What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing, or pen testing, is an authorized simulation of a cyberattack to assess a system’s vulnerabilities. With the rise of cyber threats, regular security audits are essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses before they can be exploited. Using attacker-like tactics, cybersecurity testers help businesses proactively strengthen defenses and prepare for potential impacts.
These simulated attacks rigorously test a system’s resilience by evaluating its capacity to withstand threats from both trusted and untrusted sources. A successful pen test depends on clearly defining the scope to ensure thorough examination of all relevant parts of the system. This process helps identify vulnerabilities at various levels, providing insight into the system’s robustness against potential attacks.
Penetration testing offers valuable insights into how well a system’s defenses hold up, allowing businesses to make informed adjustments to their security posture. For example, the results can guide enhancements to a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and aid in patching any discovered vulnerabilities. By examining the findings of a pen test, organizations can strengthen their security framework and better protect against emerging threats.
Common Benefits of Pen Testing
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Business software and systems are ideally designed with the purpose of eradicating any chance of deadly security flaws. To cut the long detail short, the pen test dives into the depth to examine how well that objective is achieved. Regarding web application security, pen testing commonly improves a web application firewall (WAF). This testing involves security breaches of application systems (e.g. application protocol interfaces (APIs), front/backend servers and more). It comes with various pros for a company. Let’s explore the gist below.
- Robust malware detection and other vulnerabilities
- Easy to timely detect SQL injection attack
- Demonstration of robustness of controls
- Static analysis and dynamic analysis of systems
- Fulfill compliance requirements for sensitive data privacy (e.g HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS)
- Provide optimized budget priorities for management.
How Much Access is Provided to the Pen Testers?
Whether the pen testers are going to execute external testing or internal testing, varying degrees of information and access are given to testers. It depends on the goals of a pen tester. Some cases allow pen testers to follow a single approach at the beginning and stick with it throughout. Other situations demand to evolve the testing strategy based on the awareness level about the system during the pen test. Let’s go through the tertiary access levels of pen testing.
Opaque Box
The testing team works on this level as unauthorized hackers. They behave as if they have no idea about the internal view of the target system. It seems as if hackers employ their tactics to probe for any externally vulnerable areas to intrude on the system.
Semi-Opaque Box
The team of testers work on this access level as semi-informed hackers having some knowledge of one or more sets of login credentials. Simulated hackers know the target’s internal code, data structures, and algorithms for further process. Pen testers might lean on well-defined test cases extracted from detailed design documents such as architectural diagrams of the target’s system.
Transparent Box
The third-degree access level explains that pen testers have complete access to the system and all the artifacts including binaries, containers, source code, and even the servers. The transparent box approach provides deep assurance within no time.
Why Do Companies Need Pen Tests?
Penetration testing helps companies understand and address potential security weaknesses before hackers exploit them. Here are key reasons why organizations rely on pen testing:
Reveal Exploitable Weaknesses: Pen tests simulate real cyberattacks to show how hackers might breach systems, helping security teams prepare effective defenses.
Recommended by Experts: Cybersecurity authorities, including the U.S. government, strongly endorse pen testing to counter threats like ransomware and phishing.
Regulatory Compliance: Regulations like HIPAA and GDPR often require pen tests to ensure data security and compliance.
Protect Sensitive Data: Companies handling critical data, such as credit card information, rely on pen tests to prevent potential data breaches.
Difference Between Pen Testing and Automated Testing
Pen testing is normally a manual effort, but pen testers also leverage automated tools and scanning equipment while testing. In some scenarios, they go beyond the scope of primary knowledge and tools to understand the latest cyber attack techniques. This in-depth examination of the vulnerability assessment requires automated testing.
Manual Pen Testing
Manual penetration testing unfolds primary-level weaknesses. It also includes business logic that automated testing can neglect (e.g. system integrity checks and data validation). If you want to identify false positives highlighted by automated testing, go for a manual pen test approach. These testers think and analyze data deeply to target their attacks like automated solutions cannot perform.
