Understanding TIBER and penetration testing: A guide for financial institutions

24 February 2025 As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) institutions must adopt robust security measures to protect their sensitive data and maintain customer trust. Two prominent assessment methods for enhancing cyber security are Threat Intelligence Based Ethical Red Teaming (TIBER) and traditional penetration testing. While both approaches aim to identify vulnerabilities within an organisation's systems, they differ significantly in their methodologies and benefits.

Deepening your understanding of the two assessment approaches is important because regulatory bodies often mandate specific cyber security measures, including TIBER and penetration testing. They specify such assessments to ensure BFSI institutions are adequately protected against cyber threats, safeguard sensitive customer information and maintain the integrity of BFSI systems.

What is TIBER? The term TIBER refers to a regulatory-driven comprehensive framework designed for BFSI institutions operating in Europe to simulate real-world cyber attacks by leveraging threat intelligence. This methodology focuses on understanding genuine threat actors and cyber criminals' tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs). TIBER goes beyond traditional testing by incorporating intelligence on current and emerging threats, allowing banking, financial services and insurance organisations to assess their security posture against the most relevant risks they face.

The key features of TIBER TIBER is driven by threat intelligence, using the insight gained to tailor the testing process, ensuring that the scenarios reflect the specific threats relevant to the organisation. It takes a holistic approach incorporating technical testing and assessment of people and processes, simulating how an actual attacker would navigate through the organisation. TIBER also delivers realistic attack simulations by mimicking the behaviour of advanced persistent threats (APTs) to provide insights into how well an organisation can detect, respond to and recover from an attack.

What is penetration testing? Penetration testing, often called pen testing', is a more traditional approach to identifying vulnerabilities within an organisation's systems. It involves authorised simulated attacks on networks, applications and systems to uncover security weaknesses. Pen testing can be performed manually or through automated tools, typically focusing on specific areas of the infrastructure.

The key features of penetration testing Pen tests are targeted assessments, usually covering specific systems or applications, allowing organisations to identify vulnerabilities in a more focused manner. BFSI providers can choose from a variety of types of pen testing, including black-box, white-box and grey-box testing, depending on the level of information provided to the testers. Pen testing often generates detailed reports that outline vulnerabilities, potential impacts and remediation recommendations. These reports are valuable proof that the organisation complies with all relevant regulations and legislation.

The differences between TIBER and penetration testing While both TIBER and pen testing aim to enhance an organisation's security posture, they differ in several key aspects:

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TIBER Pen testing

Scope and focus Comprehensive and intelligence-driven, focusing on the entire organisation and simulating advanced threat scenarios. Typically narrower in scope, targeting specific systems or applications to identify vulnerabilities.

Methodology Utilises real-world threat intelligence to form testing scenarios relevant to your business, mimicking the behaviour of genuine attackers. May rely on established frameworks and tools that don't have the same level of threat intelligence integration as TIBER.

Outcome and insights Provides a deeper understanding of an organisation's security posture against sophisticated threats and includes assessments of processes and people. Focuses on identifying specific vulnerabilities and providing remediation steps.

The benefits of TIBER and penetration testing Both TIBER and pen testing offer unique benefits to organisations, particularly in the BFSI sector:

Both methodologies enhance an organisation's security posture by helping to identify and remediate vulnerabilities and strengthening the overall security framework. Alongside these benefits, TIBER and pen testing support regulatory compliance and are often required by regulators within the BFSI sector to ensure that organisations proactively manage cyber security risks. The two methodologies also increase resilience by delivering an understanding of potential attack vectors and insight into how to improve incident response capabilities. These forms of assessment build stakeholder confidence and trust because they demonstrate the organisation's commitment to robust cyber security practices.

Your cyber security journey partner At Resillion, we have the experience and expertise to guide and support you at every step of your cyber security journey. Our red team is ready to test your organisation's resilience against real cyber threats based on intelligence reports. Then, to improve your resilience against cyber attacks, our team can help you evaluate the results of TIBER-based red teaming engagements and support the resolution of weak spots in your blue team's defences, a combination often known as purple teaming. Alternatively, you can choose our pen testing services for a streamlined, efficient and tailored solution designed to meet the needs of modern software development and system environments.

Reach out to discuss which methodology is the best option for your organisation.

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