Business process diagrams help analysts spot weaknesses in workflows, approvals, handoffs, and segregation of duties, but they do not directly test the technical security of the underlying applications, infrastructure, or configurations. To identify vulnerabilities within solution technology, cybersecurity practice usespenetration testing, which is a controlled, authorized simulation of real-world attacks against systems. A penetration test examines how a solution behaves under adversarial conditions and validates whether security controls actually prevent exploitation, not just whether they are designed on paper.
Penetration testing typically includes reconnaissance, enumeration, and attempts to exploit weaknesses in areas such as authentication, session management, access control, input handling, APIs, encryption usage, misconfigurations, and exposed services. Results provide evidence-based findings, including exploit paths, impact, affected components, and recommended remediations. This makes penetration testing especially valuable before go-live, after major changes, and periodically for high-risk systems to confirm the security posture remains acceptable.
The other options do not fit the objective. A security patch is a remediation action taken after vulnerabilities are known, not a method for discovering them. A smoke test is a basic functional check to confirm the system builds and runs; it is not a security assessment. Vulnerability-as-a-Service is a delivery model that may include scanning or testing, but the recognized tool or technique for identifying vulnerabilities in the technology itself in this context is apenetration test, which directly evaluates exploitability and real security impact.
