According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly 40% of Americans are concerned about computer hackers stealing their personal information. There's no wonder: Cyber-attacks and data breaches regularly make headlines.

Can criminals easily hack your website and steal sensitive information about you and your customers? You might be able to find out by conducting penetration testing.

What is a Penetration Test

Penetration testing, or pen testing, is sometimes called ethical hacking or white-hat hacking. Before criminal hackers get their hands on your sensitive data, they can help you find and fix security flaws on your website and web applications.

Cyber-security professionals simulate real-world cyber-attacks on your website with your permission. In order to find vulnerabilities in your site, they use the same tools and techniques as the bad guys.

You will be informed of your tester's findings. In order to make your website more secure, you can use this information.

Who Performs a Penetration Test

Penetration tests are performed by ethical hackers known as pen testers. It is important to note that some pen testers receive formal training, while others are mostly self-taught. Certifications may back up their skills in either case. CompTIA's PenTest+ or EC-Council's Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) are two examples.

What are the Types of Penetration Tests

Penetration tests can be classified into several types. You may want to use the following tests:

External pens: External pen tests simulate cyber-attacks from outside your business. Their purpose is to help you detect security flaws that can be accessed from the internet.

Internal pen: The tests simulate attacks from within your organization. You can use them to identify weaknesses that employees or other insiders might exploit.

Double-blind pen test: Blind pen tests. Ethical hackers start with just the name of your company in closed-box pen tests. You can use this type of test to determine how easy it is for hackers to gain access to your systems.

What are Common Website Vulnerabilities to Look Out For

When performing pen testing, ethical hackers may look for a variety of security flaws. Based on the Open Web Application Security Project, here are the five most common web application vulnerabilities:

Access control is broken. This means that users have access to information they should not have. It is possible, for instance, for anyone to access information that is supposed to be available only to authorized employees.

Failures in cryptography: Your sensitive data isn't being stored and transmitted properly. Personal information, passwords, and credit card numbers could be exposed.

Injection: An attacker can "inject" malicious code via the injection vulnerability. This could be used to access sensitive information.

Insecure design: Your website could be vulnerable to design flaws. Code that hasn't been tested against known hacking methods could fall into this category.

Security misconfiguration: Business software can be highly customizable. However, some customizations may allow attackers to compromise your site, such as turning on unnecessary features or disabling security features.

How Vulnerable is Your Website

Many websites are vulnerable to hackers. Websites that use content management systems like Drupal or WordPress are more often targeted. Their code is also publicly accessible, partly due to their prevalence. Additionally, some third-party plugins and themes might have security flaws if you have customized your website.

Does My Website Need a Penetration Test

Having learned about pen testing, you may wonder: Does my business need a penetration test? Pen testing may be required in some cases to comply with privacy laws. Your business may choose to conduct pen testing even if it isn't a legal requirement.