Table of Contents
- What Are Penetration Testing Services?
- Contract Penetration Testing Services (Manual Penetration Testing)
- Penetration Testing as a Service (Automated Penetration Testing)
What Are Penetration Testing Services?
Penetration testing, also known as “pentesting”, is a way to break into computer systems in a controlled way. Penetration testing is done on behalf of the company to find and fix security flaws. There are two types of penetration testing services: manual and automated.
Manual Penetration Testing Services
Organizations have traditionally hired ethical hackers or security consulting firms to help them with penetration testing. It takes a lot of time and money to do a manual penetration test, so these are only done once a quarter or even once a year. Some people are very good at manual pentesting and do well; others don’t and will not do as well.
Automated Penetration Testing Services
Penetration testing as a service is a new way to do a penetration test (PTaaS). An organization can now use automated tools to do penetration tests on its systems through a new software as a service (SaaS) platform. The main benefit of PTaaS is that it’s predictable, cheap, and can be used for penetration testing regularly.
In some cases, the provider of the PTaaS service helps run it with security experts, guiding the penetration tests and recommending fixes.
Contract Penetration Testing Services (Manual Penetration Testing)
A security company or an ethical hacker generally performs standard penetration testing services. This person or team assesses possible vulnerabilities to corporate systems methodically.
Penetration testing begins as an outsider (like a malevolent insider). Like a genuine attacker, a pentester surveys the environment, looks for potential exploitable areas and tries to breach the system under test without causing harm or revealing important data.
A penetration testing service’s final report should include a list of vulnerabilities found, assets or systems impacted by each vulnerability, a risk assessment for each asset, and suggestions for managing risk in each affected system.
Penetration Testing as a Service (Automated Penetration Testing)
Without hiring an external penetration tester, enterprises can utilize an automated web tool to do penetration testing. Through a combination of human and automated penetration testing, security teams may find and patch vulnerabilities quicker, better understand security processes and test more often. A web-based interface allows customers to create new penetration tests, see results in real-time and execute continuous testing.
Benefits of PTaaS services
The key benefit of PTaaS is increased penetration testing frequency. Every day, new code and settings are published, introducing new vulnerabilities. Each new release can be scheduled and performed using PTaaS.
Continuous testing enhances security by detecting vulnerabilities, simulating possible attacks and ranking attack severity.
Key features of PTaaS platforms
Here are key elements to consider when selecting an automated penetration testing service:
- Maintaining a library of up-to-date advice for how to fix security flaws.
- Multiple testers can work on the same project at the same time. Multiple vulnerability scanners have the same reporting and severity metrics.
- Reporting formats which can be changed.
- Long-term monitoring of penetration testing and the fixing of flaws found.
- Integration with existing ticketing systems, as well as governance, risk and compliance systems (GRC)
Visit cyberhunter.solutions for more information on manual and automated penetration testing or call us at (833) 292-4868 today.
