It can be said that cybercrime is speeding up in a rather unqualified way, pouncing so aggressively at all the institutions with enough sensitive information, mostly financial institutions. Financial entities should always be on the lookout and keep ahead of the game by identifying weaknesses before attackers.
This is where penetration testing holds heavy weight. It simulates the actual attack and reveals the weak points for bolstering defences.
“If you are spending one dollar for cybersecurity and you are not doing penetration testing, then something is wrong,” said Seemant Sehgal, founder and chief executive officer at BreachLock, to Cybersecurity Ventures.
According to World Economic Forum experts, total costs of cybercrime will reach an astonishing $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Such exponential growth implies that defensive countermeasures need to be really effective and all cybersecurity experts agree.
To counteract the rising threats, companies must invest in innovative strategies such as penetration testing.
Penetration testing, or pen testing, has gone from being a “nice to have” into an absolute must-have.
This article will explain the function of penetration testing and why it is needed in today’s world of complex and diverse cyber threats.
Why Is Pen Testing Significant in 2025?
Given these two facts, it becomes possible to set much of the context:
1. Pen Testing is expected to become a booming $4.5 billion industry by 2025, with significant traction, as per the report published by MarketsandMarkets.
2. According to the Ponemon Institute, 20% of companies do not test their software for security vulnerabilities.
While the growth in penetration testing indicates a strong demand in the market as more companies recognize its usefulness, close to 20% of businesses and organizations still do not practice penetration testing, and there seems to be a lot of room for discussion and persuasion around this issue. This highlights the importance of a pen testing service provider.
Defining Pen Testing
Penetration testing is a proactive security measure. It identifies and exposes potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers. With the increase in attack from AI-driven threats in the future, penetration testing has become even more important in 2025.
· AI-driven cyber attacks, penetration testing by the year 2025 is most probably going to be one of the major challenges in cybersecurity for financial services. Such cyber attacks are often highly sophisticated and fully automated and thus need the same level of advanced defence.
· Increasing complexity. It is the penetration test that enables a financial institution to understand things from a hacker’s point of view by identifying the weaknesses and gaps, as with the huge amounts of data held in financial institutions, they become targets for attackers.
In 2017, the country’s leading credit reporting agency suffered the worst data breach. It was this that allowed malicious attackers to execute code on the system and access sensitive consumer information. It took place using a known vulnerability in the Apache Struts framework.
What happened in this case Study
Hackers used the unpatched Apache Struts vulnerability to send crafted requests for gaining access to the system. They had been remaining undetected while accessing the database and copying sensitive records since the fault was left unfixed. It was not some clever trick of an employee but an easily fixable technical flaw that should have been fixed and tested earlier.
Indications
• Personal data breach: FTC records indicate that 147 million Americans were affected, nearly half of the US adult population.
• Legal and financial consequences: At least, according to the settlement agreement, Equifax will pay $575 million for the costs incurred in federal and state investigations into the data breach. This amount is likely to reach $700 million as per the settlement.
• Long-term impact: Equifax spent significant amounts on legal fees for customer payouts and security upgrades and worked on rebuilding trust.
This situation shows how attackers exploit known weaknesses. An early penetration testing could have identified the Apache Struts hole. Perhaps such fix speed would have avoided among the largest data breaches in US history.
Here is another perspective with the role of AI and ML in penetration testing
Penetrating truly into systems requires artificial intelligence to notch up higher levels in testing, which would otherwise not be possible. The hyped AI-synergy is a dual-edged sword for cybersecurity use. Attackers use it against enemies while defenders use it for strengthening testing and defenses. Penetration testing tools that will run heavily on high-end AI and machine learning algorithms will penetrate all vulnerabilities by as much as 98 percent by 2025.
• Speed and accuracy. AI can drive all these tools to scan huge systems at speeds that exceed human efficiency and show greater accuracy in error ratification. Thus, testers on the mission for discovery and rectification do not have to waste time waiting for tests done manually.
• Complex simulations. AI tools simulate a wide range of complex multi-layered entry point scenarios for each strike. Simply stated, penetration testing now covers much more than before.
Well, what that would be is humans replacing AI to take on the part of pure penetration, as AI cannot yet do penetration testing. At least, not for now; otherwise, it does bring some creativity to the table along with fits of unique context-based vulnerabilities that could be easily missed by AI. The combination of holism and a foolproof penetration testing strategy sits well for the financial institutions.
Conclusion
So it will really be penetration testing that financial institutions will rely on in the year 2025. Proactive security measures have become a must for financial entities, as threats are becoming more advanced with AI. Penetration testing uncovers loopholes hidden from attackers until they come down to exploit them.
Now, financial institutions will have to spend money on modern technology and skillful cybersecurity professionals and depend on reliable partners to protect themselves comprehensively. Indeed, there is a lot more at stake, but financial institutions can really build a strong wall against cyber threats with a proactive approach.
Frequently Asked Question FAQs
What is meant by pen testing?
It is an authorized simulated attack on a computer system for the purposes of evaluating the security of such a system. The penetration tester uses all of the tools, techniques, and processes that an attacker would use to find and show the business impacts of weaknesses in a system.
What are the 5 phases of pen testing?
Reconnaissance, scanning, vulnerability assessment, exploitation, and reporting.
What are the three different types of pen tests?
· Black box
· Gray box
· White box
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