What is penetration testing?

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A penetration test is a simulated cyberattack on a company's network, systems, and applications to identify security vulnerabilities that real-world attackers could exploit. Performed by ethical hackers, this service goes beyond automated vulnerability scanning by attempting to actively exploit discovered weaknesses to demonstrate their potential business impact. 

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The overall goal is to provide a "real-world" picture of how far an attacker could penetrate a network, what sensitive data could be accessed, and how existing defenses respond. 

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Benefits of penetration testing

• Reveals exploitable vulnerabilities: It provides a clear, evidence-based view of an organization's most pressing security weaknesses by simulating a real attack.

• Prioritizes security fixes: By demonstrating which vulnerabilities can be successfully chained together to cause damage, it helps security teams prioritize their limited resources.

• Ensure regulatory compliance.  Many industries, including finance and healthcare, are subject to strict data protection regulations like PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. Regular penetration testing is often a mandatory component of compliance, demonstrating that the company has exercised due diligence in securing sensitive data. It helps companies in regulated industries (like finance or healthcare) meet requirements from standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or ISO 27001.

• Builds stakeholder and customer trust: Regularly conducting and acting on penetration tests shows a proactive commitment to security, which builds confidence among stakeholders and customers.

• Prevent costly data breaches. A data breach is extremely expensive due to regulatory fines, legal fees, and incident response costs. The average cost of a data breach is in the millions of dollars. Penetration testing proactively identifies weaknesses that could lead to a breach, and the cost of the test is often minimal compared to the potential financial loss.

• Reduce operational downtime. Cyberattacks, especially ransomware, can cause significant operational disruption and downtime. By identifying and mitigating potential entry points, pen testing helps minimize the risk of a severe attack that could halt business operations.

• Protect brand reputation. A public data breach can severely damage a company's reputation and erode customer and partner trust. By being proactive about cybersecurity, a company can avoid the reputational fallout of a breach and project an image of reliability and trustworthiness.

• Validate security controls. A pen test validates whether existing security controls, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and access controls, are configured correctly and functioning as expected under real-world pressure.

• Test incident response capabilities. More advanced penetration tests or "covert" tests can evaluate how well the company's internal security team (the "blue team") detects, responds to, and recovers from an attack. This offers a practical training exercise that improves overall readiness.

• Improve risk management. Beyond simply identifying vulnerabilities, a penetration test demonstrates a complete attack path and shows the potential business impact. This allows security leaders to prioritize remediation efforts based on the actual risk to the business, not just a list of technical flaws.

• Foster a security-conscious culture. The findings from a penetration test can be used to raise security awareness among employees. For example, a successful social engineering test can highlight the risks of phishing, making subsequent security training programs more effective and relevant.

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Common penetration testing services

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Network penetration testing

 

This service focuses on a company's network infrastructure, including servers, firewalls, routers, switches, and other network-related endpoints. It is typically split into two types: 

• External network penetration test: Performed remotely, this test simulates an attack from outside the company's network. It targets internet-facing assets to see if a remote attacker can breach the perimeter.

• Internal network penetration test: This test is performed from within the company's network, simulating the actions of a malicious insider or an attacker who has already gained initial access. It checks for weaknesses like lateral movement, privilege escalation, and access to critical systems behind the firewall. 

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Cloud penetration testing

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With many businesses using cloud-based services, these tests focus on identifying vulnerabilities in cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or GCP. Testers look for misconfigurations in areas such as storage, access controls (IAM), and exposed services that could be exploited.

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Or any network

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The penetration testing process:

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1. Planning and reconnaissance: The testing team and the company agree on the scope, goals, and rules of engagement. Testers then gather publicly available information about the target to inform their attack strategy.

2. Scanning and vulnerability analysis: The team uses automated tools to scan the network for open ports, services, and known vulnerabilities. They then manually analyze this data to identify which flaws are most likely to be exploitable.

3. Exploitation: Ethical hackers attempt to gain unauthorized access to systems by exploiting the vulnerabilities identified in the previous phase. This phase demonstrates the true risk posed by the weaknesses.

4. Reporting: Once the test is complete, the testers provide a comprehensive report. This document details the vulnerabilities found, the methods used to exploit them, and prioritized recommendations for remediation.

5. Cleanup: The team removes any tools or backdoors used during the test to ensure the environment is left in its original state.