VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing)

In today’s cyber warzone , organizations face endless threats. To stay safe, they rely on VAPT - a mix of Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and Penetration Testing (PT).

Vulnerability Assessment (VA)​

Goal: Identify & prioritize weaknesses.
Method: Automated scanning + manual analysis.
Tools: Nessus, OpenVAS, Qualys, Nexpose.
Output: A list of vulnerabilities with severity (Low, Medium, High, Critical).
Example:
Your e-commerce site is running an old PHP version with a known RCE (Remote Code Execution) flaw. The VA scan will flag it.
Analogy: Like a security guard checking every lock & window in your house to see which ones are weak.

Penetration Testing (PT)​

Goal: Simulate a real hacker attack.
Method: Exploit vulnerabilities ethically to measure impact.
Types of Pentesting:
Black Box - no prior knowledge (real hacker style).
White Box - full knowledge (source code, architecture).
Gray Box - partial knowledge (balanced).
Example:
If VA detects an SQL Injection, PT will try:
' OR '1'='1
to see if they can log in without a password.
Analogy: Like a burglar actually trying to break in using those weak windows/doors.

VAPT Lifecycle​

Planning & Scoping - Define targets, rules of engagement.
Information Gathering (Recon) - Collect domains, IPs, services.
Vulnerability Assessment - Automated + manual scanning.
Exploitation (Pentest) - Try exploiting critical findings.
Post-Exploitation - Check how far attacker can move (privilege escalation, lateral movement).
Reporting - Document findings + risk level + fixes.
Remediation & Re-Test - Patch & verify again.

Risk Rating in VAPT​

Critical (Immediate exploitation, like RCE, SQLi)
High (Privilege escalation, XSS stealing cookies)
Medium (Info disclosure, weak SSL config)
Low (Missing headers, verbose error messages)
Helps companies prioritize what to fix first.

Benefits of VAPT​

Identify weak points before hackers do
Reduce financial & reputational loss
Meet compliance standards (PCI-DSS, ISO, GDPR, HIPAA)
Improve incident response & cyber resilience
Build customer trust

Real World Example​

Case: Healthcare Web Portal
VA Result: Outdated CMS, missing patches, weak password policy.
PT Result: Exploited SQL Injection → accessed patient records.
Without VAPT, attackers could’ve caused data breach + legal fines.

Defence / Best Practices​

Schedule VAPT every quarter or after major updates
Implement patch management
Use WAF (Web Application Firewall) & IDS/IPS
Secure coding practices (input validation, sanitization)
Conduct Red Team vs Blue Team exercises
Continuous monitoring with SIEM tools

Final Thought
VAPT isn’t just about scanning for bugs - it’s about thinking like a hacker to protect like a defender.
Organizations that ignore VAPT are basically leaving their doors open !!