Cyber Security

Penetration testing helps organizations identify and fix security gaps by simulating real-world attacks in a controlled, measurable way.

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking or white-hat testing, is the controlled practice of simulating cyberattacks on a system, application, or network to identify and address vulnerabilities. These weaknesses might include coding flaws, misconfigurations, or outdated security controls.

Federal guidance from NIST Special Publication 800-115 describes penetration testing as an essential security assessment technique for identifying system weaknesses before adversaries exploit them (NIST SP 800-115, 2008). Research published by the SANS Institute highlights that manual penetration testing often uncovers complex vulnerabilities missed by automated scanning tools, emphasizing its importance for a thorough security posture (SANS Whitepaper, 2020).

Penetration tests can be executed on public-facing IP ranges, internal applications, or even isolated environments like staging servers. The process allows organizations to assess their true exposure and determine how well their security policies, technologies, and personnel can prevent or respond to an intrusion.

How Can Penetration Testing Protect You?

• Uncovers Hidden Vulnerabilities: Penetration testing identifies weaknesses that automated tools may overlook, such as business logic flaws or misconfigured access controls. Early detection reduces the risk of exploitation.
• Prevents Costly Data Breaches: Simulated attacks reveal how unauthorized users could gain access to sensitive data. This helps organizations close gaps before they are targeted in real-world incidents.
• Strengthens Incident Response: Testing provides a controlled way to evaluate how effectively your team can detect and respond to attacks. It helps refine procedures and improve response times.
• Guides Smarter Security Investments: Results highlight the systems and processes most in need of attention. This supports more informed decisions about where to allocate security resources.
• Supports Regulatory Compliance: Frameworks such as CMMC, NIST 800-53, and FedRAMP recommend or require penetration testing to demonstrate control effectiveness and maintain audit readiness.

When To Conduct Penetration Testing

Vaultes recommends organizations conduct penetration tests at an annual cadence. Further testing is recommended after any of the following events: 

• Major infrastructure or application changes
• Office relocations
• Policy updates affecting access control
• Application of new patches or security tools
• Cloud migration or expansion of external services

Frequency should also reflect your organization’s size, risk tolerance, cloud architecture, and regulatory requirements.

How To Conduct Penetration Testing 

Vaultes follows a methodical approach that aligns with industry standards and compliance frameworks:

• Scoping and Planning: Define objectives, rules of engagement, and targets (internal or external). Select the type of test—targeted, blind, double-blind, internal, or external.
• Reconnaissance and Scanning: Identify exposed systems and map out known vulnerabilities using tools like Nmap, Metasploit, or custom scripts.
• Exploitation: Attempt to bypass controls and escalate privileges to simulate data exfiltration or lateral movement within the environment.
• Analysis and Reporting: Deliver a clear, actionable report that maps each vulnerability to a threat scenario and provides prioritized remediation guidance.

Each test is tailored to reflect your operating environment, compliance obligations, and technical architecture.

Vaultes’ Penetration Testing Expertise

Vaultes Enterprise Solutions is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) providing penetration testing services to both federal and commercial clients. We apply adversarial techniques in a controlled setting to expose gaps in protection, validate controls, and improve system resilience.

Our Proven Results:

• For the Department of Commerce, Vaultes helped reduce vulnerabilities by 90% in six months through structured remediation following penetration testing and security reviews.
• At the United States Agency for Global Media, we supported boundary remapping and continuous monitoring across 40,000 systems, improving credentialed scan coverage from 50% to 98%, directly informing penetration test scope and follow-up analysis.
• As a FedRAMP 3PAO, Vaultes combines assessment expertise with technical knowledge to ensure tests align with regulatory expectations.

Are You Ready To be Proactive?

Vaultes offers penetration testing that is compliance-aware, technically rigorous, and tailored to your risk environment. Whether you are preparing for an audit, building toward a Zero Trust architecture, or responding to evolving threat vectors, we can help.

Contact Vaultes today to learn more about our penetration testing services and how we support secure modernization.

