PTaaS offers a new way to improve security testing with integrated DevSecOps.
CISOs have an opportunity to centralize pentesting with a proactive mechanism that’s fast, effective, and simple to test defenses and stop preventable breaches before it’s too late with a proven, trusted penetration testing as a service provider – also known as PTaaS.
As businesses continue to pursue digital transformation, the need for effective security testing has become more critical than ever. With the rapid expansion of attack surfaces and the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, it is essential for organizations to conduct regular and comprehensive penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities and prevent security breaches.
However, many security leaders are still struggling to compete for budget and resources for security testing, while dealing with the challenges of legacy pentesting providers that are expensive, unscalable, and inefficient. This is where Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) comes in as a modern approach to security testing that enables DevSecOps teams to identify vulnerabilities quickly and prevent security breaches before they happen.
In this post, I’ll cover the reasons to shift to PTaaS and move away from legacy providers, along with the benefits of PTaaS that make it an attractive option for modern security testing.
The Need for Proactive Penetration Testing
As the world becomes increasingly reliant on digital technology, the risks of cyberattacks have grown exponentially. Cybercriminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities to exploit, and businesses are under constant threat. Inadequate testing across internal and external systems can leave organizations vulnerable to breaches that can have catastrophic consequences.
Proactive penetration testing is essential to identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers. Traditional pen testing vendors may take weeks or even months to complete one penetration test, which is a missed opportunity to manage security risks. Moreover, automated tools are not always adequate for security testing into the CI/CD pipeline, as they cannot detect insecure code for unknown vulnerabilities.
Inadequate Testing across Internal and External Systems
For most organizations, neither internal nor external systems are entirely secure. Applications, including mobile, API, and web-facing apps, require continuous security validation and vulnerability management. Even inexperienced cybercriminals have easy access to commercially available tools and open-source intelligence to conduct cybercrime and make a profit.
The most critical risks facing today’s security and DevOps teams are known vulnerabilities exposed to the internet and inside the organization’s infrastructure. A single phishing attack can lead to a security breach if the attacker can gain access to internal systems with socially engineered credentials.
Penetration testing must be conducted across the full stack environments to comprehensively scan, discover, and identify all potential vulnerabilities, attack paths, and vectors to and from external and internal systems.
The Problem with Legacy Pen Testing
Legacy penetration testing providers have failed to adopt next generation technology, like artificial intelligence and automation. Despite the advantages of tapping into external penetration testing for unbiased results, consultant-based testing is expensive and difficult to scale.
Smaller companies and startups that kick off their security strategies with consultant-based penetration testers experience a disadvantage. Moreover, as SMBs grow, they may unknowingly increase their attack surface exposures due to a lack of visibility. Businesses may retain inefficient or biased pentesting vendors thinking their pentest reports are comprehensive and accurate.
For enterprise businesses, consultant-based testing falls short for enterprise businesses as well. The central penetration testing team will interface with cross-functional stakeholders across the organization, including product owners, governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), CISOs, and developers. When the central team responsible for pentesting has a backlog, security risks increase, and revenue-generating products are delayed.
Traditional penetration testing with a consultant can take weeks or months to complete. Meanwhile, automated testing provides only a limited view into security posture. Automated testing can only identify known vulnerabilities and may produce many false positives, making it challenging for DevOps teams to prioritize remediation. On their own, these traditional pentesting methods do not provide a complete picture of an organization’s security posture.
With Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS), security leaders can overcome the limitations of traditional penetration testing and move beyond the limitations of consultants and automated tools.
The Way Forward: Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS)
The power of PTaaS gives CISOs a new way forward to build a cyber-resilient security infrastructure without introducing unnecessary risks. PTaaS is a combination of human-led engagements, next-generation automated vulnerability scanning, and controls in a SaaS-based customer portal. The cloud platform enables security leaders to manage penetration testing directly using the customer portal for on-demand third-party penetration testing.
PTaaS provides several key benefits that CISOs can leverage to build cyber resilience and defend their organization’s perimeter and attack surfaces from advanced persistent threats and evolving risks.
The Benefits of PTaaS:
- Decreased Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): By incorporating security capabilities that can be removed or reduced elsewhere, businesses can lower their TCO, leading to improved ROI and cost savings.
- Accelerated Turnaround Time: Businesses can access integrated remediation guidance to meet pentesting requirements more swiftly, expedite security outcomes, and save valuable time for their in-house teams.
- Reliable Reporting: Certified pen testers adhere to industry-standard methodologies, tools, and best practices to deliver consistent and accurate pentest reports that consistently meet quality standards.
- Compliance and Security Validation: Certified reports and artifacts provide validation of security and compliance requirements for third-party pentesting and vulnerability scanning.
- Enhanced Visibility: Gain a comprehensive view of attack surface exposures, critical vulnerabilities, and attack paths from the perspective of potential adversaries, thus improving visibility.
- Flexible On-demand Service: Expert-led pentesting can be conducted without the need to hire additional resources, as the service can scale based on demand, effectively eliminating the penetration testing backlog.
- Support for Agile Workflows: API ticketing integrations enable efficient triaging of newly discovered vulnerabilities, facilitating agile DevSecOps workflows that promote rapid remediation.
- Continued Benefits after Pentesting: Clients can access continuous security monitoring, scanning, and retesting benefits throughout the remainder of their PTaaS subscription via a secure client portal.
Start Planning for Pen Testing as a Service Today
Are you getting everything you need out of your current security platforms and tools? How many vendors are you using? Are they compliant for your GRC program? Where do you see gaps in your current solutions?
With BreachLock’s PTaaS, CISOs and security leaders have complete oversight of the penetration testing process and control over timelines to conduct mission-critical penetration testing. With BreachLock, organizations can extend their bench of talent and gain enhanced security controls and capabilities along with expert-led engagements and customer support.
In The CISO’s Guide to Penetration Testing as a Service, discover the reasons why global CISOs are moving away from traditional pen testing and improving security outcomes and ROI at the same time with a new way to conduct pentesting as-a-service (PTaaS). Using a SaaS-based client portal, cloud platform, and certified ethical hackers from a qualified service provider, see how CISOs today are taking proactive steps to prevent breaches and close security gaps fast with PTaaS. Download the CISO’s Guide to PTaaS today.
Today’s modern CISOs are accelerating their penetration testing programs now with BreachLock, the proven leader in Pen Testing as a Service. BreachLock’s certified experts are ready to help you join the PTaaS movement and secure your organization right now and for years to come. With over 1K active clients in IT, software, healthcare, and financial services, you can count on BreachLock for full-stack penetration testing services and security validation on-time and within your budget. Schedule a discovery call with one of our pentesting experts and see how PTaaS can work for you.