It’s Cyber Security Month—and as consultants who’ve partnered with organizations at every stage of their security journey, we’re compelled to ask: Are you getting real value from your vulnerability scans and penetration tests or are you simply checking boxes?
Old friends and new clients alike: consider how your risk management choices actually affect your bottom line, your brand, and your resilience against tomorrow’s threats. Today’s threat landscape demands more than routine compliance. It requires strategic insight and decisive action.
Imagine your asset inventory as a city. Vulnerability scanning patrols every street—mapping weaknesses, flagging issues, automating patch routines. It’s fast and affordable. But here’s the challenge: If your scanner misses that neglected alley or fails to spot the disguised threat in plain sight, are you truly secure?
Investing in vulnerability assessments delivers a strong ROI. You get broad coverage and rapid detection. Smart clients leverage scan coverage rates (>90%) and mean time to detect (<24 hours) as decisive metrics for operational risk reduction. But efficiency alone does not guarantee security. When was the last time your scan found—and helped you fix—a critical business logic flaw that mattered to your customers or regulators?
While vulnerability scanning is like a street patrol, penetration testing is like a team of private investigators testing a building's security system by trying to compromise them. While simulating adversary actions skilled testers stitch together individual flaws, sidestep your defenses, and show you—vividly—how attackers could disrupt your business. For example, a recent pen test for our client revealed a chained exploit that threatened a major contract renewal. The actionable insights enabled remediation in days, not weeks, safeguarding millions in annual revenue.
If your penetration tests only regurgitate scanner findings, you’re missing the point. True value comes from unique vulnerabilities discovered and the speed at which you resolve them (remediation rate, >85% within 30 days). Done right, pen testing isn’t just compliance, but builds on vulnerability scanning to elevate your security posture, building trust with clients, stakeholders, and regulators while empowering your team to fix what really matters.
Every October, organizations reaffirm their security goals. But old habits like annual scans and template penetration tests don’t keep pace with adversaries who evolve daily. Are your investments preventing breaches, saving contract revenue, and strengthening brand equity? Or are they just satisfying auditors and checklists?
This Cyber Security Month, challenge your risk strategy:
Forward-thinking clients, both longstanding and new, recognize that meaningful security isn’t about the tools themselves—it’s about how intelligently they’re applied and how quickly insights become action.
Your security budget deserves more than routine. Pair disciplined vulnerability management with adversarial pen testing—not as separate silos, but as a unified strategy for robust defense, business continuity, and client confidence. Don’t just defend your perimeter—understand your vulnerabilities, prioritize what matters, and prove your resilience.
This month, let’s go beyond security theater. Let’s achieve real operational and strategic return on your investment—from layered prevention to response readiness. The future favors organizations willing to transform, not just comply.
If you’re ready for security with substance, not just surface compliance, let’s talk. October is the perfect time to make your cybersecurity program a true business enabler!
Dana Morrow is the lead Cyber Security Consultant at ADS, with 30 years of experience in penetration testing, vulnerability management, and social engineering. He has extensive experience in both manual and autonomous penetration testing, as well as managing and conducting Red Team engagements to assess organizational defense capabilities. Morrow's expertise spans web application and network penetration testing, securing and managing enterprise networks, and providing network security design and implementation. He’s always happy to connect via email to answer any questions and continue the conversation