Penetration testing & continuous daily vulnerability scanning for threat assessment

Part of our strategic growth plan was to strengthen our cyber security and move towards becoming Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 certified. Having previously undertaken a white box penetration test ourselves, we were aware of the limitations. Therefore we evaluated specialist cyber security providers to help us to meet our objectives.

Melius Cyber provided us with a black box penetration test. This differed to our previous penetration test as the security professional had no prior knowledge of our systems, so the simulated attack was more realistic. We were presented with a comprehensive report identifying areas of vulnerability, highlighted by the level of severity and suggested remediations.

Conscious that pen testing only gives us a one-off view of infrastructure, we subscribed to the Cyber Safe service. This gives us near real-time visibility of vulnerabilities across our infrastructure which enables us to keep on top of our remediation and patching all year round.

We believe the steps we've taken will make our journey towards Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001, not only an easier process but also less labour intensive. This is due to us having a lot of the risk assessment data now at our fingertips.

Our risk profile is lower all year-round due to continuous daily monitoring. This allows us to prove our cyber security standing and enhance our reputation.