This question is really common, but it is essential to determine whether a penetration test or vulnerability assessment is the best way to evaluate your system. A penetration test is a realistic simulation of an actual hacking attack, targeting vulnerabilities that may be present in your computing infrastructure and line servers. An ethical hacking event helps you to detect and analyze any points of weakness or failure so you can make specific corrections and improvements.  A vulnerability assessment is not as intrusive since it does not require an active infiltration of your computing environment. This test gives you a solid overview of the general health of your computing system and its vulnerabilities, but it does not provide the deeper insights of a real hacking event that a pen test offers. Frankly, no other type of security testing currently exists that returns the type of in-depth and real-time information of a pen test for IT teams trying to understand where your vulnerabilities lie and how hackers may try to compromise them.