VA stands for vulnerability assessment, and PT stands for penetration testing or pentesting.
These two terms are often used interchangeably but misunderstood most of the time. Both are ways to discover vulnerabilities in our websites, applications, networks, or systems.
A vulnerability assessment evaluates vulnerabilities in IT structures at a positive factor in time to figure out the system’s weaknesses earlier than hackers can get preserve of them.
It is a complete analysis of the facts’ safety position (result evaluation). Furthermore, it identifies the capability weaknesses and presents the proper mitigation measures (remediation) to both put off the inadequacies or lessen them beneath the level of risk.
Often, it may consist of several tools trying out extra equipment to similarly compare the safety of programs or networks and affirm vulnerabilities located through the scanning programs.
Penetration testing recreates the behavior of external and internal cyber attackers to break information security, hack critical data, or disrupt the daily functioning of an organization. As a result, intrusion testers use advanced tools and techniques to control critical systems and gain access to sensitive data.
Penetration testing means testing from the attacker’s point of view. If a vulnerability is detected, ethical hackers can exploit the exposure to the depth that the attacker can penetrate. Therefore, in penetration testing, the presence or absence of some vulnerabilities is of secondary importance. The purpose of penetration testing is to be as transparent as possible about how a problem can affect IT security and how this can affect a company.
Intrusion testers, also known as ethical hackers, use a controlled environment to assess the security of their IT infrastructure and securely attack, identify, and exploit vulnerabilities. They check test servers, networks, web applications, mobile devices, and other potential entry points to find vulnerabilities.