A complete guide for penetration testing services

Ethical hacking is the word!

Well penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking, is becoming a popular technique as it secures an important place in the cybersecurity strategies of modern businesses. As organizations are rapidly adopting the idea of digital infrastructure, the risk of cyberattacks is becoming a thing of concern with each passing day. This indeed is making it crucial for businesses to identify and address weaknesses that can have a catastrophic effect on the overall business.

On the other hand, penetration testing services are engineered to take this responsibility. They are leveraged to simulate real-world cyber-attacks to reveal weaknesses in the system, applications, and networks. This well-put and proactive effort aids companies to have an upper hand when it is the question of potential threats, ensuring their security protocols are strong, robust, and up to date. In our blog, we aim to share an end-to-end guide to help you explore the fundamentals of penetration testing, its phases, its types, and a lot more.

So, stay tuned!

What is penetration testing?

Penetration testing or pen test is a security procedure where a cyber-security expert carries out an ethically planned attack to identify and fix vulnerabilities in a computer system. The overall idea behind this concept is a simulated attack to diagnose weak spots in the system’s defense mechanism that malicious attackers are looking for.

To understand this point on the more technical front, pen testers often make use of the same tools, processes, and techniques used by notorious cyber criminals to find out and shed light on the potential weakness in a system. These tests commonly simulate a range of attacks that pose risk to the business and can examine if the system is strong enough to sustain attacks from both authenticated and unauthenticated perceptions. With a predefined and realistic scope, a pen test can get to the depth of any aspect of a system.

Why do companies pen test?

Penetration testing brings businesses a series of benefits as mentioned in the image above. Given, these benefits, various reasons make it inevitable for businesses to conduct pen tests.

According to a report by Kaspersky Lab, over 40% of companies are short of sufficient cybersecurity. The same report reveals that the penetration of vulnerable web applications accounted for 73% of successful breaches in the business sector. These numbers indeed are alarming and make it even more necessary for businesses to take pen tests.

Well, along with these statistics, there are three major reasons why companies should conduct pen tests.

Reason #1: Pen tests are more thorough as compared to vulnerability assessments alone. Well, pen tests and vulnerability assessments both work towards the identification of weaknesses in apps, devices, and networks. On the other hand, both these methods offer a slightly different perspective, but deliver a promising outlook to businesses in terms of security. This is why, many organizations use both these techniques instead of just one.

Vulnerability assessments are automated scans that regularly identify known system flaws for review, helping security teams quickly detect common issues. Penetration tests take this further by simulating real attacks on identified vulnerabilities, giving security teams a clear picture of how hackers could exploit these weaknesses. This insight allows them to design more effective security controls to counter real-world cyber threats.

Reason #2: It’s recommended by cybersecurity experts. Well, most cybersecurity experts and leaders do pro-pen testing as a proactive measure. These professionals consider pen tests mission-critical to identify and address vulnerabilities that can be missed by standard security tools. By creating real-world cyberattacks, pen testing clears the air of potential threats and ways they can be mitigated. This expert advice displays the gravity and the importance of undertaking regular pen tests for your systems, to ensure they are robust and resilient even against sophisticated cyberattacks. Companies that go by this advice are in a win-win situation as their security status is heightened and they showcase proactive commitment towards protecting sensitive information and maintaining customer trust and loyalty.

Reason #3: Penetration testing is also crucial for maintaining regulatory compliance. Data security regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), require organizations to implement specific security controls. Pen testing helps companies demonstrate compliance by verifying that these controls are effective in protecting sensitive data.

By simulating potential cyberattacks, pen tests confirm that an organization’s defenses can withstand real-world threats, thereby reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties. This proactive approach not only ensures adherence to legal requirements but also strengthens the organization’s overall security posture, making it a vital component of any compliance strategy.

If you are keen to know more about other aspects of testing, you can check out our blog on Hardware and Firmware Testing.

Types of Penetration Testing

Pen testing as we know is a type of ethical hacking, that exercises different approaches to get to the loopholes of the system that can be vulnerable to cyberattacks. As one size doesn’t fit all, in pen tests too there are different types involved, keeping in mind the purpose and targets from a security aspect. However, having a good enough idea about these types is crucial for implementing an effective plan of action.

Right from evaluating external threats to retrospection of internal defense, each method is designed to offer unique insights into potential weaknesses. By shortlisting the best possible match, organizations can work toward fortifying their security posture and address vulnerabilities well in advance, i.e. even before being exploited by notorious cybercriminals.

Let’s understand what these types are:

Black Box Penetration Testing: In this type, the attacker creates a genuine cyber-attack without information about the target system. Overall, this process includes garnering knowledge about the system by impersonating the attacker and carrying it out in a way a black hat attacker would do. This approach helps identify existing vulnerabilities and demonstrates how far an attacker could penetrate the system with no initial information.

White Box Penetration Testing: In this type of pen test, attackers have developer-level knowledge about the system and contain an assessment of source code. In the Whitebox technique, attackers gain complete access to the system more than in black box testing. This technique is primarily used to identify potential threats to the system which can be a result of bad programming, insufficient defensive measures, and misconfigurations.

Grey Box Penetration Testing: In this type of pen test the attacker is more familiar with the target network and has an idea about aspects such as network configurations, subnets, or specific IPs to carry out the test. Here the attacker survives with the basic idea about how the machine is like. There are chances that here attackers might be given low-level login credentials or access to the system, to help them plan a better approach. Technically, this saves time in the investigation of the target.