In today’s digital world, cybersecurity threats are constant and evolving. Protecting your organization means staying ahead of these threats with comprehensive cybersecurity strategies designed to reduce risk by starting with the most common source of breaches: human error.

What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity aims to protect people and organizations from nefarious cyber attacks. Cyber attacks are often enacted by threat actors who engage in phishing attempts, malware, ransomware, and various other techniques with the goal of stealing your information and exposing your organization’s assets. Every day these attacks are becoming more and more difficult to spot due to advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the rapid expansion of cloud computing, and remote work.

Effective cybersecurity helps safeguard your organization’s assets, reputation, and mission by identifying risks before they can be exploited. Having a mature cybersecurity environment is no longer optional, it is essential to defending your data and systems from an evolving threat landscape.

Why Do You Need Cybersecurity?

Whether you manage sensitive customer data, operate in the federal space, or simply rely on digital tools to run your business, your systems are a constant target. Threat actors are not just going after large enterprises; they exploit gaps wherever they find them, especially in organizations that lack a clear security strategy. Strong cybersecurity not only reduces risk but builds trust with your stakeholders, clients, and partners.

One of the most overlooked yet critical aspects of cybersecurity is the human element. Even with advanced tools in place, organizations remain vulnerable if their people are not prepared.

Reducing Risk Where It Matters Most

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report, over 95% of cybersecurity incidents involve human error. Untrained staff are often the entry point for social engineering attacks like phishing, which remain the most common breach vector.

Vaultes addresses this risk head-on. Through targeted cybersecurity awareness training, policy development, and ongoing support, we help clients build strong security cultures that reduce exposure and improve compliance. Our team will provide training through the creation of crucial documents such as playbooks and Plans of Actions & Milestones (POA&M), tabletop exercises, and hands-on training seminars. Click here to see how we have supported the City of Austin with training seminars.

Detecting and Preventing Threats

Whether it’s a nation-state threat actor or a financially motivated attack, sophisticated threats often bypass traditional defenses. Vaultes deploys layered security strategies including:

• Advanced intrusion detection systems
• Real-time incident response
• Threat-hunting and forensics support

These solutions are paired with strong policy and governance frameworks aligned to FedRAMP, NIST SP 800-53, and CMMC standards.

Why Organizations Trust Us

Vaultes is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) with deep experience supporting both federal and commercial clients. Our team includes cleared cybersecurity professionals and engineers who have delivered measurable results for clients like the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), where we supported over 40,000 systems, improved credentialed scanning from 50% to 98%, and restructured the agency’s risk and compliance strategy.

Proactive Cybersecurity Services
We deliver a full range of cybersecurity and risk management services:

Vulnerability Management
Identify and fix high-risk vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

Security Assessments & Audits
We provide FISMA, NIST, CMMC, and FedRAMP assessments, including ATO support and audit preparation.

Security Awareness & Training
Build a cyber-aware workforce through targeted training and live simulations.

Cloud & Infrastructure Protection
Implement AWS-native tools like GuardDuty, QuickSight, and CloudWatch to protect cloud workloads.

Incident Response
We implement Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Incident Response Playbooks to quickly isolate and respond to threats.

A Partner You Can Trust

Vaultes offers scalable cybersecurity services that protect your systems and your mission. From vulnerability assessments to complete compliance programs, we help you build a secure, compliant, and resilient organization.

Security is at the core of our company. Vaultes first started as a strictly cybersecurity firm in 2016, and over the years we have expanded our work from commercial cybersecurity services into government cybersecurity and more recently, digital services. Though we have evolved our services beyond cybersecurity, security remains a core approach to our work. 

Digital Services at Vaultes is broad and includes end to end development with a strong focus on DevSecOps, Platform as a Service (Paas), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), across a range of tech stacks. We have strong human centered design expertise that includes content design, research, service design, 508 compliance, and information architecture. While we’re experts in a range of methods, tools, and development languages, our work centers on these core values: 

• Our work is frictionless – we ensure that our solutions are as easy to work with as our teams 
• Our work is secure by design – we choose simple, scalable, and trusted approaches and technologies  

What does secure by design mean? 

