To effectively counter a hacker , it is crucial to adopt a hacker’s mindset !
Hacking through a company’s security protection used to require a lot of time and skill. However, today’s technological advances have made it more tranquilised than ever for bad actors to find an organisation’s most vulnerable points.
Penetration Testing , also known as ” Pen Testing “ or “Ethical Hacking” is the practice of testing assurance in the security of an IT system by identifying the weaknesses in the system that an attacker could exploit. The goal of pentesting is to minimise the number of retroactive upgrades and maximise organisation’s security to build a trust-worthy brand.
Penetration testing is typically performed using manual or automated technologies , or sometimes testers may use a combination of both. Automated tools have the advantage of thoroughness and consistency. These tests are repeatable , so they can measure progress or compare different installations. The manual approach lets testers use their intuition.
4 Main Reasons Why Penetration Testing is so Crucial ?
To mitigate the risk of a security incident , we need to be able to prevent, detect , respond and recover from such attacks. In the end, the main goal is to identify weaknesses in a network , machine or a piece of software.We have several side goals that pen testing activities can accomplish. Let’s discover the main four points below :
Adherence to compliance: Regulations such as HIPAA and PCI DSS require particular types of safeguards. Not protecting your organisation’ systems can put you at risk of cyber attacks that can disrupt your business, cause reputational damage and result in hefty fines. A penetration test can help ensure if the protections are in place and work effectively.
Reputation : Checking if and how an organisation can face a security breach. Security incidents can happen even in a well protected environment. It’s important to test how well IT and security personnel respond to them. This approach works best when the people handling the incident do not know whether it’s a test or a real incident.
Enhance Customer Trust. Data breaches can erode customer’s trust and potentially damage a company’s reputation. Penetration testing minimises the risk of attacks and assures clients that their data is secure and protected.
Security awareness for the employee. Some tests focus on employee responses to phishing, social engineering . They can show how effective training has been and identify employees who need additional reminders. The tests could reveal the areas that training failed to cover.
Related Reading: How often we should conduct Penetration Testing?
Penetration Testing Strategies
👉External Testing : It takes the perspective of an attacker from outside who targets the assets of a company which are visible on the internet. For example , the web application itself, the company website, the domain name servers (DNS) , the FTP and the email. The goal is to gain access and extract data.
👉Internal Testing : In an internal test, a tester with access to an application behind its firewall stimulates an attack by a malicious insider.This is one of the most common internal manual penetration testing scenarios , which involves getting into the account of a team member whose credentials are compromised due to a phishing attack. Here, the objective is to secure the system from an attacker who already has access internally. It is important for any organisation to have dynamic and regular monitoring of their system.
👉Blind Testing : In such tests, the ethical hacker is given only the name of the company whose system they are testing with no background information. Also known as the “Closed Box Penetration Test “ , this type of test provides the software teams a real-time look into how a malicious threat actor gains entry into the system. This type of pen testing requires a considerable amount of time for recognition and can be exorbitant.
👉Double-Blind Testing : In this test, the security team has no idea whether the security test has been appropriately performed . This also means that the security experts have no time to strengthen their defences before an attempted breach. It is very similar to a real-life attack scenario. This type of pentesting can help test an organization’s security , response procedures and incident identification.
👉Targeted Testing : It is a commonly used pentesting where , an ethical hacker and security teams work hand-in-hand to keep each other apprised of their capabilities. Targeted testing offers valuable insights that provide real-time feedback on a hacker’s thought process and subsequent exploits. They are also called “lights-on” as everyone who runs the pentests knows that it is being carried out and the start & end time for the pentest.
Related Reading: Is it possible to automate Penetration Testing?
3 Important Categories used to approach Penetration Testing
An Ethical hacker may perform the testing internally or externally , with or without prior knowledge of the system. His main goal is to identify safety deficiencies in your network system that may open the door to the attacker. Let us review the three main penetration testing methods , each with a varying level of information provided to the tester before and during the assessment :
Black Box penetration Testing
During this type of test, the penetration testers are provided with no prior knowledge or access to the system’s source code or configuration. Instead , the testers use their expertise to analyse the target system’s behaviour and attempt to exploit any discovered vulnerabilities.
