Businesses with critical data cannot deny the fact and importance of penetration testing. It is highly crucial from the perspective of an organization’s security and ensures that it operates within the specified laws and regulations. Selecting VAPT services in India can be a complex task sometimes since there are many companies in the market that pledge to be the best in offering network testing services.
Since it is often not within the nature and skill set of a business to conduct such testing on its own, these companies rely on external service providers. The task of selecting the best among all the online featured penetration testing service providers is a tough call indeed. But here we have some top questions that can help a firm to ease the selection process.
- Are there any certifications held by your company? This should be the first ask from an agency that claims to offer pen testing services. Since certifications assure credibility and ensure that the certified service provider follows industry-standard practices, it is important to check whether a penetration testing service provider is CREST (The Council for Registered Ethical Security Testers) certified or not. Some other certificates that can be checked and verified to attest to the quality of their services include ISO/IEC 27001:2013, PCI DSS, and operational compliance in tandem with HIPAA and GDPR.
- What kind of penetration testing methodology does your firm follow? Since every company and its span differs with respect to infrastructure, technologies, people, purposes, challenges, etc. no testing methodology is termed ideal. But asking this question will make the penetration testing provider list down all the methodologies they follow and will suggest the one that best suits your organizational needs.
- What is included in your services package? Ask what all includes in the reporting of the vulnerability report presented by the company. A report that contained Executive Summary, Vulnerability Overview and its details, Risk Score (such as CVSS), Action Plan for Remediation, and a Conclusion should be the ideal deal to make the most out of the service obtained.
- What are their planned measures to maintain security in your company? With all the information in hand, what sort of action plan does the testing service provider propose to keep security at all endpoints? It is essential to ask how the service provider intends to keep the confidential data secure and what steps are planned for added security.
- Does the service package include remediation service? If the answer is yes, then the service provider is the best pick for your company’s needs since it can cater to things beyond conducting basic vulnerability scans. A testing service provider offering remediation of the vulnerabilities is more prone to build trustworthy relationships in the long run.
- What sort of work have you done recently? Ask them to show you some of the vulnerability disclosures they have made recently. These reports will give you an insight into how to advance your skill set it. Some of the factors disclosed can be that penetration testing service providers who are best at their work also focus on building new security tools, chasing zero-day vulnerabilities, researching on security aspects of new technologies, etc.
- What is the nature of your testing service? Confirm if the agency offers both automated and manual VAPT services in India. A company that is solely dependent on automated tools can have its limitations since foolproof checking requires some bit of manual intervention as well. Never fix your deal with a tester that relies on only automated pen testing methods, since their chances of missing high-risk vulnerabilities are more.