Penetration testing—also known as pentesting or ethical hacking—is a simulated cyberattack that checks your organization’s security controls and policies against real-world attack tactics. It is an important requirement for PCI-DSS, FedRAMP, and many other regulatory compliance frameworks.
Most penetration tests focus on technical vulnerabilities in IT systems. They do not typically involve phishing or social engineering attacks as a means of initial access. Some organizations offer specialized social engineering penetration tests for this purpose, but these unique services are not included in most compliance requirements.
Internal Pentesting vs. External Pentesting
There are many types of penetration tests, but most fall into one of two broad categories:
- Internal penetration testing assumes the attacker is already inside the network. The test simulates how the organization’s security controls and policies adapt to threats after they bypass the network perimeter. The result shows how much damage an insider threat can do to the organization.
- External penetration testing begins with no permissions or special access to the system being tested. This type of test simulates the actions a cybercriminal would have to take to gain initial entry, conduct lateral movement, and exploit vulnerable systems in the environment from scratch.
Who Performs Penetration Testing?
Ethical hackers conduct penetration tests to help organizations gain deep knowledge of their IT and network security risk profile. Penetration testers come from a variety of backgrounds, but typically offer in-depth cybersecurity experience as their most valuable asset.
Professional penetration testers know how to exploit vulnerabilities and leverage real-world malware without harming the systems they are testing. They provide evidence of the vulnerabilities they discover, and document the tactics, techniques, and procedures they use to exploit them.
What is the Difference Between Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Management?
Vulnerability management often involves conducting vulnerability assessments. These assessments are designed to pinpoint security flaws in the organization’s tech stack and provide guidance on how to address them.
At first glance, this appears to be very similar to penetration testing. However, the two concepts have important distinctions.
The main difference between penetration testing and vulnerability management is what happens after a vulnerability is detected.
- In a vulnerability management scenario, the organization installs a patch that fixes the security weakness and then runs another scan to confirm.
- In a penetration test, the tester exploits the discovered vulnerability and documents exactly how much damage it could do in a real-world attack.
Here’s another way to look at it: Successful penetration testing usually involves conducting vulnerability scans to assess security flaws. However, vulnerability management does not always mean conducting penetration tests.
3 Types of Penetration Testing
Different variations of penetration testing offer different degrees of insight into your security posture. Depending on your security and compliance needs, you may request different types of penetration testing services, or implement a combination of tests.
1. White Box Penetration Testing
Under this kind of penetration test, the tester has complete visibility into the network and the systems being tested. Nothing is hidden from view, so the tester can use your software code when performing the test.
White box testing is a good candidate for automated testing. This allows organizations to quickly and frequently test their development environments against new and emerging threats without overlooking vulnerabilities that only insiders may be able to exploit.
2. Black Box Penetration Testing
In a black box penetration test, the tester has no previous information about the system being tested. They must approach the system without any context or knowledge of its security controls. This kind of testing is very challenging to conduct, but it can provide deep and extensive results.
Black box penetration testing is not easily automated. Some repetitive tasks in the process can be automated, but the test itself must be conducted manually by an expert ethical hacker. When done right, it provides a comprehensive picture of the organization’s ability to secure internal assets, external assets, and code.
3. Grey Box Penetration Testing
This type of penetration test gives the tester limited information about the systems and software being tested. The intention is to find out how a privileged user could potentially acquire additional access and observe what they could do with it.
Grey box testing is useful for determining whether insider threats can conduct privilege escalation attacks or cooperate with external attackers. Both of these scenarios require some visibility into the network, but not the full transparency of the glass box approach.
5 Stages of Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is typically divided into five stages. This is especially true when the tester has no prior information of the systems being tested—like when an organization hires a third-party penetration testing service to meet compliance goals.
The five testing stages are:
- Reconnaissance. First, the tester gathers information about the system. This typically involves using tools like Nmap and Wireshark to detect open ports and exposed assets.
- Scanning. The tester then scans discovered assets for vulnerabilities. Vulnerability scanning tools like Metasploit can identify known vulnerabilities, but professional pentesters also search for unknown zero-day vulnerabilities as well.
- Exploitation. After a vulnerability is discovered, it will be exploited. Pentesters may use a variety of tools, including real-world malware, to break into the system and its response.
- Backdoor installation. The next phase of the simulation involves installing a backdoor so the pentester can go back and launch additional attacks on the network.
- Anti-tracking. Obfuscating the attack and prevention detection is the final phase of the attack. The tester may hide their activities by disabling security logs or erasing indicators of compromise.
These are largely the same attack methods a real-world hacker would use when targeting your organization. The main difference is that this attack is conducted with transparency, with every step documented in comprehensive detail. The resulting report offers valuable insight into your organization’s security weaknesses and pinpoints the things you could be doing better.
Have Novawatch Conduct Penetration Testing for You
Novawatch is a professional managed security services provider (MSSP) vendor that specializes in helping organizations demonstrate pentesting compliance. Our team of highly competent ethical hackers will help you measure your organization’s resilience against sophisticated attacks and provide guidance to improving your overall security posture. Speak to an expert to find out how we can help.
