You are here: Solutions > Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing—also known as pen test—is a specialized approach wherein the security and safety of a given network or computer system is evaluated by replicating a malware or hacker attack from a black hat hacker or cracker (that is, online outlaws that intend to do harm on a given system as opposed to white hat hackers who discover vulnerabilities in a network to make it stronger). The pen test process includes the active examination of the system for any operational exposures in technical or process countermeasures, known and unknown software or hardware errors, and possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities that may compromise the system configuration or hamper network performance. A pen test is also considered as part of a full security audit as well.

The penetration analysis is executed from the position of a potential hacker, and can involve any and all possible exploits of a system's security holes. From there, any potential problems and issues that could emerge will be shown to the administrator or owner of the network together with an evaluation of their impact. Usually, a recommendation or proposal for mitigating the risks is also presented. The foremost goal of a pen test is to find out just how feasible an attack is and the costliness of a successful exploit once it's taken advantage of.

Pen tests can be executed via several methods. The most common difference between approaches seems to be anchored by how much of the tested infrastructure's implementation details are revealed to the pen testers beforehand. For instance, a pen test that gives testers no initial knowledge of the system to be tested is called black box testing. With this pen test type, the testers should first resolve the location and scope of the data structure before performing their job. Conversely, white box testing offers testers full disclosure about the system they're about to test, which often includes IP addressing information, source code, network diagrams, and the like. In between these two extremes are gray box tests that provide partial disclosure of system details.

For more information you may want to see our SecPoint Support , SecPoint Contact or how to become a SecPoint Partner

WPA Password Recovery Web Vulnerability Scanner Protector UTM Firewall

Reviews of SecPoint.com