Can Business Owners Scan Their Own Security Systems for Weak Points?

As a business owner, there is an enormous number of things you need to constantly handle. One of the most important things is the security of your business. Being in the security industry for as long as we have, Integrated Security Corporation wanted to give you some tips on how to scan your own security system and mitigate any possible risks. There are two main types of security scans that we recommend all online and brick-and-mortar business owners perform on a regular basis: vulnerability scans and external perimeter security scans. 

Vulnerability Scans – What You Need To Know

A vulnerability scan can be defined as a high-level scan to check through thousands of potential risks with a company’s security systems, networks, computers, and anything else of the sort. These scans can be scheduled to run automatically or scheduled manually. Depending on the size of your system, the vulnerability scan could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to complete. It is important to understand that a vulnerability scan is only a notification that a weakness was detected within the system, it does not correct the weakness for you. 

Upon completion of the vulnerability scan, a detailed report will be generated for your review. This report will display all of the vulnerabilities the scan detected. Depending on what your vulnerability scan entailed, the report could also explain some of the vulnerabilities in more detail and how to mitigate those weaknesses. On the other hand, vulnerability scans do have the possibility of producing false positives. This means that a vulnerability was to be shown on the scan when in reality there was nothing wrong. 

While there are obviously many benefits to using a vulnerability scan, there are also quite a few negatives. Vulnerability scans are normally relatively inexpensive, are generally quick to complete and can be fully automated if you so desire. 

On the other hand, vulnerability scans can sometimes be more work than they’re worth. Due to the possibility of a false positive, the business must double-check each vulnerability that was brought up in the scan. This can occasionally cause a much longer and more in-depth process for nothing.

External Perimeter Security Scan – What You Need To Know

While a vulnerability scan is focused more on the internal workings of your business network, the external perimeter security scan is just that – a scan of your outside perimeter network’s workings. An external perimeter security scan looks for things such as SQL injection and countless other application and network-based vulnerabilities.

An external perimeter security scan is incredibly important to utilize because it is essentially taking a look at what outside hackers would see if they were to try to hack into your company’s network. The external perimeter security scan shows all of the information that is at risk for hackers to take control of your internal network as well. 

A report is also given after an external perimeter security scan is completed that prioritizes the vulnerabilities into categories based on the pertinence to the company’s safety, and detailed instruction on how to mitigate these vulnerabilities is also provided. The majority of external perimeter security scans are completed online, so no hardware is required for your use. 

Depending on the level of knowledge that the IT department has within your organization, it is possible to have these two scans be completed with your own company. However, as with most things, it is often more productive and enlightening to have an outside company do the scanning. For example, if you want to build a house, you could absolutely do it by watching YouTube videos and buying all of the materials yourself and hope for the best. Or, you could hire a contractor and building company and know for a fact that your house would be set up in perfect condition. The internal and external security of your company’s most important assets should not be compromised or left to those that are less than qualified. 

While we do recommend running through vulnerability and external perimeter scans regularly in your business as a good practice, nothing can fully prepare your perimeter security like a perimeter security system from Integrated Security Corporation. Having been in the security industry for decades, we pride ourselves on providing only the best security options for our customers. No matter what type of business or building you have, we have a perimeter security system to help protect your assets.

Contact us today to learn more.