The Ugly Duckling's Security Testing Transformation

When most people first meet the Ugly Duckling, he comes off as a questionable character. He’s often the last person someone would think to turn to when it comes to security testing. You’ll likely grow a little suspicious of him for one simple reason: He knows how to hack into anything you can possibly imagine. Just today, he hacked into a major international bank. Yesterday, he hacked into a manufacturer. Tomorrow, it could be your company. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

Exposing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Duckling is used to these reactions. It’s true — at first glance, he’s no swan. His hacking is ruthless, and his attacks comes from all angles. Once he breaks in, he turns to the network, the applications and the hardware. The Duckling reverse engineers code and bypasses every thing he can. No stone is left unturned. Everything you thought — or hoped — was protected is now vulnerable.

Generally speaking, that’s not the kind of duckling you’re looking to bring into your company to boost your cybersecurity. But those who know the Duckling believe otherwise. You see, ugly is this duckling’s specialty — but his results are beautiful. After all, he’s an offensive security specialist. Once he’s done penetrating your system, he gives you a report on what didn’t work and what did. That means you can fix something before it’s truly broken, and you’ll be able to maintain the cybersecurity measures that are working in your favor.

The Duckling isn’t the bad guy. He’s simply trying to prevent the bad guys from breaking in by using their own tactics. With his insight, you’ll be able to repair weaknesses before others take advantage of them. You’ll transform vulnerabilities into strengths. When the next cyberattack strikes, you’ll be even more prepared than you were yesterday. In fact, once he’s done with you, you might see the Ugly Duckling for the swan that he truly is.

Security Testing Produces Beautiful Insights

Proactive penetration testing is not a priority for every company, but the Duckling believes it should be. X-Force Red puts you on the offensive. The X-Force Red team can simulate attacks on your enterprise, identify gaps and give your team the information it needs to respond quickly and effectively.

That first offensive security test is far from pretty, but keeping enterprises and their employees on their toes can help keep a real cyberattack at bay. As employees gain the knowledge they need to protect the enterprise, the execution is nothing less than beautiful.

Learn more about IBM X-Force Red Services and Request a Demo

Click here to read more lessons in security and discover how all our favorite fairy tale characters learned to live securely ever after.

Aubre Andrus

Children's Book Author

Aubre Andrus is a children's book author who's proudly worked with amazing brands like Disney, American Girl, Scholastic, and more. She lives in Los Angeles....

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Topics

Exposing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Security Testing Produces Beautiful Insights

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