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Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and Penetration Test (PT) are basically the same thing and can be used interchangeably.
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Are These Information Security Services the Same? The two are often incorrectly used interchangeably due to marketing hype and other influences which has created confusion and wasted resources for many enterprises. With that in mind, Iâd like to try to clarify the distinctions between vulnerability assessments and pen tests and hopefully eliminate some of the confusion.
What is a Vulnerability Assessment? Defined, a vulnerability assessment is the process of identifying and quantifying security vulnerabilities in an environment. It is an in-depth evaluation of your information security posture, indicating weaknesses as well as providing the appropriate mitigation procedures required to either eliminate those weaknesses or reduce them to an acceptable level of risk.
Vulnerability Assessments Follow These General Steps Catalog assets and resources in a system Assign quantifiable value and importance to the resources Identify the security vulnerabilities or potential threats to each resource Mitigate or eliminate the most serious vulnerabilities for the most valuable resources What is a Penetration Test? A penetration test simulates the actions of an external and/or internal cyber attacker that aims to breach the information security of the organization. Using many tools and techniques, the penetration tester (ethical hacker) attempts to exploit critical systems and gain access to sensitive data.
Additional Penetration Testing Services & Types Depending on the scope, a pen test can expand beyond the network to include social engineering attacks or physical security tests. Also, there are two primary types of pen tests: âwhite boxâÂ, which uses vulnerability assessment and other pre-disclosed information, and âblack boxâÂ, which is performed with very little knowledge of the target systems and it is left to the tester to perform their own reconnaissance.
Penetration Testing Follow These General Steps Determination of scope Targeted information gathering or reconnaissance Exploit attempts for access and escalation Sensitive data collection testing Clean up and final reporting
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