If you're new to cyber security, you might be wondering what the vulnerability assessment vs. penetration testing debate is all about. After all, both terms seem to indicate finding vulnerabilities and potential threats in systems and networks. But it's not quite that simple.
There are actually several core differences between vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. From the general process approach to reporting structures, cost, and the skills required to succeed, we’re here to cover everything you need to know about these two subsections of cyber security.
So, let’s get right to it.
What Is A Vulnerability Assessment?
A vulnerability assessment is a cyber security testing process designed to identify security defects and threats in an organisation's systems or software. This process may be done manually or partially automated (which is super common), but the main goal is pinpointing vulnerabilities that may cause a data breach or leakage.
If the vulnerability assessment catches any weaknesses, analysts will assign severity levels to the threats and suggest remediation options. These remediations prevent everything from escalating privileges failures to software bugs and poor password management.
Weaknesses are usually split into two different camps:
1. A bug in code or a software design flaw
2. A gap in general security procedures that hackers can exploit
It's worth mentioning that most organisations uncover hundreds or thousands of new vulnerabilities every year. Whether they come from new starters, software changes, or simply having more data to sift through and protect, these vulnerabilities will need patching and catching to avoid a major breach. And that’s exactly where regular vulnerability assessments come in!
What are the types of vulnerability assessment?
The main types of vulnerability scanning you’ll find for a vulnerability assessment are:
· Wireless Assessments—These assessments check whether wireless access points may impact security and involve checking mounting points, access management, encryption, and authentication systems.
· Web Application Assessments—This type of assessment identifies security vulnerabilities with automated scanning and also examines cloud-based applications and web servers. These scans usually look for cross-site scripting (XSS), command, and SQL injections using Static Application Security Tools (SAST).
· Database Assessments – This process checks through an organisation’s database systems and usually covers Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and Postgres (though this isn’t exhaustive!). The scans might catch configuration errors or privilege management issues that leave sensitive data vulnerable.
· Host-Based Assessments – Offers insight into internal and external risk exposure by evaluating systems and networks. The system is assessed from a user perspective and identifies suspicious activity or system infiltrations.
· Network-Based Scanning - Involves scanning computers, networks, and IT assets for potential vulnerabilities.
Benefits of vulnerability scanning
Although you can probably see why a vulnerability assessment is useful, let’s take a quick look at the main benefits:
· Reduces the chance of a breach by finding and patching vulnerabilities before cybercriminals can
· Allows organisations to understand their vulnerabilities better
· Assesses an organisation’s current security risk level
· Allocate resources efficiently to patch any issues
· Enhances credibility with clients who will feel more confident that their data is secure
· It is often cheaper and less intrusive than penetration testing
While a vulnerability assessment has several benefits, much of it is done automatically. It's also worth noting that it identifies risks but doesn't try to exploit them—that's where penetration testing comes in.
What Is penetration testing?
Penetration testing is an offensive cyber security strategy that simulates a cyberattack against an organisation’s systems and software to try and exploit potential vulnerabilities.
It's carried out by ethical hackers who launch a full-scale attack to uncover security vulnerabilities that must be patched as soon as possible to prevent a genuine threat from taking hold. Organisations can tighten their security measures by understanding where their vulnerabilities lie.
Third parties often carry out pen testing as they have virtually no idea how a system is secured. By having an unknown actor ethically hack the system, they expose internal blind spots that DevOps teams may have missed. While many ethical hackers are developers or cyber security experts, they can also be reformed criminal hackers—so there’s room for everyone!
Ethical hackers will use several techniques to expose vulnerabilities, which may include:
· Password cracking
· SQL injection
· Buffer overflow
· Image scanning
· Using backdoors to test vulnerabilities
· Information reconnaissance
· Using automated tools to scan for vulnerabilities
· Web application attacks through cross-site scripting
· Finding loopholes and gathering data through port scanners
Penetration testers try to avoid detection as they replicate a real-world attack. Once they gain access to the systems, they'll try to maintain access and expand their permissions, run malware deep into infrastructure, and even escalate their permissions to administrator levels.