The Tester literally goes in blind to find the vulnerabilities independently using both automated and manual Pen-Testing techniques, vulnerability scans , social engineering attacks, and Trial by error basis.
The Black box Penetration test is also known as the “Closed-Box” Penetration Test. This particular test is one of the most accurate representation of “Real Cyber Attack “ because just like the hacker, the Penetration Tester too has zero knowledge about the systems running in the organisation have to carry out the surveillance independently.
Grey Box Penetration Testing
In this category of penetration testing, the tester is granted some more information to break into the client security system. Also known as the “Translucent Box” , here the tester requires a solid understanding of the target environment before any testing is attempted. This approach is used more commonly in controlled environments like military and intelligence agencies.
Grey Box Pen Testing is quite essential to any quality assurance process, as it can help identify potential problems before they cause significant issues. It is crucial for complex systems , where a small error can have a ripple effect.
White Box Penetration Testing
This kind of Penetration testing , also known as “Crystal” or “Oblique Box Pen-Testing” falls on the opposite side of the spectrum in which the tester is provided with an open access to all the information regarding the system and its architecture. This allows the pentester to go through all the possible areas to get a clear picture of the system and find the vulnerabilities in it.
White Box testing aims to provide an in-depth security audit providing as much detailing as possible to the vulnerabilities.
Methodologies to Uncover the Vulnerabilities
Depending upon the purpose and objectives , there are various types of Pentesting that a company can use to audit the security of a business’s infrastructure. It is best to conduct these tests on your applications as part of your security regime. The most common ones are as follows :
Network Security Testing
It is a service that businesses pay for , in order to discover their weakest points. In doing so , they allow the ethical hackers to attempt to break into their network by using any means necessary. This helps in evaluating vulnerabilities in the network infrastructure including servers, firewalls, routers and printers.
Network Security Testing serves offers several benefits to your business like
✅Preventing Network & Data breaches
✅Understanding your network benchmarks
✅Identifying security flaws
✅Assessing risk
Web Application Test
Web application penetration testing focuses on discovering weaknesses of web apps or API’s. The web application testing should include :
👉Unit Testing : Testing parts of the code base through unit tests in Java and Python.
👉System Testing : Testing the workings of the website at the level of user interface and features like login, sign-up which validate parts of the website working together
👉Acceptance Testing : This is usually the final stage of testing in which the fully assembled application with data is tested in a live or pre-production environment. This involves testing with actual or mock users.
👉Client Side Testing : This type of testing focuses on the vulnerabilities in the front-end of the organisation such as Email Clients, Web Browsers, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, Macromedia Flash and others. Client Side security assessments are tedious if done manually.
Wireless Network Testing
Wireless penetration testing analyses the security of the connections between devices connected to a business wifi including :
✅Smartphones
✅laptops
✅Tablets
✅Bluetooth Devices
and any other device that can connect to the internet. By putting the security of your wireless footprint to the test, penetration testers can evaluate your security and propose solutions to strengthen it.
Social Engineering
It is a technique used by ethical hackers to test and explore the security vulnerabilities from a cyber intruder practice. It includes both physical and remote testing. Remote Testing tries to trick a user into giving sensitive information such as their logon credentials.
Physical Penetration Testing
It analyses ways where-in someone can physically gain access to sensitive data such as doors that have been left unlocked , financial files that have been left open on the employee’s desk.
The Bottom Line
With cyber-attacks increasingly sophisticated and forever on the rise , it is important than ever that organisations perform regular penetration testing to identify their black holes and ensure that cyber controls are working as intended.
Think of penetration tests as regular medical check-ups. Consistently checking the robustness of cybersecurity measures is vital for any business. These tests help the organisation take a proactive stance in order to develop effective controls that are able to keep up with the ever evolving cyber threat landscape.
