You’ve implemented firewalls, antivirus software, multi-factor authentication, and backup protocols. You’ve trained your staff. You’ve followed the frameworks. On paper, your cybersecurity program looks solid. But here’s the hard truth: unless you test your controls, you’re operating on assumptions.
Too often, companies invest in security tools and policies without verifying that they are effective when it matters. Controls may be misconfigured, outdated, or simply ineffective in a real-world attack scenario. The only way to know is to test them.
Security controls, whether technical, administrative, or physical, are only as adequate as their real-world performance. It’s one thing to have a process written in a policy manual. It’s another to see if that process holds up during an actual threat.
Pen Testing Answers Vital Questions:
- Will our alerts trigger fast enough?
- Do our staff understand how to respond during an incident?
- Are user permissions restricted as intended?
- Can an attacker bypass our email filters and endpoint protection?
A great piece of advice I was once given is, “You get what you inspect, not what you expect,” and it couldn’t be more relevant to testing controls. You don’t want to find out your controls failed after a breach. By then, the financial, reputational, and legal damage has already been done.
One of the most effective ways to test your controls is through penetration testing (also called pen testing). This is a simulated cyberattack conducted by ethical hackers, designed to identify vulnerabilities and exploit them, just as a real adversary would.
Penetration Testing: The Most Effective Way to Validate Controls
- Can your detection systems identify malicious activity?
- Will your team respond appropriately?
- Are there gaps between your policies and your actual environment?
Penetration tests can include phishing simulations, wireless attacks, physical access attempts, and testing of both external and internal networks. Each scenario helps uncover blind spots that traditional audits alone won’t catch.
Too many organizations wait until something goes wrong, such as a breach caused by a ransomware event that leads to a regulatory fine before they seriously evaluate their defenses. At that point, testing becomes part of the postmortem. The opportunity to prevent damage has already passed.
The Best Time To Test Your Controls Is Before An Incident. This Allows You To:
- Validate the effectiveness of controls proactively
- Prioritize remediation efforts based on real risk
- Build confidence with executives, clients, and staff
- Demonstrate due diligence for cyber insurance and compliance
Just like you wouldn’t install a fire alarm and never test it, your cybersecurity controls should undergo regular, structured testing. Regular (at least annual) penetration testing, supplemented with tabletop exercises, ensures that you’re not leaving security to chance.
Testing aims to identify weaknesses and ensure that the information security program is as robust as it appears on paper. The organizations that take the time to challenge their systems, simulate attacks, and fix gaps are the ones best equipped to prevent real threats.
If it’s been more than a year since your last pen test or tabletop exercise, or you’ve never conducted one, now is the best time to start. Because the only thing worse than being breached- is being breached by something you thought you had under control.
FoxPointe Solutions can assist with penetration testing, tabletop exercises, and the development of comprehensive information security programs. Our team has the experience to assess your risks, identify gaps, and implement practical safeguards that work. To learn more, reach out to Nick Cozzolino at ncozzolino@foxpointesolutions.com.