Penetration Testing: All That You Need to Know

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing is a cybersecurity process that examines computer systems, websites, and apps for vulnerabilities that might lead to a cyber attack. Pen tests try to replicate an unauthorised attack to find vulnerabilities that would give system access. These checks run automatically or manually using security tools. Pen testing is merely one part of a comprehensive security program, which includes numerous monitoring and testing technologies.

Ethical hackers perform these penetration tests. These in-house personnel or third parties imitate an attacker’s techniques and activities to assess the hackability of an organisation’s computer systems, network, or online services. Organisations can also utilise pen testing to ensure that they are following compliance rules.

Why is Pen Testing Performed?

Penetration testing is critical in business because –

• A penetration test identifies the most hidden vulnerabilities in your system that hackers may attack.

• A timely vulnerability report and repair saves you money and avoids shame after a cyber attack or data breach.

• A penetration test has a massive cost-value ratio. It has a favourable influence on your firm’s security and commercial decisions.

• Financial institutions such as banks, stock exchanges, and investment banks want their data to be safe, and penetration testing is critical to ensuring security.

• The best defence against hackers is proactive penetration testing.

• Penetration testing also aids in obtaining and maintaining critical certifications (such as PCI-DSS, The Privacy Act, and others) frequently required for your corporate operations.

Pen Testing Approaches 

There are three types of penetration testing methodologies used:

• Black Box Testing: The pen tester is provided little to no knowledge about a company’s IT architecture. Its advantage is that it simulates a real-world assault in which the pen tester adopts the position of an uneducated attacker.

• White Box Testing: The pen tester has complete knowledge of the source code and environment. The main target of the test is to conduct an in-depth security audit of a company’s systems and offer as much data as possible to the pen tester.

• Grey Box Testing: The pen tester has limited understanding of or access to an internal network or online application.

Types of Pen Testing

The following are the various types of penetration testing: 

1. Social Engineering Test
2. Physical Penetration Test
3. Network Services Test
4. Web Application Test
5. Wireless Security Test
6. Client-side Test

Each sort of penetration test necessitates specialised expertise, methodology, and tools, as well as alignment with a specific business purpose.

These objectives might range from increasing employee understanding of social engineering assaults to adopting secure code development to uncover software code defects in real-time or satisfy legal or compliance needs.

What are the Six Penetration Testing Stages?

Penetration testing is divided into six stages:

• Reconnaissance: Gathering information about a target to better attack it.

• Scanning: Using technical tools to learn more about the target’s externally visible assets, such as Nmap to look for open ports.

• Gaining access: The pen tester can send a payload to the target and exploit it using the information obtained during the reconnaissance and scanning phases.

• Maintaining access: Once the pen tester has gained access, they may try to establish persistent access to the target to retrieve as much data as feasible.

• Covering tracks: The next step is to delete all traces of their access, such as audit trails and log events.

• Reporting: Provides an overview of the findings, a vulnerability assessment and proposed remedial measures.