Should You Perform a Pentest on a Production Environment or a Non-production Environment? |

The Pros and Cons of Performing a Pentest on Production Environment vs Non-Production Environment

Cybersecurity is a top priority for any organization. With more and more data breaches occurring, it’s crucial to implement security measures to protect your company from cyberattacks. A pentest is a valuable tool that can help you get ahead of the curve before your company falls victim to a data breach. However, what you may not know is that there are two different types of pentests: those performed on a non-production environment and those performed on production environment. While both have their benefits and drawbacks, which one should you use? Read on to find out.

What is a pentest and why is it important?

A pentest is a type of assessment that evaluates the security of your company’s systems. Pentests are often performed to ensure that your company has taken proper precautions against cyberattacks and to identify vulnerabilities in your system.

In today’s world, hackers are getting more sophisticated and it is increasingly difficult for companies to keep up with them. That’s why it’s more important now than ever for organizations to take steps to protect themselves from hackers. A pentest can help you do just that.

But not all pentests are the same: there are two types – those done on a production environment and those done on a non-production environment. The difference between these two types of pentests will impact which one you choose as they have their pros and cons.

The difference between a non-production environment and production environment pentest

The best way to understand the difference between a non-production environment and production environment pentest is by breaking down what each entails.

A non-production environment pentest is conducted on an environment that does not contain any real data. This type of pentest can be performed on-site or remotely where you’re accessing an organization’s servers through the internet. A production environment pentest, on the other hand, is conducted on the live site which may contain sensitive data during normal operation. Because of this, a production environment pentest requires careful planning and consideration before it can begin.

Benefits of performing the Pentest on non-production environment

The primary benefit of performing a pentest on a non-production environment is that you’ll know ahead of time which weaknesses your business has. You’ll be able to take steps to make sure those weaknesses are addressed, so when the pentest does occur on production, your organization will be secure.

Performing the pentest on a non-production environment also provides you with an opportunity to test what needs to happen if there’s an attack on production. You can simulate this type of attack and find out what resources you would need in order to mitigate the damages that may occur.

Benefits of performing the Pentest on production environment

The most obvious benefit of performing the pentest on production environment is that you know for sure that it will be accurate. A pentest performed on a non-production environment won’t reflect the actual vulnerabilities and risks to your company’s infrastructure, but one performed on production environment will.

Additionally, tests performed on production environments can identify all of the violations and severity of those violations in real time. This lets you fix any security breaches that are present, before they have a chance to cause any damage.

Benefits of performing the Pentest on production environment

One of the drawbacks of performing a pentest on a non-production environment is that you don’t know how your system will react to the attack. In other words, it’s not exactly like a real-life situation where data may be lost. As such, you’re in danger of spending unnecessary time and money running tests because you’re unsure of how your system will react.

Another drawback is that some companies have sensitive information that they don’t want to share with just anyone. Having this pentest done on an environment other than production can lead to errors in reporting, which then leads to false positives – or vulnerabilities that don’t exist on the production environment.

Benefits of performing the Pentest on production environment

In a production environment, the pentest can interfere with your organization’s day-to-day operations. This means that you may have to take time away from your day-to-day operations to address any vulnerabilities found. Another drawback is that if a vulnerability is found, your company will have to fix the issue before it can be remediated. If you perform a pentest on a non-production environment, there may not be as many issues as in a production environment because the system is being used for testing purposes only.

Benefits of performing the Pentest on production environment

If you are considering running a pentest on your production environment, we would recommend you do so.

If you are considering running a pentest on your non-production environment, we would recommend you do so.

Sources:  CMU, NIST, Standford

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