Security should always be a top priority for digital assets, starting from the very beginning.  It is far easier to build security into a solution from the beginning, rather than refactor it later. We work in an agile, iterative approach, but believe that even an MVP or V1 should incorporate security best practices from the get-go by selecting the appropriate tech stack.  

This, naturally, begins by building a solution to user needs. Our teams are experts at aligning with clients on requirements at the very beginning of the project, and working closely with our stakeholders and our users to understand exactly what needs to happen and when in order to deliver the right solution.  

The right solution should be extensible, but that doesn’t mean the team needs to build immediately for all future needs. Our teams know how to balance the immediate needs of a v0 with the future proofing needs of a fully built out solution. We aim for simplicity over complexity, as complexity for complexity’s sake can introduce additional attack vectors and security gaps. We leverage modular or microservice architectures to minimize failure potential, maximize fault tolerance, reduce dependencies, ensure scalability, and allow for more robust test coverage and security monitoring. Containerization and mature CI/CD practices means we have environment parity and incorporate reliable security and functional testing across all environments. We utilize industry best practices and trusted tooling for dependency monitoring and patch management.  

What makes a solution insecure? 

Overly complex solutions that require too much upkeep to stay secure are bound to introduce vulnerabilities either through code-based or user vectors. Users will always find convenient workarounds if a solution is not intuitive. In urban planning and built environments, these workarounds are known as desire paths. If a sidewalk or path does not represent the most convenient route for a pedestrian, they will develop their own. [insert image of desire path].  

A desire path often introduces security vulnerabilities. As another example, imagine your employee must use a complex password to log in to a company tool. If those password requirements are too complicated, your employee will resort to writing their password down on a post-it note and leaving it on their desk for all to see- rendering   your security posture moot. Our simple approach encourages users to use digital platforms intuitively, ensuring that metaphorical post-it notes are never needed.  

What about our approach is secure? 

We leverage open-source tech stacks and tools as much as possible for several reasons. One, popular open-source technologies have robust user communities that provide extensive monitoring and “peer review” over vulnerabilities, errors, patches, and version updates. Not only are such tools and languages supported by a deep well of experts and contributors, but they are also often free or low cost to utilize, ensuring a high return on investment. When appropriate, we utilize off-the-shelf (OTS), custom-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools, Software as a Service (SaaS), PaaS, and IaaS tools. By leveraging tooling and services that have dedicated support and development teams we benefit from additional layers of security in addition to what our team can provide. No solution is 100% secure, but by taking a Swiss cheese model to risk management [insert swiss cheese model graphic], we can ensure that we have multiple methods and channels for identifying potential vulnerabilities.  

In addition to our tech stack choices, we are experts in building robust DevSecOps practices that incorporate security, quality, and compliance throughout the development and release lifecycle. This will include incorporating automated security testing, vulnerability scanning, and continuous compliance monitoring into our Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, ensuring that security measures are consistently applied with every code deployment. 

We build monitoring application health into all our projects, using native tools such as AWS CloudWatch or third-party monitoring services to track DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics, application health, performance, and user activity.  

Our cybersecurity roots bleed into our digital services projects. Vaultes has completed over 140 assessments for federal systems, including for Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) Moderate and High-Value Assets. As a certified FedRAMP 3PAO, we undergo independent testing and certification to ensure our expertise in auditing, as well as NIST 800-53 and 800-37 Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes. We understand what it takes to make systems and solutions compliant.  

We iteratively release via Agile development methods with structured roll-back processes in place. This allows our teams to quickly course correct or release patches to improve security postures. All of these practices ensure that we are proactively thinking about security from gathering user requirements through release to operation and maintenance.  

