Is your business wondering if penetration testing is worth it? The answer is a resounding yes. Penetration testing is a crucial service that involves testing a computer system, network, or web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. Penetration testing employs simulated testing to truly understand your attack surface and real-world risks associated with weaknesses discovered in your environment. This article will explain why penetration testing is important and what it involves.
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration Testing is an authorised testing service that assesses the security of an application, network or system. Network penetration testing is one of the types of penetration testing. The goal of a penetration test is to identify and exploit security vulnerabilities that a real attacker could use to gain access, steal data or disrupt business operations.
By simulating real-world attacks, penetration testing can locate potential entry points and security gaps that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and resources.
What does Penetration Testing involve?
Pen testing encompasses a variety of methods and techniques, each designed to test different aspects of an organisation’s defences. The use of specialised penetration testing tools is crucial in this process, as they perform functions such as app scanning, finding breach points, uncovering weaknesses, locating access points, and expanding access to systems. This section delves into the intricacies of penetration testing, exploring the methodologies employed, the stages involved, and the critical importance of this practice in maintaining robust cybersecurity.
1. Planning and Preparation
This initial phase involves defining the scope and objectives of the penetration testing, identifying systems that will be part of the penetration test and assets, including the internal network, and obtaining necessary permissions and approvals from relevant stakeholders. It also involves gathering information about the environment, such as network architecture, system configurations, and applications.
There are 3 types of tests which influence what data is provided before the test starts. These include:
2. White Box Penetration Testing
Source code is given to the security testing, as well as architectural maps and information, and credentials to access the environment.
This provides a very deep insight into the security of an environment.
3. Grey Box Testing
Grey box testing is when security testers are given limited information about the environment, such as standard user credentials, names of services that are used, and some documentation on what the app can do.
This provides a light insight into how the app works, without disclosing too much technical details.
4. Black Box Penetration Testing
Black box testing is when security testers are not given any information about the environment, with the exception of systems in scope.
This is the most realistic form as it represents where an external threat actor would need to start from.
5. Reconnaissance
During reconnaissance, information is gathered about the target environment using various techniques ranging from open-source intelligence to network scanning and reconnaissance tools.
6. Enumeration
In this phase, penetration testers actively scan and enumerate in-scope systems to identify potential vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and weaknesses. Techniques such as port scanning, service enumeration, and fingerprinting are used to gather detailed information about target systems and services. Manual analysis of services such as web applications and open ports also takes place.
7. Exploitation with Penetration Testing Tools
Depending on what level of depth of testing is decided on during the scoping section, security testers may attempt to exploit identified vulnerabilities using the same tools, techniques, and processes as real attackers to gain unauthorised access to systems or sensitive information. This may involve leveraging known exploits, custom scripts, or manual techniques to bypass security controls and gain privileged access to systems.
8. Post-Exploitation
After gaining initial access, penetration testers explore the target environment further in an attempt to escalate privileges, pivot to other systems in scope, and gather additional information. This phase may involve conducting lateral movement within the network, extracting sensitive data, or performing other malicious activities to assess the impact of a successful breach.
9. Reporting
Upon completion of the penetration test, security testers compile their findings and observations into a comprehensive report. The report typically includes details about identified security weaknesses, their potential impact, a technical risk score based on risk frameworks (such as a CVSS score), and recommended remediation actions.
Why is Penetration Testing important for identifying security vulnerabilities?
This proactive approach to security allows organisations to understand weaknesses that affects them and will help them address these, thereby reducing the risk of real malicious actors exploiting these weaknesses.
IT and security professionals play a crucial role in responding to penetration tests, ensuring that identified vulnerabilities are addressed promptly.
Penetration testing is a great way to identify vulnerabilities within systems, networks, and applications before malicious actors exploit them. Moreover, pen testing is essential for risk management purposes. By identifying and prioritising security risks based on the likelihood and potential impact of exploitation, organisations can allocate resources more effectively to mitigate high-risk vulnerabilities. This risk-based approach enables organisations to focus their efforts on addressing the most critical security issues, thereby reducing their overall risk exposure and enhancing their resilience to cyber threats. Penetration testing also helps evaluate and strengthen security measures, ensuring that all mandated security measures are effective.
Furthermore, pen testing helps organisations meet regulatory requirements and compliance standards. Many regulatory frameworks, such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO 27001, mandate regular penetration testing as part of security best practices. By conducting pen tests and demonstrating compliance with these standards, organisations can avoid potential non-compliance consequences such as penalties, fines, and other legal or regulatory consequences.
Whilst having an initial Pen test will give businesses an overview of their security posture and give them insights into the state of their current attack surface, regular security tests ensure that all updates to the environment do not contain any new vulnerabilities within the environment. This is why it is important to arrange a penetration test every time a change is introduced to the environment, or if has been some time since the last penetration test.
It is also recommended to have a penetration test externally rather than internally. This is because internal teams may be bias due to the current knowledge of the environment, or they may overlook a vulnerability if they think that the impact may not be very big. However, by getting a third party to perform the security test, there are no preconceptions that can affect the integrity of testing and will give the most accurate results.
What are the consequences of not having regular penetration tests?
Without having regular security tests of their environment, businesses may not fully understand their attack surface and any associated risks. If a business does not have a detailed overview of their current attack surface, they may overlook some risks that are present in their environment, possibly leading to a data breach. These data breaches often carry fines, and in some cases may result in jail time.
Customers trust businesses to keep their personal data safe from unauthorised hands. Reputational damage can occur to businesses if a data breach happens as a result of not regularly reviewing their security posture, and a penetration test can aid with ensuring the safe storage and handling of this data.
If a business is storing sensitive data of its customers, they are responsible for maintaining the security of this data. By having regular penetration tests, they can ensure that their data is stored as safely as possible. If the security of the data is not checked regularly, there could be some unknown vulnerabilities within the environment, which could be stolen by malicious actors, sometimes even without the business noticing.
Penetration testing with SecQuest
Our team of pen testers are equipped with a vast array of industry knowledge to provide you with a detailed report, outlining the findings of a targeted point-in-time assessment of the security of your application, network or system. If you’re interested in understanding the security vulnerabilities of your organisation, you can reach out to SecQuest here.
