Penetration test or vulnerability scan?

Both are useful, and they answer different questions.

What a vulnerability scan does

A scanner compares your systems with a list of known weaknesses: outdated software, missing patches, common misconfigurations. It is fast, cheap to repeat and good at covering a lot of ground.

What a penetration test adds

A person decides what to try, chains small weaknesses together and checks whether they matter in your context. Typical findings are access controls that can be bypassed, flaws in application logic and a low-risk issue that becomes serious when combined with another.

How to choose

• Run scans often, as routine hygiene.
• Commission a penetration test before a launch, after a big change, or when a customer or regulator asks for independent evidence.
• Use both: the scan keeps the basics clean so the test time goes to what a tool cannot see.