What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration Testing, commonly known as a “pen test,” is a classification of security test that simulates a cyberattack to identify weaknesses in a computer system. Penetration testers are security specialists who specialise in ethical hacking, which uses hacking tools and techniques to repair security flaws rather than create harm.

Companies pay penetration testers to conduct simulated attacks on their apps, networks, and other assets. Pen testers assist security teams in identifying significant vulnerabilities and improving overall security posture by conducting simulated assaults.

“Penetration testing” and “ethical hacking” are commonly used synonymously; however, there is a distinction. Ethical hacking is a broad term in cybersecurity that refers to any application of hacking abilities to improve network security. Ethical hackers use a variety of approaches, including penetration tests. Ethical hackers may offer malware analysis, risk assessment, and other services.

Types of Pen Testing

All penetration tests imitate an attack on a company’s computer systems. However, different types of pen testing focus on various sorts of enterprise assets.

1. Application Pen Tests: Application pen tests seek flaws in apps and related systems, such as online applications and websites, mobile and IoT apps, cloud apps, and application programming interfaces (API).
2. Network Penetration Tests: Network penetration testing targets the entire company’s computer network. There are two kinds of network penetration testing: external and internal. External tests involve pen testers imitating the behaviour of external hackers to detect security flaws in internet-facing assets such as servers, routers, websites, and employee workstations. These are known as “external tests” because pen testers attempt to break the network from the outside. Internal pen tests simulate the actions of malevolent insiders or hackers using stolen credentials. The purpose is to identify vulnerabilities that a person could exploit from within the network, such as misusing access privileges to steal sensitive data.
3. Hardware Pen Testing: These security tests check for weaknesses in network-connected devices such as laptops, mobile and IoT devices, and operational technology (OT). Pen testers may seek out software defects, such as an operating system exploit that allows hackers to obtain remote access to an endpoint. They may seek physical vulnerabilities, such as an insufficiently secured data centre to which bad actors could gain access. The testing team may also investigate how hackers could spread from a compromised device to other network sections.
4. Personnel Pen Tests: Personnel pen testing detects employees’ cybersecurity hygiene flaws. Put another way, these security tests determine a company’s susceptibility to social engineering assaults. Personnel pen testers use phishing, vishing (voice phishing), and smishing (SMS phishing) to fool employees into disclosing confidential information. Personnel pen tests may also be used to assess physical office security. Pen testers, for example, may attempt to enter a building while disguised as delivery persons. This strategy, known as “tailgating,” is widely used by real-world thieves.

Penetration Testing Process

Before starting a pen test, the testing team and the company agree on the scope of the test. The scope specifies which systems will be tested, when the testing will take place, and what methods pen testers can use. The scope defines how much information the pen testers will have ahead of time.

In a black-box test, pen testers do not know the target system. They must conduct their research to devise an assault strategy, much as a real-world hacker would.

In a white-box test, pen testers have complete access to the target system. The company provides network diagrams, source codes, credentials, and more information.

In a gray-box test, pen testers receive some but not much information. For example, the corporation may share IP ranges for network devices, but pen testers must independently investigate those IP ranges for vulnerabilities.

Regardless of the approach used by the testing team, the overall procedures are usually the same.

Reconnaissance: The testing team collects information on the target system. Pen testers employ various recon approaches according to the target. For example, pen testers may examine the source code if the target is an app. If the target is a whole network, pen testers may employ a packet analyser to analyse network traffic flows.

Target discovery and development: Pen testers use the information collected during the recon process to uncover exploitable vulnerabilities in the system. Pen testers, for example, may use a port scanner such as Nmap to hunt for open ports through which malware might be sent. For a social engineering pen test, the testing team may create a fictitious story, or “pretext,” which they deploy in a phishing email to collect employee credentials. Pen testers may use this stage to assess how security features respond to breaches. For example, they could send suspicious traffic to the company’s firewall and see what occurs. Pen testers will apply what they’ve learned to avoid detection throughout the test.

Exploitation: The test team launches the actual attack. Pen testers may attempt several attacks depending on the target system, vulnerabilities discovered, and the scope of the test. Some of the most often tested attacks are:

1. SQL Injections: Pen testers aim to cause a website or app to reveal sensitive information by inserting malicious code into input areas.
2. Cross-site Scripting: Pen testers attempt to insert malicious code into a company’s website.
3. Denial-of-Service Attacks: Pen testers attempt to bring servers, apps, and other network resources down by overloading them with traffic.
4. Social Engineering: Phishing, luring, pretexting, and other strategies are used by pen testers to deceive employees into compromising network security.
5. Brute Force Attacks: Pen testers use scripts to generate and test potential passwords until one succeeds.
6. Man-in-the-Middle Attacks: This involves pen testers intercepting traffic between two devices or users to obtain sensitive information or plant malware.

Escalation: Once pen testers have exploited a vulnerability to get access to the system, they attempt to roam about and access further areas. This step is called “vulnerability chaining” since pen testers progress from vulnerability to vulnerability to gain access to the network. For example, they may begin by installing a keylogger on an employee’s computer. They can use the keylogger to obtain the employee’s credentials. They can utilise these details to gain access to a sensitive database.

At this point, the pen tester aims to maintain access and escalate their privileges while avoiding security safeguards. Pen testers perform all of this to mimic advanced persistent threats (APTs), which can remain in a system for weeks, months, or even years before detection.

Cleanup and Reporting: After the simulated attack, pen testers wipe up any traces they left behind, such as back door trojans or configuration changes. That way, real-world hackers cannot leverage the pen testers’ exploits to enter the network.

The pen testers then create a report on the attack. The report typically outlines vulnerabilities discovered, exploits employed, data on how they bypassed security mechanisms and descriptions of their actions within the system. The report may also offer specific recommendations for vulnerability remediation. The internal security team can use this information to build defences against real-world threats.

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