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What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing (pen-testing) is a controlled, ethical cyber-attack that safely exploits vulnerabilities in a network, application, or device so security teams can fix them before real attackers strike.

Network Pen Testing Companies

Introduction

Penetration testing, also called pen testing or ethical hacking, simulates real-world cyber-attacks on your networks, web and mobile apps, IoT devices, wireless infrastructure, and industrial control systems. By safely exploiting hidden weaknesses before criminals do, a professional pen test exposes critical vulnerabilities, quantifies business risk, and delivers the actionable insight you need to harden defenses and protect clients, data, and revenue.  This article explores penetration testing methods and tools used.

Table of Contents

Penetration Testing Overview

Penetration testing is typically performed in two major steps. 1) scanning for vulnerabilities 2) manually attempting to exploit those vulnerabilities. These Steps can be broken down into further stages. Learn more about Penetration Testing Stages and Manual Penetration Testing here. The overall penetration testing process involves gathering information about the target before the test (scoping), and then identifying possible vulnerabilities and proceeding with proof of exploit and attack paths. Once the actual penetration test is complete, the penetration testing company will optimize a report based on vulnerabilities, exploits and the steps to remediate the problems. The reporting level is critical in identifying weaknesses in your systems, with the knowledge of knowing how to fix them, before your company is exposed.

Other forms of penetration testing are also popular, which include:

The penetration testing process typically includes: conducting research; identifying vulnerabilities; exploiting weaknesses; reporting findings; and remediating issues.

It’s important to note that cybersecurity is a moving target, so once items have been remediated and retested, your systems still needs proactive measures (patches, updates, monitoring etc) since a penetration test and security assessments are only accurate for the point in time that test were performed. This creates an ongoing need for vulnerability scanning and penetration testing and most smart companies have some level of ongoing assessments.

The main high level objective of penetration testing is to identify potential security weaknesses that if exposed and attacked by a bad actor, would cause some form of harm and destruction to a company or client. Another form of Penetration testing is called client awareness and it can also be used to test an organization’s security policy, compliance and the company  employees’ security awareness.

Penetration testers are known as ethical hackers and Pen-tests are often referred to as white hat hacking, because in a pen test, the act is (or should be) controlled and simulated and used for the purpose of helping companies achieve an overall better security posture.

Penetration Testing Goals

The ultimate purpose of penetration testing is to uncover security gaps, but no two engagements are identical. Each organization defines a tailored penetration-testing scope that aligns with its specific risks and objectives, whether that’s stress-testing security policies, reviewing source code, or probing industrial control systems (ICS). Some tests focus on lateral movement, “box-to-box” or “camera-to-camera” hops, while others evaluate how well existing defenses withstand full-scale, real-world attack simulations. For security-mature companies that have already undergone multiple pen tests, a Red Team assessment often replaces standard testing to push defenses even further. In short, the most effective penetration tests are customized, not one-size-fits-all.

Penetration Testing – Scoping

Since scoping/project details will vary based on customer expectations, i.e., number of IP addresses, systems and other factors, it is virtually impossible to provide an out of the box “one size fits all” pricing quotation.  A solid pen-testing company will want to know at the very least -preliminary information and customer requirements in order to provide the most accurate quote/timeline and expectations.  Be wary of a “one price fits all” pen-test as these low price solutions that fit any scenario are most likely using an automated scan and just checking off boxes.

Why Penetration Testing?

Penetration tests should be controlled. Penetration testing companies will establish an action plan and communication plan and typically report critical vulnerabilities immediately upon finding them. A penetration test (pen test) involves the use of a variety of manual and automated techniques to simulate an attack on an company’s information systemes – either from malicious outsiders or from the company’s  own staff.

The main reason companies perform penetration testing typically fall into a category below:

  • A growing requirement for compliance and or compliance related issues (doing business with other companies and sharing critical information)
  • The impact of serious security attacks on similar companies and or industries
  • A reliance on 3rd party vendors or outsourced services
  • Significant changes to business processes, locations, networks or devices
  • To develop a greater awareness about  Cyber security attacks, and to be more proactive, rather than reactive.

Different Types of Penetration Tests

Many Penetration tests performed by the Top Penetration Testing Companies will include common hacking techniques and may or may not include the use of automated Penetration Testing tools along with Manual Penetration Testing.
 
 

Penetration testing tools

Tenable.io
https://www.tenable.com/products/tenable-io
Kali Linux version 2019.1
https://kali.org
BurpSuite Professional
https://portswigger.net/burp
OWASP ZAP Proxy
https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Zed_Attack_Proxy_Project
Metasploit Framework
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework
NMAP Security Scanner 7.7.0
https://nmap.org/
DNSRecon
https://github.com/darkoperator/dnsrecon
SSLScan
https://github.com/rbsec/sslscan

Penetration Testing Certifications

When seeking a top penetration testing company, ensure your penetration tester is qualified and well versed in methodology, techniques and tactics along with having the knowledge and experience to provide controlled penetration testing. A few Penetration Certifications include:

Conclusion

Penetration testing can be invaluable, but it is labor-intensive and requires great expertise to minimize the risk to targeted systems. Systems may be damaged or otherwise rendered inoperable during the course of penetration testing, even though the organization benefits in knowing how a system could be rendered inoperable by an intruder. Although experienced penetration testers can mitigate this risk, it can never be fully eliminated. Penetration testing should be performed only after careful consideration, notification, and planning”

Penetration Testing Services -Offensive Security

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Redbot Security, located in Denver Colorado, is a boutique penetration testing company offering full-service manual testing and vulnerability management.

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