What’s the Right Security Testing Schedule That Actually Protects Your Company?

How Often Should You Test Your Business Security to Stop Hackers?

When bad guys attack your computer systems, they don’t wait for you to be ready. They work every day to find ways in. You need to test your defenses just as often.

Think of it like checking your house locks. You wouldn’t wait a whole year to make sure your doors still work, right? Your business needs the same care.

Why Testing Often Matters

Your enemies never sleep. Hackers scan the internet all day, every day. They look for weak spots in systems just like yours. If you only test once a year, you give them 364 days to find problems you don’t know about.

Regular security tests help you:

• Find problems before bad guys do
• Keep up with new attack methods
• Follow rules that keep your business legal
• Show insurance companies you’re serious about safety

What Makes Security Testing Different from Simple Scans?

Most businesses run automatic scans that find common problems. These are good, but they miss the tricky stuff.

Real security tests use human thinking. A person tries to break into your systems like a real attacker would. They:

• Chain small problems together to make big ones
• Find logic errors that computers miss
• Test if your fixes actually work
• Think like a criminal to find creative attack paths

How Often Should You Test?

At Least Once Per Year

Every business should test once yearly. This is the bare minimum. Most rules and laws require this.

After Big Changes

Test every time you:

• Update your main software
• Change your network setup
• Add new tools or systems
• Connect to new partners

Changes create new weak spots. Test right after to catch them early.

High-Risk Businesses Need More

Some businesses face bigger dangers:

Test Every 3 Months If You

• Handle money (banks, payment companies)
• Store health records
• Run online stores
• Work with government data

Test Every 6 Months If You

• Run a growing tech company
• Launch new features often
• Store customer information
• Have remote workers

Test Once Yearly If You

• Run a small, stable business
• Don’t change systems much
• Handle low-risk information

After Security Problems

Got hacked? Test right away. You need to know:

• How they got in
• What else might be broken
• If your fixes worked

Continuous Testing for Fast-Moving Companies

Some companies change their systems every week. They need ongoing tests that happen automatically after each change.

What Affects Your Testing Schedule?

Several things change how often you should test:

Your Business Type

• Banks and hospitals: Test more often (dangerous if hacked)
• Online stores: Test after every major update
• Small offices: Test yearly unless big changes happen

How Fast You Change Things

• Daily updates: Need continuous testing
• Monthly changes: Test quarterly
• Rare changes: Test yearly

What You Store

• Credit cards and health records: Test often
• Public information: Test less often
• Trade secrets: Test very often

Your Comfort with Risk

• Very careful companies: Test quarterly
• Normal risk tolerance: Test twice yearly
• Higher risk acceptance: Test yearly

The Difference Between Scans and Real Tests

Automatic Scans	Human Security Tests
Find known problems	Find creative attack paths
Run weekly or monthly	Run yearly or quarterly
Check for common issues	Test real-world scenarios
Good for basic monitoring	Good for deep security checks

You need both. Scans catch obvious problems. Human tests find the sneaky ones.

Don’t Forget to Check Your Fixes

Finding problems is just the first step. You must make sure your fixes actually work.

Why checking matters

• Fixes sometimes don’t work completely
• New problems can appear when you fix old ones
• Similar problems might exist in other places
• You need proof for audits and insurance

Questions to ask after fixing

• Did we fix the real cause or just hide the problem?
• Are there similar issues in other parts of our system?
• Did our fix create new weak spots?

Making Smart Testing Decisions

Your testing schedule should match your situation. Consider:

Test more often if you

• Handle sensitive data
• Change systems frequently
• Face strict regulations
• Have been attacked before
• Serve many customers online

Test less often if you

• Run a stable, simple business
• Have low-risk information
• Make few system changes
• Operate mostly offline

Security testing isn’t a one-time task. It’s an ongoing process that protects your business, customers, and reputation.

Start with yearly tests as your minimum. Add more testing as your business grows, changes, or faces higher risks. Remember: the cost of testing is always less than the cost of getting hacked.

Your testing schedule should grow with your business. What works for a small shop won’t work for a big company. Stay flexible, but stay protected.

The key is finding the right balance for your specific situation. Too little testing leaves you exposed. Too much testing wastes money. Work with security experts to find your perfect schedule.