Case study: Small Business Administration SBA.gov  

Over the past three years, our Development and Cloud Engineering team has been an integral partner in developing a modernized and consolidated architecture for flagship SBA.gov. We refactored SBA.gov from a decoupled content management system to an AWS hosted recoupled architecture and fully updated to the most recent Drupal version. We leveraged the United States Web Design System (USWDS) to develop a customized theme that adhered to security and design best practices. Throughout this process, our team used Agile development methods to incrementally decommission the legacy SBA.gov system and migrate content to a new Drupal application. This approach allowed our team to continue operations on SBA.gov while simultaneously implementing the new Drupal architecture. Perhaps most importantly, this method enabled us to address ongoing needs, such as implementing security updates, during the upgrade. 

Our team chose to use Drupal and open-source and off-the-shelf technologies like LAMP stack, IaaS and PaaS tools, and USWDS for this effort for several reasons: they allowed us to move quickly, ensure high performance and high support, and we could leverage multiple layers of security and best practices baked into the technologies themselves. Drupal, for instance, is enterprise-ready, and has security practices baked in such as form data validation, brute force detection, and admin dashboards for auditing login attempts and account provisioning – all of which reduce potential security vulnerabilities like code injections or insecure identify management processes. As a content management system, Drupal has database encryption which can be customized according to Federal and state-specific laws. Drupal provides extensions, called modules, to further customize a site’s functionality, all of which are built with internal security protocols that make it harder for hackers to create vulnerabilities. Since the new SBA.gov is hosted on AWS, there are additional built-in features that improve performance and reduce attack vectors and exploits like DDoS attacks. 

We also implemented cybersecurity services to safeguard SBA.gov such as robust logging, continuous monitoring, code sniffing and dependency management tools, and security and uptime alerting to meet SBA’s stringent security requirements. Architecture diagrams and other essential documentation were produced for the system’s Authorization to Operate (ATO) packages development, which are crucial for managing and mitigating security risks.  Our work with SBA.gov is just one example of how our cybersecurity roots permeate all of our projects. If you’d like to learn more about our approach to Digital Government Services and our Secure by Design practices, schedule time to speak with us at info@vaultes.com. 

Security architecture forms the foundation of a good cyber security strategy. It is a type of security design composed of multiple components, including the tools, processes, and technologies used to protect your business from external threats. A good architecture framework will quickly identify and address potential threats and gaps in security, helping you protect sensitive data, such as intellectual property and employees’ social security numbers, with minimal effort on your own part after the architecture is implemented. This makes it an excellent tool for companies that have large amounts of data but not the resources to continually monitor it.

A robust architecture offers several benefits. In addition to its ability to identify and mitigate threats, architecture gives businesses the information they need to strengthen their security protocols and make changes where necessary. A secure architecture also includes detailed security controls that help protect enterprise infrastructure and applications. With more cyber security threats than ever before, having a strong architecture is essential to maintaining control over your digital data, thus preventing expensive recovery efforts and lawsuits that often stem from a data breach.

Key Attributes of Security Architecture

All secure architecture is defined by four main attributes, which help professionals identify the structure’s efficacy and complete updates to it when necessary. Learning about this basic structure can also help you better understand how your architecture works and the benefits it offers to your company.

Relationships and Dependencies

Each component of a secure architecture depends on another component to function properly. These relationships are what help the architecture identify threats, relay messages to other components, and automatically take appropriate action against harmful intrusions. If one part of your architecture is flawed, it’s likely that the rest of the system will be unable to do its job. As a result, it’s important to have a cyber security professional review and update your architecture on a frequent basis to ensure that your data is protected at all times.

Standardization

Security architecture is affordable because it is standardized. This means that controls within the architecture can be used over and over, minimizing the need for customized solutions and individual designs. The controls are typically based on a few factors, including benchmarking, risk management, finances, and legal and regulatory compliance.

Most organizations can use similar designs to meet their security needs. In rare cases, additional elements may be added to meet more uncommon security concerns or business needs, though your business will likely be fully protected by using a standardized architecture system.

Architectural Form

While secure architecture is generally standardized in terms of what it does, it can take a variety of forms once installed. A catalog of controls, relationship diagrams, principles, and other important operating information is included within the architecture to help cyber security professionals navigate each individual system. The form of your secure architecture will depend on the type of data you have and the primary goals of the architecture.

