Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT)

VAPT is a two part process, first being Vulnerability Assessment and the second is Penetration testing. This two step process is used to determine the security strength of applications and IT infrastructure. The “VA” or Vulnerability Assessment is a security structure evaluation of a network or a web application, intended to uncover all the security loopholes called vulnerabilities that may be present and are worthy of further investigation. This phase is reconnaissance, we gather information about our target and check for any vulnerability but we don’t launch any attack on the application, but that comes in the next phase. “PT” or Penetration Testing is done by simulating an actual attack using the same methods like a hacker would to gain unauthorized access. This method helps in evaluating the security of a network or a web application. The information we gather during the vulnerability assessment phase is leveraged to identify the best attack vectors. It confirms the potential vulnerabilities and actively exploits them, painting a detailed picture of the damage that could be done if a real-world attack against an organization’s systems took place. VAPT is a term often used to describe security testing that is designed to identify and help address cyber security vulnerabilities. This could include anything from automated vulnerability assessments to human-led penetration testing and full-scale red team simulated cyber-attacks.

With fast moving technology adoption, rapid development of mobile applications, IoT, etc. - Networks today are more vulnerable than ever. VAPT helps you to validate your security against real-world threats, identify security risks in your environment and understand the real-world impact of these issues. Every organization invests in security, but is your data safe? Protecting your assets before the attack even happens. Performing VAPT and safeguarding your assets should be the goal of every organization.

Yes, it is possible to carry out either a Vulnerability Assessment or Penetration Testing. Vulnerability assessment focuses on the core security of your systems to ensure that they are patched and configured as per best practice standards. A Penetration Testing focuses on a real-world simulation of an attack to give you a picture of what a motivated attacker could do from the outside.

The duration of a security VAPT audit may vary depending on the size of your network and applications. We provide a free demo, which can help you understand the scope your requirement and determine the approximate duration of the VAPT audit.

The cost of VAPT typically depend on the effort-estimate prepared to carry out the VAPT audit. The effort-estimate varies depending on the size of your IT Infrastructure and the scope of your applications, number of locations, etc. Our free demo, helps you to get a picture of requirement and determine the approximate cost for the VAPT audit.

There are no hard set rules in regards to how often your organization should perform a security VAPT audit. Often, the type of auditing procedures that you want performed will have an impact on the frequency of when an VAPT audit should be done. Some organizations do audit once a year while some go as far as on a daily or monthly basis.

Your tests will be conducted by Information Security experts from Cyberops Infosec. All our employees are prime talents with expertise in VAPT. They are subject to extensive background checks and have confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with our firm.

Our vulnerability assessments and penetration tests are mostly conducted manually because we believe that there is no substitute for the human mind. But even then, we do need the help of some tools to conduct the test more efficiently and thoroughly. Some of the tools that we use are Metasploit, Burp Suite, NMap etc. But the tools required for your engagement may vary based on our assessment of your environment.

We can perform your internal vulnerability assessment within three to five days, in general, after we receive the official work order. An expedited test can customized and scheduled as per convenience.

A formal report for all our review services will be provided after the VAPT audit. This report will include all of the findings in detail from our test as well as any recommendations regarding remediation.

Yes, a certificate of “Cyberops Secured” will be provided for each security VAPT audit.

While performing assessments and tests, the scope of the assignment needs to be clearly defined. The scope is based on the assets to be tested.
The following are the three possible scopes that exist:

• Black Box Testing : Testing the system like a hacker would with no prior knowledge of the internal networks and systems.
• Gray Box Testing : Testing with some knowledge of the internal networks and systems. This is usually a combination of black box testing and white box testing.
• White Box Testing : Performing the VAPT from within the network with complete knowledge of the network architecture and the systems.

Yes, however these risks can be significantly reduced with proper planning like using a test environment and ensuring that monitoring devices and softwares are working properly, these methods help reduce the risk and helps recovering from a potential issue. We can’t completely rule out the possibility of a system crash, but with proper planning, the risk is greatly reduced. Think about it, will the hackers tell you when they are going to attack your systems? Probably not. So, don’t get too hung up on this because if the tester is able to crash your system, somebody else can too—they just haven’t tried yet.

A formal report for all our review services will be provided after the VAPT audit. This report will include all of the findings in detail from our test as well as any recommendations regarding remediation.

A detailed report will be provided outlining the scope of the Infrastructure/application, the methodology used and a detailed explanation of the vulnerabilities found along with their POC (Proof-of-concept). Also recommendations for mprovement will also be provided.

We suggest that every organization should keep performing the VAPT audit until the application is patched properly.

Yes, We do check web-applications and networking devices for DOS & DDOS attack. This provides a better view of how many users at a time can your application or device maintain connection with, before crashing.