Don't wait idly for the cyber attack on your company to happen...

The latest research predicts that the damage from cyber-attacks will rise to over $ 6 trillion by the end of 2021. It is no surprise then, that companies are frantically investing in the security of their IT infrastructures.

An efficient IT infrastructure needs multiple layers of security systems that work together to protect the data. In practice, this means that all antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and password and access management applications must operate as a unit. Threats are disguised in various images, malware, virus, phishing, MitM, or so called “zero-day” attacks that invade the system during a security system upgrade. Daily maintenance of IT infrastructure is a time-consuming task where one should take no shortcuts.

Our cyber security experts from ANGELIS d.o.o. will help you establish the first and last defense of confidential information.

Detect vulnerabilities and shortcomings early

The primary responsibility of every IT security engineer is testing for system weakness to evaluate, reduce, and report potential vulnerabilities. To do this, a program that makes an inventory of all network connected devices is required. An external network scan checks for vulnerabilities in an open firewall door. The internal overview collects data on installed operating systems and applications including the number of open ports and user accounts. After the inventory is completed, each device is checked with a known vulnerabilities database, highlighting which devices are exposed.

Vulnerability detection is executed in four stages:

Vulnerability identification – The scan can be performed automatically when a new device is installed or by using timers to set scheduled scan in advance.
Risk assessment – determines the priority and severity of vulnerabilities and possible solutions for their elimination.
Addressing known vulnerabilities – Upon completing the assessment, the engineer decides to repair and patch the holes or turn off the vulnerable device. In cases of low threat level, the security team may choose to accept/tolerate the existence of a vulnerability.
Report on vulnerabilities and countermeasures.

Offensive cyber security

The pentest or penetration testing is a simulated cyberattack that exposes vulnerabilities in computer systems.
For example, penetration testing may involve attempting to violate any number of application systems (e.g., application programming interface, frontend/backend servers) to detect vulnerabilities, such as fields without proper validation that are susceptible to code injection attacks.

The pentest or penetration testing is a simulated cyberattack that exposes vulnerabilities in computer systems.

Approaches of pentesting

The penetration test can be performed using three different approaches:

1. 1. 1. 1. The white box approach: The penetration testing team works with the company’s IT department with unlimited access to internal resources or data they may need during the test.
      2. The gray-box approach: access to internal resources and data is limited. Some employees in the IT department may not be aware of the penetration test to verify their response.
      3. The black-box approach: no access to internal resources. Only certain employees in the company know about the penetration test to check the response of the IT department and detect countermeasures to the attack.

Pentest consists of five parts:

The test begins with the definition of the test, including its scope, purpose, methods, and data collection (network and domain names, mail server) to better understand the operation of the device and its potential vulnerabilities.

The next step is to observe how the device responds to various tests. Static analysis observes program code and its behavior on simulated attacks. Dynamic analysis scans the program code during device operation, which is more practical as it displays more accurate data.

The third step uses different types of web attacks, SQL injection, scripting between websites, and backdoor to detect vulnerabilities in devices.

The penultimate step is to keep access to the system as long as possible. This simulates threats that remain in the system for months after the initial intrusion.

The test ends with a report on all vulnerabilities, stolen data, and the final time of compromised access to the system.

Penetration testing and threat evaluation together ensure the security of the systems.

In a time when digitalization is present in all business segments, you cannot afford to fail. The presented methods can protect your computer systems only with the help of IT security engineers who are thoroughly acquainted with the mentioned approaches and can protect the IT infrastructure.

Check our website angelis.agency, and contact our ANGELIS experts for cyber security. Our Certified Ethical Hacker (The Certified Ethical Hacker certification is EC Council’s topmost renowned and demandable credential) will help your company to perform the preventive, helpful, and secured measures to protect the system in an ethical manner.