VAPT for Compliance and Investor Readiness for an Irish Company

Overview

A growing company in Ireland needed a vulnerability assessment and penetration test (VAPT) of its web application and APIs. The test was a mandatory requirement for its compliance obligations, and the company also wanted credible security evidence to share during investor discussions. The client’s name is kept confidential.

• Client: Technology company, Ireland (name confidential)
• Scope: Web application and APIs
• Services: VAPT, API security assessment, remediation support and retesting
• Outcome: All identified issues fixed and verified, with a report ready for compliance review and investor due diligence

The Challenge

The company faced two pressures at once:

• Compliance: an independent VAPT was mandatory, and auditors needed clear evidence of what was tested, what was found and how issues were resolved.
• Investors: as the company prepared to engage investors, it needed to show that customer data and the platform were properly protected, a question that increasingly comes up in technical due diligence.

A quick automated scan would not have been enough for either audience. They needed thorough, manual testing and a report that both auditors and non-technical stakeholders could rely on.

Our Approach

1. Scoping against requirements: we agreed the in-scope application, APIs and user roles with the client, aligned to what their compliance obligations required.
2. Web application testing: manual and tool-assisted testing covering authentication, session management, access control, input validation, business logic and configuration, mapped to the OWASP Top 10.
3. API security testing: testing every endpoint for broken object-level and function-level authorisation, data exposure, rate limiting and injection, guided by the OWASP API Security Top 10.
4. Clear reporting: an executive summary for leadership and investors, plus detailed technical findings with severity, evidence and remediation steps for developers.
5. Remediation support and retesting: we helped the team understand each issue, then retested to verify every fix.

Results

We identified security issues across the web application and APIs. The client’s team fixed them, and our retest verified that all reported issues were resolved. The final documentation gave them independent proof of a clean, verified security baseline.

How the VAPT Helped With Compliance

• Met the mandatory requirement for independent security testing.
• Provided auditors with a documented scope, methodology, findings and verified remediation.
• Demonstrated a working process for finding and fixing vulnerabilities, which most security frameworks expect.

How the VAPT Helped With Investors

Security is now a standard part of investor due diligence, especially for companies handling customer data. A recent, independent VAPT with verified fixes helps founders:

• Answer due diligence questions with evidence, not promises.
• Reduce perceived risk, since a breach can damage valuation, customer trust and growth.
• Show operational maturity, signalling that the team takes security and governance seriously.
• Support enterprise sales, because the same evidence answers customer security questionnaires.

The Outcome

The company completed its required VAPT with every issue fixed and verified, and went into investor conversations with independent evidence of its security posture. It now has a clear baseline to build on with regular testing as the platform grows.

Learn more about how testing supports frameworks in our guides to ISO 27001 penetration testing and API security testing.

Need VAPT for Compliance or Fundraising?

Whether you are preparing for an audit, a customer security review or investor due diligence, book a free consultation and we will help you scope the right assessment.