VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT
Bolster your defences and protect your business against the latest cyber threats.
Trusted by leading organisations
What is a vulnerability assessment?
Uncover hidden risks
in your infrastructure
A vulnerability assessment identifies and evaluates potential weaknesses in your business’s systems, networks and applications. It involves assessing the vulnerabilities that potential threats, such as hackers or malware, could exploit.
An assessment scans and analyses your technology systems, identifying security gaps and prioritising vulnerabilities based on their severity.
Conducting a vulnerability assessment provides valuable insights into your security posture and the proactive measures you can take to address and mitigate any chinks in your armour.
It helps strengthen your defences and reduces the risk of successful cyber attacks or data breaches.
Vulnerability assessment benefits
Accessible solutions for
cost-effective security
Vulnerability assessment helps your business identify potential security weaknesses, allowing you to address them before they can be exploited. It offers several benefits, including:
- Risk mitigation
Identify and address potential security risks to reduce the likelihood of data breaches, financial loss and reputational damage. - Regulatory compliance
Ensure your business adheres to industry-specific standards and demonstrates a commitment to data protection and cyber security, which is crucial for meeting legal obligations and avoiding penalties. - Enhanced security posture
Strengthen your security posture and improve your ability to detect and respond to potential threats, minimising the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.
- Trust and reputation
Demonstrate a commitment to safeguarding sensitive information. People are more likely to engage with businesses prioritising cyber security, which can enhance your reputation and attract new customers. - Improved incident response
Gain valuable insights into potential vulnerabilities to develop effective incident response plans, ensuring a timely and efficient response to security incidents. - Resilient infrastructure
Improve your digital infrastructure’s resilience by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities to reduce the likelihood of disruptions or compromises that could impact operations.
Stay one step ahead
of cyber threats
What does vulnerability
assessment include?
Discover, analyse and prioritise,
all in one scan
Regular vulnerability assessments are crucial for identifying and addressing weaknesses in your digital infrastructure. You can mitigate risks and prevent potential data breaches or cyber attacks by conducting asset discovery, prioritising remediation efforts, and adopting continuous security practices.
A vulnerability assessment examines the security posture of your business’s digital systems to identify weaknesses and potential vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. It includes the following steps:
Asset discovery
The crucial first phase in a vulnerability assessment identifies all systems, devices and components connected to your network, including mobile or IoT devices and cloud-based infrastructure. By gaining visibility of your digital ecosystem, we can assess and mitigate any potential vulnerabilities.
Vulnerability scanning
Automated tools are used to scan for known security weaknesses. These tools look for indicators such as open ports, outdated or unpatched software or misconfigured settings while conducting targeted probes to detect device-specific vulnerabilities.
Results analysis
The vulnerability scan analyses and prioritises vulnerabilities based on severity. Prioritisation ensures a targeted and efficient remediation process. It considers factors such as network exposure, customer-facing applications and databases with sensitive information.
Reporting
Technical documentation is produced to describe the results of the vulnerability assessment in detail. This enables you to plan the remediation process, and determine how to allocate resources effectively to address the most serious vulnerabilities first.
What cyber security challenges does
vulnerability assessment address?
Neutralising threats
before they take hold
Vulnerability assessment empowers your business to enhance its security posture, mitigate risks and ensure a robust defence against evolving threats. It’s an essential component of any comprehensive cyber security strategy.
Cyber security is a constant concern for many businesses. Vulnerability assessment plays a vital role in addressing this challenge. By leveraging advanced technologies and expertise, vulnerability assessment helps tackle the following cyber security issues:
Identifying
security gaps
Vulnerability assessment helps you identify security weaknesses and gaps in your systems, networks and applications. Conducting comprehensive scans and tests uncovers and assesses vulnerabilities, allowing for targeted remediation.
Extending internal capabilities
Vulnerability assessment extends your internal IT team’s capabilities. With limited resources, you can use vulnerability assessment to complement your in-house expertise, enabling your team to effectively cover more ground and address security risks.
Proactive threat prevention
By regularly assessing vulnerabilities, you can identify and address potential threats before they can be exploited. This proactive approach helps prevent security breaches and reduces the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.
Effective resource allocation
Vulnerability assessment helps optimise resource allocation by focusing efforts on areas of greatest need. Understanding the vulnerabilities present allows you to allocate resources to address critical risks and strengthen your security defences.
Bridging the
skills gap
Many businesses face a shortage of skilled cyber security professionals. Vulnerability assessment compensates for a lack of in-house expertise by providing automated tools to detect cyber threats within your organisation.
