What is Penetration Testing?

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration Testing (more commonly known as pentesting or red teaming) is when a team of cyber security professionals attempt to gain access to a targets system with express permission from the organisation. This is typically authorised by the CISO, Asset Owners or a third-party as some customers may require a certain level of security if they work with sensitive customer info or work on critical national infrastructure such as energy, banks and transport.

Why is it Essential?

These simulated cyber attacks help companies identify weaknesses in their infrastructure and patch security vulnerabilities before these vulnerabilities are exploited by threat actors, leading to data breaches, ransomware attacks, and malicious criminal damage, which can lose companies millions in operational damages, loss of reputation, and lawsuits, depending on how the breach was handled and disclosed to customers.

Who Benefits?

Most modern businesses with tech infrastructure should regularly be reviewing and updating their security practices. This is because threats are attacking business of all sizes all the time and any online facing infrastructure can be attacked and in some cases it can be attacked even without direct access.

Several major hacks have occurred recently causing huge losses for the company including:

Notable Breaches

M&S

Breach: Loss of customer data including: names, date of birth, phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, household information, and online order histories. They also disrupted their IT infrastructure causing loss of business.

Estimated Cost: £300m

Source: BBC

Adidas

Breach: Loss of customer data including: names, date of birth, phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, household information, and online order histories. The company confirmed that passwords, credit card details, and other payment data were not compromised.

Estimated Cost: $202 million

Source: WDD

Change Healthcare

Breach: Patient care services, Claims processing and eligibility checks, adverse damage to Hospital finances and service delivery, Impacted revenue management software meaning they couldn't bill customers correctly.

Estimated Cost: $2.45 billion

Source: TechTarget

Many of these could have been avoided by reviewing security policy, ensuring proper network isolation to mitigate damage and testing their software wasn't vulnerable.

Key Advantages You Should Know

Penetration testing can be conducted across multiple layers of an organization’s infrastructure to identify and remediate vulnerabilities before cybercriminals exploit them.

Enterprise-Level Testing

Simulating real-world attacks to assess how an organization’s network can be breached through various means, including external and internal threats.

Software-Level Testing

Analyzing applications for common security vulnerabilities such as XSS (Cross-Site Scripting), SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery), and RCE (Remote Code Execution). High-criticality bugs are identified and addressed by developers to improve security.

Realistic Attack Simulations

Gain insight into how your organization reacts to cyber threats with professional penetration testing that mirrors real attack scenarios.

Proactive Risk Reduction

Minimize the likelihood of a successful cyber attack by identifying weaknesses early and implementing robust security measures.

Investing in penetration testing demonstrates your commitment to cybersecurity, ensuring your organization remains resilient against sophisticated threats.

How Lyte Technologies Can Keep You Secure

At Lyte Technologies, we understand that cyber threats are constantly evolving. Our penetration testing services help businesses stay ahead by identifying vulnerabilities before attackers do, ensuring robust security and compliance.

Comprehensive Security Assessments

We conduct enterprise-level penetration tests to simulate real-world cyber threats, stress-testing your network and applications against sophisticated attack methods.

Application Security Experts

Our team specializes in identifying critical vulnerabilities such as XSS, SSRF, RCE, and other high-severity bugs, helping developers secure applications before they’re exploited.

Tailored Cyber Defense Strategies

Security isn’t one-size-fits-all. We customize our penetration tests to your organization’s unique infrastructure, ensuring targeted risk mitigation and ongoing resilience.

Proactive Threat Prevention

Beyond testing, we provide actionable insights and remediation strategies, reducing the likelihood of breaches and reputational damage.

By partnering with Lyte Technologies, you ensure your business stays ahead of cyber threats—protected, compliant, and prepared.

Take action and secure your companies future today! contact us