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In the IT and Security industry, there is a substantial confusion between the difference of Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Assessment. It is an open secret that defining these information security strategies and understanding their implications can be complicated – but we’re here to make it simple for you!
Pen Testing or Penetration Testing is also known as ethical hacking. It’s a proactive and systematic approach that can be done by ethical hackers or your in-house IT team. They will scale a simulated cyber attack to safely check for exploitable vulnerabilities in your technology infrastructure. These weak spots can be found in your systems, services, applications, misconfigurations, and/or precarious end user’s behavior.
Meanwhile, Vulnerability Assessment is used to find and measure the severity of those weak spots within the system or app that it’s found. It provides a comprehensive list of vulnerabilities that are prioritized based on how immediately it should be addressed. Unlike penetration testing, this method merely finds, and reports noted vulnerabilities. It involves the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of security defenses designed to discover weaknesses and recommends appropriate remediation to reduce or remove risk altogether.
Here's a more in-depth comparison
These two cybersecurity strategies can be differentiated in six ways – the level of coverage, degree of automation, skill needed, report generation, and threat control.
Level of Coverage
Also, known as the difference between breadth and depth.A vulnerability assessment goes wide, attempting to uncover as many weaknesses as it can. On the other hand, a pen test goes deep by simulating an attack on a particular system to examine the strength of your network’s defenses.
Degree of Automation
Vulnerability assessments leverage the power of automated vulnerability scan tools, which allow for broader coverage. Meanwhile, penetration testing uses a mix of automated and manual techniques, which helps to dig deeper into the weakness.
Skill Needed
Since vulnerability assessments are automated and typically use the technology of vulnerability scanning tools, it does not require much skill compared to penetration testing. This means that most in-house cybersecurity teams can run the tests themselves. However, you can also contract with third- party service providers to conduct the scans.
Penetration testing, however, requires a greater degree of expertise because it relies on manually intensive techniques. Typically, organizations outsource the task to qualified pen testers.
Report Generation
A report in the aftermath of a penetration testing includes a ‘call to action’ document that further encompass exploitable vulnerabilities. The accuracy level is high in this scenario. On the other hand, a vulnerability assessment provides a comprehensive list of all possible vulnerabilities which may also incorporate false positives. Therefore, the accuracy level is compromised.
Threat Control
A vulnerability assessment provides detective control that is applied to detect vulnerabilities when the equipment is compromised. Pen testing, on the other hand, gives a preventative control that is utilized to reduce exposures.
What are their limitations?
These two cybersecurity strategies can be differentiated in six ways – the level of coverage, degree of automation, skill needed, report generation, and threat control.
For Vulnerability Assessment:
Cannot exploit flaws
Is a hybrid solution
Cannot discover potential access path
Provides false positives
For Pen testing:
Cannot discover server-side vulnerabilities
Cannot give information regarding new vulnerabilities
May not discover obvious vulnerabilities
Uncovers only those vulnerabilities that pose threats
Therefore, how do you know which one you need?
It is no doubt that penetration testing and vulnerability assessment are both crucial for an end-to-end cybersecurity approach. However, one may still be more important to use than the other – depending on your specific need.
If you are uncertain about your security posture, you’re just getting started, or want a baseline understanding of current vulnerabilities, you need to do a vulnerability assessment.
A penetration test is ideal for organizations who want to prove or disprove the effectiveness of the data security measures that they have in place.
However, a penetration test should be done after conducting a vulnerability assessment. It makes less sense to run a pen test before identifying and fixing known vulnerabilities.
Moving forward
Although there is a considerable amount of difference between these two protection methods, both are indispensable to your organization’s growth, service, and credibility. These security strategies should be performed periodically to enhance security defenses of enterprises in the face of notorious cyber-attacks.
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