Main Differences Between Vulnerability Assessment And Penetration Testing
Generally, two different kinds of security checking procedures are common in the IT sector. People often feel confused about the differences between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, which are entirely distinct from each other. Vulnerability assessment is a technical procedure of finding out the security lapses in a certain environment, as the result of which the faults of a system can be known. On the other hand, penetration testing is a copy of the actions of hackers to break in the security of a system, which can cause severe damage to a company.
Prime distinctions between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing
- Vulnerability assessment initially makes a list of all resources and assets of a system while penetration testing starts by checking all the possibilities of hacking.
- Vulnerability assessment finds out the potential risks for each resource component while penetration testing verifies the sensitiveness of the stored data.
- Vulnerability assessment assigns definite quantity to each resource element and prioritizes according to the importance while penetration testing checks the entire system for collecting the required information.
- Vulnerability assessment offers remedies for eradicating the weaknesses spotted in each resource while penetration testing clears up the entire system before providing the final report.
- Vulnerability assessment analyzes the system and its environment to prepare the analysis report while penetration testing is the analysis of the environment before producing the report without intruding into the system.
- Vulnerability assessment is perfect for the laboratory environment while penetration testing is fit for all network structures and physical environment.
- Vulnerability assessment is ideal for systems that do not have any critical threat while penetration system is used actually for systems in critical conditions.
Experts recommend the use of both vulnerability evaluation and penetration testing, according to the conditions of systems and their security requirements. Both these techniques have distinct usefulness in making a system securer from all risks of hacking.
