Whether you’re building an application or a huge digital empire, you need to ensure that all personal information remains safe and isn’t misused in any way by invaders.

While following security protocol is great, it’s also important to test its effectiveness. One of the best ways to go about this is to think like a hacker and attempt to penetrate your own system.

This is called a simulation attack and is conducted by digital security experts or a penetration testing service during a penetration test. The tests helps identify any trapped doors, loopholes, or gaps in the coding that can be taken advantage of, which developers can then fix to ensure strong security.

If you’re opting for network security testing, here are three things you need to keep in mind.

Information Gathering Is A Crucial Step

The first and the most crucial step to conducting a network penetration test is gathering information. No matter how well you think you know your own code, there can always be vulnerabilities and loopholes that can be exploited.

Most experts use external tools like Nmap to extract true IP DNS records of addresses like MX, NS, PTR, or A which are helpful in vulnerability scanning. There are other similar tools that help experts detect the different hosts on a given network, the services they provide, and all the different versions they are running.

Knowing this is important because certain versions of the software have common vulnerabilities across them, and this information can be crucial when it comes to designing a penetration testing strategy.

Use Threat Modeling To Your Advantage

Threats are enemies, and when you’re dealing with enemies, you’re better off knowing what you’re dealing with than fighting an unknown phantom. This is where threat modeling comes in.

Once you have the necessary information you need, run tests and map out potential threats. Make sure you keep track of all the activities conducted during the pen test and evaluate the risk rankings given to the new vulnerabilities discovered.

Not All Vulnerabilities Are Worth Trying To Exploit

Vulnerabilities vary in severity and risk, and not all of them are worth going after. The final stage of pen tests involves some decision making on your part when it comes to deciding which vulnerabilities are worth going after and which ones are not. This will not only make the process quicker, but also save costs.

If you’re on the hunt for a reliable penetration testing provider, please don’t hesitate to contact us, the team behind Lean Security, and discuss your project.

We provide different types of penetration testing services. You can also email us your queries at info@leansecurity.com.au.