Automated Testing
An automated approach in system testing generates faster results. Fewer specialized professionals can easily use automated tools. These automated penetration testing tools track results without any external help, but can also export them to the central reporting platform. Manual test results may vary from test to test, whereas automation produces the same results on the same system.
What are the Pen Testing Tools Types?
If you are thinking there is a one-size-fits-all tool for pen testing, you need to review it. Different targets require different toolkits for application scanning, port scanning, Wi-Fi break-ins, or direct network penetration. Broadly speaking, pen testing tools fit into five categories in the context of their types.
- Reconnaissance tools for network hosts and open ports discovery.
- Vulnerability detectors or scanners for discovering glitches in-network services, APIs, and web applications
- The proxy tools are specialized for generic man-in-the-middle proxies or web proxies.
- System footholds or assets access easy through exploitation toolkit.
- Post-exploitation tools assist seamless interaction with systems, maintenance and access expansion. It also helps achieve attack aims.
What are the Penetration Testing Stages?
The pen testing process is classified into five different stages necessary to implement for required results.
In-depth Planning
The first stage revolves around defining the test scope and end objectives, including systems that need to be addressed and all the testing methods to be employed. The other part of this stage involves intelligent data gathering such as mail servers, domain names, and networks. It helps in-depth plan about how a target operates and its potential susceptibilities.
Scanning
The second stage works on knowing how the target system will react to phishing attacks or other intrusion attempts. It can be typically performed using:
Dynamic Analysis
This process refers to scanning and evaluation of an application’s code in a running mode. Experts consider it the most professional and practical way of inspection. It takes you through the application’s performance in real time.
Static Analysis
It involves the inspection of an application to understand the way it responds while running. The leading-edge tools can better scan the code in a single attempt.
Simulated Access
The third step involves simulated web application attacks, including cross-site scripting, and backdoor shell attacks to uncover the potential weaknesses of the target. Testers take advantage and exploit the susceptibilities. They typically use escalating privileges, traffic interceptions, and data theft to gauge the damage extent they can cause.
Access Maintenance
This step measures if the susceptibility is potent enough to help you gain a persistent presence in the exploited setup. It is the phase of the test where the bad entity gains in-depth access. This approach is to stimulate Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) for required results. These vulnerabilities persist in a system for a long time to steal the most confidential data of an organization.
Analysis
The outcomes of the pen test are compiled for further analysis. The analytic report includes the following details.
- Sensitive information that was accessed
- Specific system vulnerabilities that were exploited
- The total time pen tester remained undetected in the system.
The security team of the organization analyzes the information to help properly configure the WAF settings and other app security solutions of an enterprise. The aim is to fix the shortcomings and protect the systems against future potential attacks.
Important Pen Testing Methods
Penetration testing is performed using various methods. Let’s explore each of them.
Internal Testing
A pen tester launches a simulated attack by a malicious insider to access an application behind its firewall. In an internal test, employing a simulated rogue employee is not necessary but a common scenario can work where the credentials of an employee were stolen due to malware or any other attack.
External Testing
This type of testing has a wider scope where the tester aims at the assets of a company. They are easily visible on the internet e.g. email, DNS, the web application, company website and more. The aim is to get authorization to the sensitive data and extract valuable information.
Blind Testing
This testing provides only the name of the enterprise to the tester that is being targeted. It provides security personnel with a real-time view of how an actual assault would take place on a system and what would be the possible response.
Double-blind Testing
This testing involves an approach where security personnel have no prior information about the simulated attack. The tester performs as the breach attempt occurs in real-time and there is no time to build any defenses before the attack.
System Targeted Testing
This method involves both the security team and tester. They work aligned and keep each other aware of their movements. In this scenario, the security team can get real-time feedback from the simulated hacker for further analysis.
What Step to Take Next?
Organizations should implement the pen testing technique to identify loopholes and evaluate the overall security posture. By simulating the modern age cyber attacks, pen tests provide a proactive in-depth analysis of potential gaps in systems, networks, and applications. If you want to improve the security tiers of your organization, prefer to lean on Advanced IT pen testing procedures and solutions for tailored security programs that manage potential risks. With the best cybersecurity services, stay one step ahead of the hackers and protect valuable company assets without being exploited by malicious actors.
