All About Penetration Testing in 10 Minutes

As organizations rapidly incorporate technological advancements, cybercriminals are more likely to find vulnerabilities in their IT infrastructure. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime will cost $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

Penetration testing is one of the best tactics for testing the current security measures and identifying vulnerabilities promptly before cybercriminals exploit them. This guide will cover all aspects of penetration testing, including its benefits, types, the process, and more. So, let's get started!

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing, also known as pen testing, is an ethical cybersecurity assessment process. It aims to identify system vulnerabilities by exploiting them the same way attackers would.

Penetration testing involves thoroughly assessing the entire IT infrastructure, including devices, networks, applications, etc. The cybersecurity experts use real-world attack scenarios to see how well the organization's existing cybersecurity measures perform against a full-scale cyberattack. This way, the organization is able to identify security loopholes and fix them before cybercriminals exploit them.

Objectives of Penetration Testing

• Identify vulnerabilities
• Evaluate the current security posture of the IT infrastructure
• Fulfill compliance requirements
• Prioritize security risk based on likelihood and impact
• Test incident response plan
• Pinpoints all potential security vulnerabilities
• Understand the impact of cyberattacks on your business/infrastructure
• Understand the effectiveness of your current cybersecurity measures
• Enhance defenses against potential vulnerabilities
• Reduces costs due to downtime and data breaches
• Increase trust with stakeholders.

Benefits of Penetration Testing

Overall, penetration testing is a must-do activity at least once per year. However, organizations with more sensitive data should conduct pen testing multiple times a year.

Different Types of Penetration Testing

75% of organizations conduct penetration testing to measure security posture or ensure compliance. However, there is no one-size-fits-all penetration testing.

There are different types of penetration testing for different assessments. Below, we have shortlisted five main types of penetration testing:

1.     Network Penetration Testing

Network penetration testing is one of the most common types of pen tests conducted across organizations. It involves testing and identifying vulnerabilities present in the external or internal network infrastructure, such as servers, printers, routers, switches, firewalls, and more.

Some of the common network-related attacks include:

• IPS/IDS evasion attacks
• SSH attacks
• Proxy server attacks
• DNS level attacks
• Man In The Middle (MITM) attacks
• Database attacks

In short, network penetration testing assesses all the network-related vulnerabilities and helps protect the network from potential attacks.

Read more: Server Monitoring: 5 Common Server Issues & Their Solutions

2.     Web Application Penetration Testing

Web application penetration testing involves different security testing to identify vulnerabilities in websites and web-based applications, such as e-commerce platforms and CRM software. It helps detect vulnerabilities like broken authentication, cross-site scripting (XSS), source code issues, and database injections. It reviews the entire organization's web system to identify all vulnerabilities and chances of data breaches.

3.     Wireless Penetration Testing

Wireless penetration testing involves identifying and testing all the devices connected to the corporate Wi-Fi. Security loopholes in wireless connectivity can lead to unauthorized access or data leakage. Therefore, the wireless pen test examines laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, and more to find any traces of unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, or misconfigurations that attackers could exploit.

4.     Social Engineering Penetration Testing

Social engineering pen testing involves tricking the employee/user into providing sensitive information, like login credentials. There are many types of social engineering attacks today, including:

• Phishing attacks
• Smishing
• Tailgating
• Vishing
• Scam gifts

According to statistics, 98% of cyberattacks rely on social engineering, while an average business organization deals with 700+ such attacks annually. Therefore, this penetration test executes different social engineering attacks on employees and identifies their vulnerability to such attacks.

5.     Physical Penetration Testing

Physical penetration testing is about assessing the physical security of the building, IT infrastructure, systems, and more. There is a possibility that cybercriminals can try to gain physical access to your IT infrastructure. Therefore, this penetration test helps to identify vulnerabilities in physical controls, like barriers, locks, sensors, cameras, and more.

Besides the above types of penetration tests, you will also hear about the three sub-types:

• Black Box Penetration Test: This test aims to identify vulnerabilities that external attackers could exploit. Testers have no prior knowledge of the target system.
• White Box Penetration Test: This test aims to identify vulnerabilities from an internal perspective. Testers have full access to the system's architecture, source code, and internal documentation
• Gray Box Penetration Test: This test is a middle ground between Black Box and White Box testing. Testers have partial knowledge of the target system, such as limited access to certain network parts or specific pieces of documentation.

Therefore, penetration testing involves many types that testers can use to examine the systems' security from different perspectives.

Penetration Testing Process

Penetration testing is a multi-step process where each step is crucial to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities. The main steps involved in the penetration testing process are as follows:

1.     Planning and Reconnaissance

The penetration testing process starts with proper planning and reconnaissance. The team first decides the pen test's scope and the testing method(s). Afterward, the team gathers data about the target system, such as operating systems and applications, network topology, user accounts, etc.

2.     Scanning and Vulnerability Assessment

Next, the penetration tester team conducts a thorough scanning of the target system. They use different tools, such as Nmap for network scanning or Tenable for vulnerability assessment. The target is to identify all the potential vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit. Afterward, the team prioritizes the vulnerabilities based on their impact levels.

3.     Exploitation and Post-Exploitation

Now that the potential vulnerabilities are identified, the team works on exploiting them in an attempt to get unauthorized access. They stimulate similar actions attackers would do to exploit these vulnerabilities. Metasploit is a common tool used to stimulate real-world attacks. By the end of this step, the team will be able to understand the potential damage scale of the vulnerabilities.

4.     Reporting and Remediation

The last step is reporting and remediation. The team develops a comprehensive report that outlines the penetration testing process, discovered vulnerabilities, exploitation results, and other details.

Besides reporting, the team will work on remediation and address identified vulnerabilities. For example, if the team has identified a vulnerability in the web application firewall, they will recommend specific configurations or patches to mitigate the risk. Overall, they will try to mitigate all vulnerabilities and enhance the organization's security posture.

Conclusion

Penetration testing is an important cybersecurity assessment practice that helps pinpoint all the potential vulnerabilities cybercriminals can exploit. This increases the security posture and significantly reduces the chances of attack. Therefore, it's time to prioritize regular pen testing for proactive IT infrastructure protection.

In addition, you should also keep yourself updated with the changing trends in penetration testing. For instance, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can automate and accelerate penetration testing. So, optimize your cybersecurity strategy with advanced technologies and remain one step ahead of emerging threats.

If you don't have an in-house team to conduct penetration testing, CARE has you covered. With a team of experienced ethical hackers and cutting-edge technology, we at CARE offer comprehensive penetration testing services to uncover all vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure. So, don't worry if you don't have in-house expertise.

Get in touch with CARE, and let us help you assess and improve your security posture.