Optimising cost efficiency
Building and maintaining an in-house team of security experts can be expensive. Vulnerability assessment offers a cost-effective solution that can identify a wide range of vulnerabilities with a high level of efficiency.
Other types of penetration testing
CREST-approved
penetration testing services
As well as vulnerability assessment, our team provides the following penetration testing services:
Network penetration testing
Our network and infrastructure penetration testing assesses your networks and systems for vulnerabilities. It simulates exploitation safely to show the potential impact. We have extensive knowledge of enterprise environments, networking and security technologies.
Website penetration testing
Assesses your web applications and APIs for security vulnerabilities that may be exploited to compromise your applications. We use comprehensive OWASP testing methodologies and leading tools to provide assurance that your applications are secure.
Mobile application penetration testing
Mobile application pentesting provides an in-depth review of your applications’ security to ensure data is protected. Our team has deep experience in assessing iOS, Android and Windows platforms, and many mobile development frameworks such as React Native, Flutter and Xamarin.
Cloud penetration testing
Cloud penetration testing attempts to find misconfigurations that may expose your cloud systems and data to attack. It’s performed against environments hosted by a cloud service provider, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure.
IoT penetration testing
Internet of Things (IoT) penetration testing uncovers vulnerabilities in IoT devices, networks, and ecosystems, protecting against cyber threats. Simulating real-word attacks, we assess firmware, protocols, and configurations. This ensure secure, resilient IoT implementations.
All penetration testing services
Our penetration testing services are ideal for businesses who have commercial or regulatory requirements to complete testing, as well as businesses who prioritise cyber security and need independant technical assurance.
Frequently asked questions
What is a vulnerability assessment?
A vulnerability assessment is a security testing process used to identify, classify and prioritise vulnerabilities across systems, networks or applications. It typically uses automated scanning tools to detect weaknesses and provides recommendations to reduce or eliminate the risks.
Why is vulnerability assessment important?
Vulnerability assessment helps businesses identify weaknesses in their digital infrastructure, allowing them to prioritise and address security vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
How long does a vulnerability assessment take?
A vulnerability assessment can take anywhere from a few hours to several days, depending on the number of systems, network size and complexity. Automated scans typically take a few minutes per system, while larger environments may require additional time for in-depth analysis.
Can vulnerability assessments guarantee 100% security?
While a vulnerability assessment will significantly enhance your security posture, it can’t guarantee absolute security. However, it will significantly reduce your cyber risk by identifying and addressing any existing vulnerabilities in your network.
What are the benefits of vulnerability assessments?
Vulnerability assessments help businesses identify weaknesses in their digital infrastructure. By proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, businesses can strengthen their defences, reduce the opportunity for cyberattacks, and mitigate threats before attackers can exploit them.
How often should vulnerability assessments be conducted?
Vulnerability assessments should typically be conducted at least once per quarter. However, the frequency may increase to monthly or weekly, depending on factors such as business size, industry, compliance requirements, and any significant changes to the infrastructure or network security.
What are the four steps involved in a vulnerability assessment?
A typical vulnerability assessment includes asset discovery, vulnerability scanning, result analysis and reporting. It’s a cost-effective process to identify and address a wide range of security weaknesses.
What happens after a vulnerability assessment?
After the assessment, a detailed report outlines identified vulnerabilities and recommended remediation actions. You can use this report to prioritise and fix the vulnerabilities.
What is the difference between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?
Vulnerability assessments focus on identifying weaknesses in your cyber defences. Penetration testing goes further by exploiting vulnerabilities to assess your security controls’ effectiveness.
What is the difference between vulnerability assessment and risk assessment?
A vulnerability assessment identifies weaknesses in a system or network, focusing on discovering technical issues. A vulnerability assessment will inform a risk assessment, which evaluates identified risks to assess potential impact, likelihood and possible mitigations in the wider context of an organisation’s overall security strategy.
Are vulnerability assessments only necessary for businesses with an online presence?
No, regardless of online presence, vulnerability assessments are important for many businesses. Even if you don’t have a public-facing website or online services, attackers can still exploit vulnerabilities in internal systems and networks. It’s crucial to assess and address these vulnerabilities proactively.
Who does vulnerability assessments?
Vulnerability assessments are typically performed by security professionals such as vulnerability analysts or penetration testers. They can be conducted by in-house IT teams or outsourced to specialist cybersecurity providers like Sentrium, ensuring the assessment is handled by experts with the right tools, methodology and experience.