Are hackers like bank robbers, or pickpockets?

The benefits of undertaking a Pen Test (penetration test) are widely known, yet few businesses bother to commission them, perhaps reassuring themselves that they don’t need a pen test since no one will bother trying to hack them. After all, they’re not a juicy target like a bank is.

The idea that hackers are much like bank robbers, only targeting high value hits is naïve. The reality is that in the world of hackers, it’s the easy targets that provide payback. It’s simply a numbers game, where bank robbers plan for one direct hit, hackers create malware that can be sent to millions of targets in the hope of exploiting a few for monetary gain, which can be extremely lucrative.

Think of hackers as the pick pockets of the cybercrime world, brushing past wallets sitting insecurely in back pockets. Quick, simple and easily repeated.

The success of a hacker relies completely on poor organisational safety, such as weak security awareness amongst staff and relaxed processes around applying software updates.

Penetration testing is a way to find where your IT vulnerabilities lie, and whether they are issues that need rectifying. You are more important to hackers than you think. Prepare yourself and eliminate your organisation from hacker attacks by becoming a ‘difficult’ target.