Once they've sufficiently hacked the system, pentesters will present a final report summarising the test, how they gained access, and what vulnerabilities they found. Some penetration testers can even outline precisely how much that particular attack would have cost the company (which will undoubtedly spur internal security teams into action!).
Main types of penetration testing
Although you might think penetration testing was a single act involving broadly hacking a system, it's slightly more complex.
The most common types of penetration testing are:
1. Black-Box Penetration Testing – This is where an ethical hacker is given virtually no information about an organisation (it can be limited to a company name!) before they start infiltrating the system.
2. Grey-Box Penetration Testing – This is where organisations give pen testers a specific area to target and limited information about internal systems (which may include networks or specific hosts).
3. White-Box Penetration Testing – In this scenario, ethical hackers will be given a wealth of internal information, including configuration plans and access information. They may spend more time exploiting issues or finding vulnerabilities in certain areas.
If you want to learn more about the different types of penetration testing, check out our dedicated blog that delves deeply into the topic.
Benefits of penetration testing
Pentesting is powerful and valuable, as it assesses an organisation's cyber-defence capability (and where it may fall short!).
Penetration testing can also:
· Confirm decent security infrastructure
· Expose sensitive security issues
· Prevent real hackers from infiltrating systems
· Help businesses adhere to compliance regulations
· Avoid costly data breaches by finding vulnerabilities to patch
· Help organisations prioritise risks
If you're new to penetration testing, why not check out our Pentesting Fundamentals learning path? Lasting just 30 minutes, it’ll whizz you through everything you need to know about ethics, rules of engagement, and typical methodologies. Trust us; it's a great springboard!
What are the main differences between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?
Frequency
Vulnerability assessments usually run monthly or quarterly if you’re following best practices. They can run once a year if a business is particularly low-risk, but this is uncommon.
On the other hand, penetration testing usually takes place once or twice a year. This reduced frequency is generally due to the cost and time needed to patch vulnerabilities found in previous tests. How often pen testing happens largely depends on a company’s risk tolerance and budget!
Intrusiveness
While penetration testing actually aims to exploit identified vulnerabilities and gain access to systems, vulnerability assessments are about identifying issues.
It’s worth noting that ethical hacking is only done with explicit permission. Still, the main difference is that vulnerability assessments are identifying and hands-off, while pen testing is not!
Skills
Vulnerability assessments aren't something that anyone can do, but IT professionals can carry them out with an understanding of vulnerability scanning tools.
However, penetration testing requires highly skilled ethical hackers who understand how to exploit vulnerabilities within set terms of engagement (no more, no less!). Penetration testers also need to be able to outline their findings clearly and in detail.
Outcomes
What you receive from a vulnerability assessment differs significantly from a penetration test report.
· Vulnerability assessments offer a detailed overview of potential vulnerabilities in the system and are usually categorised into risk levels, such as critical, medium, or low-risk vulnerabilities. While detailed, these reports don't usually mention how exploitable each vulnerability is. It's also important to note that the automated nature of many of these tests could create false positives that flag vulnerabilities where they don't exist.
· Penetration testing reports generally offer greater insights into exploitable vulnerabilities. They run through a successful attack and outline how a hacker may compromise an organisation's data and integrity. They'll also suggest areas for improvement that may bolster the security system they hacked.
Expense
Vulnerability assessments are usually carried out more frequently than penetration tests. This frequency level is due to their largely automated nature and lower cost.
An average vulnerability assessment costs between $1,000 and $10,000, while penetration tests range from $2,500 to $50,000, depending on scope. While both vulnerability assessments and pen tests are essential, businesses generally don't have the capital to invest in several ethical hacking exercises a year.
That's all you need to know about the basics of vulnerability assessment and penetration testing!
If you want to learn more about threat and vulnerability management or offensive penetration testing, our dedicated, gamified rooms have you covered. These in-depth modules offer several hours of hands-on training, giving aspiring blue and red teamers the practical skills they’ll need to shine at interviews (and beyond!).
Practice with industry-standard tools? Check. Accompanying theory bites that you need to understand how to progress in the field? You bet. So, what are you waiting for?
Ben Spring