VAPT

In this section you will read about :

1. Identifying the IT threats and vulnerabilities

2. VAPT: Features & Benefits

3. What are the VAPT compliance requirements?

4. Blacklisting or whitelisting: Which one?

5. What is Clickjacking?

6. What is URL redirection in penetration testing?

7. What are the deliverables from a VAPT?

IT threats and vulnerabilities are not similar in any aspect. A threat refers to an event or person that can adversely affect a valuable resource in an organization. However, a vulnerability relates to the resource quality or its environment, allowing the threat to be realized.

In network security, the threats are always present, but the appropriate use of security procedures and features can mitigate the risks. Mitigation refers to any effort to prevent the danger from having an adverse effect or limit the damage if total prevention is impossible. It is also beneficial for improving the speed or effectiveness of the recovery effort.

So, there is a strong relationship that resides between vulnerabilities and threats. Depending on the conditions, the extent of both danger and vulnerabilities are examined, keeping each in perspective. When these are intermixed, they are collectively called the "security concerns."

Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing offers a comprehensive application evaluation to the companies with just a single test alone. Using this VAPT approach, the company can get a detailed view of the potential threats, thereby helping the businesses to add an additional layer of protection and security to their data and systems from any malicious activities.

The features to consider while selecting VAPT solutions are:

• The system type under the test
• Data sensitivity
• Organization size
• Budget
• Time frame
• Level of access to be given to the testers

Vulnerabilities are found in applications even from the third-party vendors as well as the internally made software systems. If you identify these flaws early, it gets smoother for the organization to lower such threats. Therefore, using the right VAPT solution can enable your IT security team to focus on the critical vulnerabilities while your VAPT provider continues to identify and classify vulnerabilities.

Whether it is FISMA or PCI, compliance seems to be an essential issue when it comes to VAPT. Select the providers that enable the companies to meet the predefined compliance requirements more effectively and swiftly. The VAPT solutions need to identify the flaws that can endanger or damage the applications for protecting the internal systems, company reputation, and misuse of sensitive customer data. Ensure to have a dedicated system in place which can test the applications during the development phase to maintain utmost security.

The blacklisting approach refers to the procedures for defining which entities need to be blocked. It is the list of malicious entities which need to be identified and denied access to a system or network.

On the other hand, whitelisting tackles similar challenges as done by blacklisting, but with a different approach. Instead of creating multiple lists of threats, it makes a list of permitted entities and uses it to block everything else. So, here, it is mainly based on trust, and the default is to deny anything unless it is already granted access.

To know which one to prefer, check out the blog.

Clickjacking refers to the malicious technique of tricking the user into clicking or checking out something that seems interesting, potentially revealing the user's confidential data. Such practices enable others to get complete authority and access to the computer and other devices of users clicking on such links.

The different categories of clickjacking are:

• Classic which mainly occurs through the web browsers
• Likejacking uses Facebook's social media outreach and capabilities
• Cursorjacking occurs when someone manipulates the cursor's location and appearance
• Browserless, which requires no browser activity
• MouseJacking uses the mouse inputs or inject keyboard via a remote RF link
• Cookiejacking acquires the cookies from the browsers
• Filejacking refers to the setup facilitated by the affected device as the file server
• Password manager attack uses the vulnerability present in the browsers’ autofill capability

URL redirection refers to the vulnerability which enables the attacker to force the users of an application to the untrusted external site. This attack is often performed by offering a link to the user, redirecting to the website containing malicious content and links. It exploits the inherent trust of the domain, making the users susceptible to phishing and other unknown threats. Therefore, more instances of URL redirection are necessary and valuable for the penetration testers.

Generally, a VAPT activity would result in:

• Executive Reports offer the summary of identified risks and issues, thereby highlighting the required action items
• Technical Reports which offer details of the identified issues, each explained step-by-step POCs with configuration and code examples for fixing the problems and reference links
• Real-Time Online Dashboard offers an online portal that allows the teams to monitor the progress while taking immediate actions for the high-risk problems, track the fixes and closure status, and more.

If you need help with VAPT reports or find reliable service providers, get in touch with DC Gears today. We partner with the top brands offering high-end cybersecurity services at reasonable prices. We offer our on-site services globally across multiple countries, including the USA, UK, Australia, Middle East, India, and more. For more details contact us.