Ever wondered if your organization is truly secure or if your teams are just crossing items off a checklist? A Security Posture Review (SPR) is a solid way to answer that question. A security posture review is a lot like being a detective with a magnifying glass. Our consultants examine your organization’s security policies, access controls, and system configurations. It’s thorough and methodical, with the goal of catching issues before they become problems. We’ll spot things like outdated policies, misconfigured servers, gaps in your backup and recovery strategy, as well as evaluate your ability to rapidly respond to security incidents. Our tailored approach to partnering with your organization is thorough and cost-effective. By pairing with your teams, we’re able to prioritize any discovered vulnerabilities and spot opportunities to improve your overall security posture, while also considering your business needs and existing resources. Read our previous blog to learn more about the SPR Process. 

What about penetration testing?

During the course of our review, we may recommend a penetration test to verify the effectiveness of your organization’s security controls against actual attacks. If you’ve already had a penetration test, we may ask to review prior findings to validate remediations and assist with prioritizing remaining critical and high vulnerabilities.

Adding penetration testing to a security posture review is like locking all of your doors and windows then hiring a professional burglar to try breaking into your organization. The security posture review will find weak spots you never knew existed – from your authentication configuration tool granting administrator access to all new accounts to your offboarding checklist missing a line item to revoke access to production systems. A security posture review provides a broad assessment of your organization’s overall security practices, policies, and controls. A penetration test identifies security vulnerabilities in your systems and networks through controlled, authorized cyberattacks. By pairing the two service offerings, your organization benefits from real-world validation of security controls and configurations through focused, simulated attacks to find exploitable vulnerabilities.

The best part? When these approaches work together, you get both the bird’s-eye view and the ground truth. Your documentation and overall security review tell you where you should be secure, while penetration testing confirms whether or not you actually are. By combining insights from a security posture review and a penetration test, your organization gains a more comprehensive understanding of your security strengths and weaknesses, balancing strategic planning with tactical vulnerability management.

How does a security posture review differ from a penetration test?

We’re so glad you asked! Since concise info in bullet points is often the best way to provide a quick and easy comparison of technical services, let’s give it a shot!

Depth and Breadth

• Security posture review: Provides a broader, higher-level view of security configurations and practices

• Penetration test: Offers deep technical insights into specific system vulnerabilities

Exploit chaining

• Security posture review: May identify individual vulnerabilities but not always their combined effect

• Penetration test: Demonstrates how multiple small vulnerabilities can be chained together for significant impact

Attacker perspective 

• Security posture review: Evaluates security from an internal, defensive standpoint

• Penetration test: Simulates actual attacker behavior and techniques

Time-sensitive issues

• Security posture review: Focuses more on long-term security strategy and posture

• Penetration Test: Can uncover urgent, actively exploitable vulnerabilities

Timing and frequency 

• Security posture review: Can be done more frequently based on tailored scope, usually bi-annually, or annually

• Penetration Test: Typically conducted less often, recommended annually or after major changes

Proof of concept 

• Security posture review: Identifies potential security weaknesses without necessarily proving exploitability

• Penetration Test: Delivers concrete evidence of security weaknesses through successful exploits

Regulatory compliance

• Security posture review: May not fulfill certain compliance requirements on its own

• Penetration Test: Often required for specific compliance standards (e.g., PCI DSS, HIPAA, Executive Orders, etc.)

Response testing 

• Security posture review: Typically assesses incident response plans but not their execution

• Penetration Test: Can evaluate incident response capabilities in real-time

The Bottom Line

Security posture reviews and penetration tests are excellent standalone services that shine a light on security issues, and together they give you the confidence that your security isn’t just good on paper – it’s good in practice.

Don’t wait for a breach to expose your vulnerabilities. Act now to ensure your organization is secure and resilient before it’s too late. By pairing two of our flagship offerings, let Red Siege help you take full control of your security today.

A security posture review from the experienced consultants at Red Siege will provide your organization with a better understanding of the security controls you have (or don’t have) in place and provide recommendations for the prioritization of your organization’s security roadmap. Pair that with an SPR for a high-level and deeply technical look at your organization!

Interested in learning more? Drop us a line. We can’t wait to help you level up your security game!