Five Phases of Pen Testing

The diagram below shares a quick idea of the five phases of penetration testing.

Five Phases of Penetration TestingFive Phases of Penetration Testing
Figure: Five Phases of Penetration Testing

There are five crucial phases associated with penetration testing. Each phase is a building block for the next one and is vital in leading a comprehensive and successful security assessment. From garnering initial data to discovering weak spots in the system’s security landscape, these phases play a pivotal role in fortifying the system’s security posture. By taking into consideration this process, organizations are in a better position to identify risks, prioritize necessary fixes, and strengthen the system against cyberattacks.

Phase 1: Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the initial phase of penetration testing. In this phase, the tester is expected to collect the maximum amount of information related to the target system. This can include aspects such as network topology, Operating System (OS) and applications, user accounts, and more. Here the primary goal is to gather data to the utmost possible level to help the tester plan an effective and foolproof attack strategy.

This phase can be categorized as active, or passive based on the methods being used to collect information. The passive type of reconnaissance extracts data from resources available publicly. On the other hand, active reconnaissance involves direct interaction with the target system to pull information.  On the broader front, both these methods are equally important to effectively target vulnerabilities.

Phase 2: Scanning

Next in the line is scanning. This phase is involved in a detailed technical review of the target system. To carry this out, tools like network mappers, vulnerability scanners, and others are used extensively to get an idea of how the target systems react to a variety of intrusions.

Scanning is a phase that supports testers to identify the way the target app behaves under various situations and diagnose weak spots that are vulnerable and can potentially be exploited. It basically, maps the system’s digital topography, allowing the tester to spot viable points of access that an attacker is most likely to use.

Phase 3: Vulnerability Assessment

In the third phase of penetration testing, testers work on analyzing the gathered data during phases one and two, i.e. reconnaissance and scanning, to shed light and assess potential weaknesses.  Well, vulnerability assessment undoubtedly is potent enough on its own, but it becomes far more effective when mindfully combined with other phases of penetration testing.

During this stage, testers assess the risk associated with identified vulnerabilities, often utilizing resources like the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). The NVD, maintained by the U.S. government, rates the severity of software vulnerabilities listed in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).

Phase 4: Exploitation

Stage number four talks about exploitation. Once vulnerabilities are identified as explained in phase three, it is then time for exploitation. By exploitation we mean, in this step pen testers attempt to access the target system and exploit the identified vulnerabilities. They most often do this by deploying tools to replicate real-world cyberattacks.

This one, perhaps is the most delicate phase of all, as getting an entry into the target system demands evasion of security restrictions.

Caution: Even though system crashes are rare during penetration testing, testers must still take all the precautions to make sure nothing is compromised or damaged.

Phase 4: Reporting

The final stage in the process is called “reporting”. Well, this is a phase where testers put together a comprehensive report, sharing details about the findings from the overall penetration testing exercise. This includes information on vulnerabilities, data exploited, and the secret source of the simulated breach.

It is also important to understand that this report is not just a list of issues, but also shares invaluable recommendations to deal with vulnerabilities, including options such as software patches, proposed configuration changes, stronger security policies and so on. This report is like a blueprint, helping businesses build a more robust and secure IT infrastructure.

Latest Trends and Technologies in Penetration Testing

No matter what steps you take to have a competitive advantage for your business. Staying up to date with the latest trends and technologies never goes in vain.

Let’s find out what it has in store and look at the top three options.

1. Cloud security

As companies are rapidly embracing the cloud for various reasons, it is important to understand that most cloud service providers i.e. CSPs are not yet adept at providing secure authentication or encryption to businesses. This is why cloud-based testing or web testing is an aspect organizations must include in their penetration testing plan to secure endpoints and identify threats, weaknesses, and loopholes.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This goes unsaid, that AI is taking over the world and businesses are increasingly adopting this technology to safeguard their systems and IT infrastructure. AI-based automation streamlines the penetration testing process on a large scale and in a more reliable manner. In the future, more and more testers are expected to adopt AI in pen tests for better accuracy, improved evaluation, and elevated threat detection.

3. Integrations with GRC, SIEM, and Helpdesk systems

As patching systems, rules, and procedures become integral to penetration testing, Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance. (GRC), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), and helpdesk systems need to adapt accordingly. These systems help unify multiple teams into a cohesive cybersecurity unit by automating and streamlining tasks related to support and risk mitigation. When a vulnerability is detected, alerts are triggered to notify the appropriate teams and provide recommendations for corrective actions.

Conclusion

Cyberattacks are the biggest threat to any business. Not only do they just steal data, but these attacks have catastrophic after-effects, where the company can lose its reputation, customer trust, and a huge sum of money of course.

As one of the best practices, it is highly recommended to perform pen tests at least once a year or after making significant changes to the application. However, based on your IT infrastructure having a robust pen testing plan aligning with your needs is a must.

Well, penetration testing is an unquenchable area and the growing need for testing is making it a go-to solution for businesses to keep their IT ecosystem safe and sound.

Calsoft being a technology-first company, never compromises on the security aspects and at the same time, we leverage robust and resilient software testing solutions. We offer end-to-end managed testing services using advanced testing techniques and tools, that include beta testing, and behaviour-driven testing to deliver top-notch products and services. Our focus is on accelerating our customers’ journey towards the adoption of digital transformation by delivering ‘just-in-time’ quality checks for their products and solutions.

 

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