Penetration Testing

Rather than waiting until an attack occurs, more and more companies are turning to ethical hacking and, in particular, penetration testing to secure their cyber environments. Pen testing enhances risk management plans by revealing preventable cyber-attacks. Read to learn about the different types of pen testing and how they can secure your business with this comprehensive guide.

 

Organizations conduct pen tests to learn about their systems and how cybercriminals might try to attack them. Getting the most out of penetration testing as a service requires proactive planning, scoping, testing, and remediation—all of which a quality pen test partner should help with.

Curious about penetration testing as a service? Schedule a consultation to learn more!

 

Understanding physical penetration testing and how to take advantage of it requires:

• Knowing what physical pen tests are and the overall approach they take
• Appreciating how an actual physical penetration test works in practice
• Scoping best practices into a physical or hybrid pen testing program
• Comparing physical pen tests against other forms of penetration testing

Penetration testing is one of the most robust security testing tools within any cybersecurity program. When implemented effectively, the four phases of penetration testing will help identify gaps in your IT security and bolster your cyberdefenses. Read on to learn more about the penetration testing phases.

Penetration testing is an advanced cybersecurity method that is especially useful in complex environments, such as those that make heavy use of cloud computing. In these cases, cloud pen testing is often required. But even when it’s not mandated, regular penetration testing is considered a best practice for cyber hygiene.

By following the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES), companies of all sizes are capable of executing an effective pen test that exposes any issues in their cybersecurity. By conducting penetration (pen) testing, you can determine how a hacker would attack your systems by watching an assault unfold in a controlled environment. And the only way to ensure that this kind of test will work is to make sure it meets certain standards.

One of the primary goals of cyberdefense programs is identifying, preventing, and mitigating attacks. The best way to do this is with targeted programs, such as penetration and intrusion testing, where attackers’ offensive tactics become your company’s defensive training.

Some regulatory frameworks explicitly require penetration testing from eligible parties. But even those that don’t require it outright may still have other mandates that would be met or exceeded efficiently by conducting penetration testing. Thus, penetration assessments are critical for your security infrastructure.

For organizations looking to begin penetration testing, two available options include online (automated) and offline (manual) tests. While automating allows for more frequent and faster testing, manual testing has its own unique benefits in the form of customization and trust.

To get the most out of automated penetration testing, your organization must:

• Leverage your capacity to target pen tests on specific network segments
• Conduct automated external, internal, and hybrid penetration tests regularly
• Mobilize the threat intelligence generated in cybersecurity awareness training
• Use automated pen testing tools to satisfy applicable regulatory requirements

 

Focus Pen Tests on Specific Network Segments

Penetration testing, also known as “ethical hacking,” turns cybercriminals’ tools against them, simulating attacks to study how they can be prevented and mitigated. In real-world cybercrime, the most effective attacks are often ones that employ a high degree of specificity in their targets.

The same logic can be applied to pen testing. Automated pen testing allows for frequency, which you can leverage by focusing individual tests on specific parts of your system rather than the whole thing all at once. What this allows for is greater insight into the ways you’d prevent the most dangerous kinds of attacks—ones that are less common but more impactful if successful.

Targeted automated pen testing prepares you for these more advanced, persistent threats.

 

Run External, Internal, and Hybrid Tests Regularly

Another benefit of automation is the ability to run penetration tests at regular intervals. That allows for a regime of testing that includes the various kinds of tests. A varied program both touches on different parts of your system and prepares you for different attacker tactics.

With automated pen testing tools, you can run all kinds of tests at frequent, regular intervals:

• External pen testing – These tests focus on outside, unknown attackers and their attempts to exploit gaps in your perimeter defenses. They typically conclude once the testers have breached, and the results inform patches to content filters, firewalls, etc.

• Internal pen testing – These tests focus on attacks from insider threats and how an attacker would navigate within your systems to the point of central control. Their results are more varied, informing changes to visibility, access control infrastructure, etc.

• Hybrid pen testing – These incorporate elements of both other tests, usually beginning externally and then continuing internally. They inform wide-scale cyberdefense changes.

These tests produce different kinds of insights. While it may seem like the best tests to run at all times are hybrid tests, this is not always the case. As noted above, tests focused on specific features within your system are extremely useful. The same goes for specific kinds of tests.

 

 

Mobilize Intelligence from Automated Pen Tests

An essential part of the pen testing process is the aftermath, in which testers work together with cybersecurity leadership within an organization to reflect on the results. For example, a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or virtual CISO might work with the pen test team to build controls that prevent a specific attack vector from being utilized in real-time by actual attackers.

Another way this threat intelligence can be utilized is in awareness training for employees.

Organizations can use insights from automated pen tests to inform lower-stakes training modules, such as tabletop incident response exercises. These simulations run at a much smaller scale and are much faster than full-blown penetration testing. In practice, that means they are near-infinitely repeatable at low resource costs—perfect for regular security training.

Plus, this all works better and more efficiently at scale. The more intelligence that automated penetration testing tools generate, the more precise and impactful these sessions can be.

Meet Risk Management Compliance Requirements

Finally, automated pen testing can become an essential part of your compliance management program. If your organization operates in a regulated industry or location or processes data that is protected, you may be mandated to conduct pen testing. In that case, why not automate it?

For example, consider these two compliance scenarios involving penetration testing:

• Industry-specific regulations – If your organization operates within or adjacent to healthcare, you need to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). While HIPAA doesn’t explicitly require penetration testing, it does require vulnerability testing. The most effective way to do that is with automated pen tests.

• Operations-related regulations – If you process credit card transactions, you may need to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS), which does explicitly mandate penetration testing as part of Requirement 11. Meeting this (and other) DSS requirements is much easier with regular, automated pen tests.

Automating penetration tests is one of the best ways to satisfy your compliance obligations while also taking proactive steps to keep your clientele, personnel, and all stakeholders secure.

 

Optimize Your Automated Pen Testing Today

In an ever-changing security landscape, cybercriminals are constantly looking for ways to exploit vulnerabilities. Turning offense to defense is one way to stop them, especially when you automate the entire process with regular, targeted tests that inform robust, flexible protections. 

RSI Security provides traditional and automated pen testing services to organizations of all sizes across all industries. We’re committed to service, helping you rethink and optimize your cyberdefense. And we know that the right way is the only way to keep your systems secure.

To learn more about automated penetration testing with RSI Security, contact us today!