With the included catalog, however, professionals can easily learn and understand how the system works and make repairs if necessary to ensure your data’s continual protection.

Drivers of Security Architecture

The controls present in your architecture are based on risk management principles, benchmarking and good practice, finances, and legal and regulatory concerns. By using principles, benchmarking, and good practices, you can be sure that your architecture will be designed using the latest technologies and an understanding of new security risks. This helps protect your data with cutting-edge techniques.

Finances are also a concern, and your budget will be taken into account throughout the process. Finally, some cyber security features must adhere to legal and regulatory guidelines and will be installed accordingly. This architecture can also help you meet industry guidelines by adequately protecting the data of employees and customers in accordance with the latest compliance regulations.

Speak to Cyber Security Solutions Firm

Contact the cyber security experts at Vaultes today for more information about security architecture and how it can benefit your company. Vaultes will assess your business assets and the level of security threats they face, then design an architecture that helps mitigate risks. They will then implement it for you. The team also provides monitoring services to help seek out and eliminate threats during daily operations, so you can be sure that your information will always be protected.

Risk management is at the foundation of any strong cybersecurity program. It is designed to help prevent hackers from taking advantage of vulnerabilities within your computer system, letting you retain control of your sensitive data and helping you avoid the legal and financial implications that a data breach often creates. Implementing a robust risk management system should be a priority for all businesses that store employee and client data, information about intellectual property, and other important data within their computer system. Here’s why risk management is important and how you can strengthen your IT systems.

Preventing Exploitation of an IT Program

You can help prevent your IT programs from being exploited by following a thorough mapping and management process. Doing so allows you to compile a comprehensive list of potential vulnerabilities and threats to your system. Then you can establish a thorough plan for how to combat them. At the end of this process, you will have a stronger system and a decreased risk of losing sensitive data. This, in turn, decreases the likelihood of needing to spend money on recovery efforts, litigation, and related difficulties after a breach.

Mapping Vulnerabilities

Mapping vulnerabilities refers to the process of analyzing your IT systems to identify security flaws that can result in hacks. These can be concealed in the design of your software, improper configuration, glitches and other problems with its ability to function, as well as the improper deployment of the software. Some vulnerabilities are easier to resolve than others, making it important to conduct these tests often so that you can get a head start on fixing them. Once you are aware of any problems with your system, you can begin the risk management process.

The Process of Risk Management

Mapping vulnerabilities helps check off the first two steps of the risk management process: checking for issues through testing and identifying them through penetration tests, which can pinpoint anomalies that suggest an attack has either taken place or is possible in the future. Understanding the depth of your IT risks provides a strong foundation on which to build the rest of your risk management strategy.

The next step involves verifying vulnerabilities. Categorize each potential problem with your system according to its severity and check that the discoveries do in fact present a risk to your data. Organizing each issue helps you and your IT team understand which ones are the most pressing. Then you can create a plan for resolving them in the order of importance, as some may be less likely to be taken advantage of than others.

You can then mitigate risks by figuring out ways to prevent them from being exploited before they are fully resolved. You may need to temporarily use new software, advise staff to take extra precautions for the time being, or refrain from using certain features. This helps you protect your system while more permanent solutions are being developed or applied, rather than leaving your data open to hacks for longer.

Implementing these solutions is the final step of the risk management process. You may be able to patch the system with small tweaks to the coding, upgrades to the software, and other relatively quick solutions that address specific concerns. In some cases, a completely new system may be recommended. While this entails far more work, it can be crucial to ensuring your data is protected at all times.

Strengthening Your Infrastructure

With a strong vulnerability management framework in place, your business can stay ahead of problems and continually review its IT practices for potential risks. You can strengthen your system with firewall software, frequent upgrades when offered, strong spam filters, and other technology-based solutions.

Education is also an important part of strengthening your infrastructure. Provide employees with cybersecurity and safety training each year to reinforce important skills. They should use strong passwords, be wary of links and attachments sent in emails, and refuse to give out information that could be used to hack into your security system. Robust education, combined with up to date software systems, can help you prevent cyber attacks and data breaches that could otherwise damage your company’s finances and reputation.

