Pen testing, short for penetration testing, has never been more important than it is today. With ransomware, phishing, DDoS attacks and countless other tactics used by increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals, the best defence starts with knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

What is pen testing?

Pen testing is the practice of evaluating a system’s security infrastructure to find potential vulnerabilities and understand how the system could be attacked. This information is then used to suggest countermeasures that can be taken to reduce the risk of security breaches and improve security maturity.

Pen testing is conducted by hiring cybersecurity professionals. The security professionals are authorized by the company to conduct a simulated attack on its behalf to test its computer system, network, software application or other computing resource for potential loopholes.

Since the goal of a pen test is to help the company strengthen its security infrastructure, and the findings of the test are strictly used for that purpose and that purpose only, pen testers are also commonly referred to as ethical or white hat hackers.

The pen testing process

A typical pen testing process involves five steps:

· In the first step, pen testers gather information about the computing resource that needs to be tested. This information is gathered by using different tools.

· In the second step, the gathered information is studied by the testing team to identify potential vulnerabilities in the system.

· In the third step, an attack is designed to exploit the identified vulnerabilities.

· In the fourth step, the testing team evaluates the significance of the data at risk and prioritizes the vulnerabilities accordingly.

· In the fifth and last step, pen testers report on their findings and recommend ways on how the vulnerabilities can be eliminated.

Wrapping up

Sun Tzu wrote in the Art of War: “If you’re ignorant of your enemy and yourself, you’re certain to be in peril.”

Pen testing offers intelligence on how your enemy (a potential attacker) might exploit your system resources and provides insight into your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can better prepare against future cyber attacks. 

Looking for a comprehensive pen testing service for your business?

Lean Security can help.

We are expert pen testers, headquartered in the beautiful state of New South Wales. We specialize in mobile application pen tests, web application pen tests, web service pen tests, IoT pen tests, external network pen tests and source code pen tests. Contact us today to discuss your pen testing needs.