coding practices: Applications with vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting, can allow attackers to steal sensitive data.
Session hijacking: Attackers can hijack a user's session and gain access to the sensitive data they are working with.
Insider threats: Once again, malicious actors within an organization can access and steal sensitive data while it is being used.
Data in transit: Use strong encryption protocols and secure communication channels like HTTPS. Data at rest: Encrypt sensitive data at rest, implement strong access controls, and regularly back up data to secure locations.
Now you have the idea of sensitive data exposure, it's time to understand more about the role of penetration testing in enterprise security.
Establish a regular schedule for pen testing, ideally at least once a year or more frequently if your organization deals with sensitive data or operates in a high-risk environment.
Attackers can leverage various internal vulnerabilities, such as weak passwords, unpatched systems, and social engineering techniques, to gain access to sensitive data.
Wireshark allows pentesters to inspect individual packets, identify sensitive data transmission, and analyze network protocols for vulnerabilities.
Use cases: Detecting unencrypted data transmission, identifying sensitive data leaks, analyzing network traffic for anomalies.
Use cases: Identifying vulnerable web applications, extracting sensitive data from databases, demonstrating the impact of SQL injection.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:43:20 +0000