Working with Accredited Solution Experts at Vaultes

Speak with the cybersecurity experts at Vaultes for more information about risk management solutions. The Vaultes team can build a risk management system from the ground up, beginning with mapping and assessment, or test your current systems for vulnerabilities to help you identify areas of improvement. Vaultes can also assist with compliance audits, IT staff augmentation, and cybersecurity awareness, monitoring, training, and architecture development, among other services.

Cyber security threats are a constant threat in the Information Age, and malevolent actors such as hackers are continually probing for any weakness to exploit. Once they are in, they can steal and sell sensitive, confidential information or install ransomware to extort businesses. Businesses should be on the lookout for these threats and minimize risks as much as possible, having a sort of cyber security awareness.

However, the biggest source of risk is the most unavoidable – humans. Human error contributes the most to allowing malevolent actors into systems. Vaultes is trained in reducing the human error factor by teaching employees cyber security tactics and good data hygiene, offering a sense of cyber security awareness.

Avoid Phishing or Malware

Even the best cyber security systems are flawed because they revolve around and rely on humans. According to IBM, over 95% of cyber security incidents occurred in part due to human error. Employees untrained in cyber security is the leading factor in expensive data breaches.

Malevolent actors know this and attempt to use social engineering, which entails phishing and installing malware. Phishing is the process by which a hacker will pretend to be an authoritative source, possibly offering help, and trick an employee into giving their security credentials without realizing who is really on the other end. Hackers can also use a similar guise to convince employees to install what is described as necessary software, such as a small patch or even security update, but is actually malware. This malware will then infiltrate the system and steal confidential data later to be sold or held for ransom.

Dispose Data Safely

One big misconception that is generally held is that as soon as a file is deleted, it is gone forever. This, however, is not the case. Data can remain on devices until it is completely wiped or until the first deletion is conducted by a proper data deletion software that removes all traces of the information. A good way to think of this is disposing of paper in a trash can; it may be gone, but can still be detected and read by someone who is motivated enough to find that information. Data deletion software would be the equivalent of a paper shredder that destroys the data completely.

Data can also be stolen from devices that are misplaced or lost. Many companies have exposed thousands of personal records through the simple misplacement or theft of a company device. When malevolent actors find this device, they can use it as an access point into the larger network, especially if it is left unencrypted.

Increase Protection

The best way for a company to reduce future costs stemming from litigation or punitive measures after a data breach is to increase their protection. Professional cyber security awareness consulting can teach employees about social engineering, including how to spot the common tactics used by hackers and how to react to them. This also teaches employees to have good cyber hygiene by enhancing their password management, setting up encryption systems, and installing secure data disposal software.

Build and Maintain a Firewall

Cyber security experts can also build and install firewalls to keep threats away from employees and the sensitive data companies are entrusted with. These firewalls prevent a large share of hacking attempts by eliminating them before they begin. They can operate in search and destroy methods that prevent unknown installed malware from collecting data.

Hackers often employ tactics that send out attack attempts en masse and concentrate on the ones that are not stopped. For many of them, infiltrating systems is just a numbers game. It’s only a matter of time before they find an unprotected system. While there is always risk due to the human element, this takes the extra step of stopping social engineering attempts before they reach your employees, reducing risk as much as possible.

Software “Alarm” System

The trained security experts at Vaultes also offer comprehensive 24/7 monitoring services. Another source of protection is an alarm software that detects attempts from malevolent actors to infiltrate networks and steal data. These Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are always vigilant for hacking attempts and will stop malware immediately. This also sends a report and triggers an Incident Response procedure immediately to contain and eliminate any potential threat.

Create a Unique Plan with Vaultes

All businesses are unique and require different cyber security protocols. However, no business is immune to the threat that malevolent actors present. Contact Vaultes Enterprise Solutions today to schedule a consultation on how you can reduce your business’s risk from human error, unsecured data deletion, and unprotected or under-protected systems.