How to approach penetration tests and offensive security?
What if you already have a finished application or have all great Secure SDLC processes in place? At a certain point, final penetration testing is inevitable and can provide you with great results.
Penetration testers are testers specialized in security tests, but it’s not only the technical knowledge that differentiates them. Penetration testers have a certain mindset that allows them to operate like hackers and find security flaws in your systems that could’ve been missed by QA Testers and software engineers. Programmers are taught and required to think like builders and decent Internet users who want to do no harm to anyone.
A guide through the new security rules implementation process.
Penetration testers on the other hand have been operating in a more offensive mindset for years, which wired their brains in a way that allows them to find novel ways to exploit holes in your systems.
External penetration testers can test your systems top to bottom, providing you procedural guidelines on what issues still reside in your applications or infrastructure. Competent penetration testing team can identify gaps and provide you with detailed information on what could be done better, so you don’t face the same issues in the future.
By engaging with right penetration testers, you can use their expertise in order to improve your SDLC even more. There is a lot of benefits of using penetration testing services to ensure quality of your software, however you should be aware that
it’s icing on the cake and you really need that cake first. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up for frustrations and waste of money, because first things come first and trying to go around the recommendations can cost you a lot of resources.
Types of security testing
Security audits come in many flavors, although the ultimate goal is always to identify and remediate security gaps in client’s systems. We’re able to assess the safety of IT systems such as – but not limited to – web applications, by employing various forms of engagements including vulnerability assessments, source code and configurations reviews.
Penetration Tests and Red Teaming (Offensive Security Testing) are more sophisticated types of security testing. These are meant to simulate a real hacking attempt, where we try to behave like a hacker and break into your IT systems. Then we point out the holes for remediation, so that after you fix the identified issues, actual malicious attackers will have a harder time trying to penetrate your security. We’re competent in conducting white box, gray box and black box security tests. During Red Teaming engagements, we will also interface with your internal teams to help you build more robust infrastructure and better monitoring capabilities. Thanks to lessons learnt during our tests, you’ll be able to catch attackers sooner and lock them out of your system before they cause a real damage.
CIA Triad improvements
Testing security of your network infrastructure is meant to improve the whole CIA triad of your organisation. Our tests aim to improve Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity of your systems and data. Both external and internal infrastructure testing will guide you on the path of improving network safety and performance. The tests are carried out by our experts remotely or at the headquarters of the audited organization. Through the verification of laptops, wi-fi networks, wi-fi routers, printers, webcams, employees’ smartphones, other network devices in the corporate LAN we can assess the security risks and advise on pragmatic improvements. All of our activities are then summarized in a detailed report consisting of identified vulnerabilities and list of suggested remediation steps.
