The penetration testing market is set to expand to a mind-blowing $3.9 billion by 2029! Throw in the significant cyber security skills gap we’re seeing around the globe, and it’s clear that budding ethical hackers can seriously boost their career prospects by perfecting penetration testing.
But if you're an aspiring red teamer, you may be asking yourself the very valid question: “What IS penetration testing?”. You might already understand the general concept of penetration testing. But we’re here to run you through the entire process and explain why this cyber security concept is so vital for organisations across the globe.
So, what is penetration testing, and why is it important?
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is an offensive cyber security technique involving ethical hackers. Organisations hire these experts to locate and exploit potential vulnerabilities across networks and systems. These ethical hackers can infiltrate a system legally and without causing long-term damage to an organisation's digital infrastructure.
Unlike traditional cyber attacks, these hacks are fully authorised by an organisation. However, ethical hackers will use precisely the same tools and techniques as malicious hackers would use. So, by attacking systems from all angles, penetration testers can quickly determine how robust a system is and recommend patches to eliminate critical security flaws.
Using real-world threats to attack an organisation's systems may seem incredibly risky. But by doing this in a controlled environment, hackers can supply information to internal security teams and incident responders without causing actual damage. So, the process is critical for closing security gaps across an organisation’s infrastructure and catching potential risks before they happen.
Penetration testing is often an excellent complementary technique for regular vulnerability assessments. Typically, vulnerability assessments outline any potential risks, while penetration testing exploits them (and sees just how critical these issues may be in action).
What Are the Different Types of Penetration Testing?
There are three main types of penetration testing, and these are:
- Black-box penetration testing
- White-box penetration testing
- Grey-box penetration testing
Although they might sound similar, they have a few distinct differences. Typically, black-box penetration tests are the most affordable and offer ethical hackers no insight or initial access into a company’s systems. Conversely, white-box penetration testing gives hackers comprehensive access, allowing them to tackle more specific vulnerabilities than alternative tests.
When it comes to grey-box testing, hackers should expect some access privileges that will often help them bypass the first lines of defence (it’s sort of like the Goldilocks approach to penetration testing!).
It’s worth mentioning that none of the types of penetration testing are necessarily better than others. However, with black-box testing, ethical hackers may spend a decent amount of their total hacking time trying to gain access to a system. While this is only sometimes the case, this lengthy could make them miss the deeper vulnerabilities tucked inside systems or networks.
Conversely, giving hackers too much access makes white-box testing less of a genuine simulation, as it simply can’t recreate the exact experience a hacker might face. So, the pentesting method organisations choose depends entirely on what they hope to gain from the exercise.
The Penetration Testing Process
The average penetration test consists of a few steps and can vary based on the test type.
For example, while a black-box test may require several scoping and reconnaissance stages, most white-box tests skip straight to the exploitation phase.
So, for example’s sake, say we’re dealing with a black-box test that starts right at the beginning of the penetration testing phase.
Scoping
During scoping, the penetration tester and the client discuss allowable attacks, the general scope of the attack, and strict rules of engagement. They also discuss key objectives and outline a budget for the project.
The penetration tester should leave this stage with a complete understanding of how far they can go when exploiting the organisation’s systems and what systems and vulnerabilities they should focus on.
It's also critical that the client outlines the depth of scope during this stage and whether the test will be code-assisted or completely blind.
Reconnaissance
During the reconnaissance phase, the penetration tester will gather as much information about the target system as possible.
The research can include everything from internet searches to social engineering experiments, but they may also use non-intrusive network scanning at this stage. Oh, and they’ll even try to tap into IP addresses, servers, and network topology where possible!
If you're wondering why this stage is necessary, it's where pentesters map out their potential attack surface and start pinpointing vulnerabilities. This information gives them a detailed idea of the organisation's security blueprint.
Scanning
In the scanning stage, penetration testers use vulnerability scanning techniques to try and break through initial system defences. Their tools may include (but are not limited to) network mappers, brute forcing, and automation to spot potential weak points.
Penetration testers will also scan for application security issues and use a selection of the following applications in their toolkit:
· Shodan: A specialised search engine that maps and gathers information about internet-connected devices in the system network.
· crt.sh: This web interface allows users to search for certificates associated with a set domain. The more subdomains an attacker finds, the more the potential attack surface increases.
· Nmap: Nmap scans large networks within organisations to identify available hosts. This software allows hackers to cover their tracks by applying clever scripting across multiple functions.
· Maltego: Penetration testers may use Maltego to transform raw data from their findings into actionable knowledge. It’s a useful data mining tool that showcases patterns across an organisation (and where weaknesses may lie).
· FireCompass: FireCompass is a SaaS platform often used by penetration testers to discover as much of an organisation’s attack surface as possible.
Exploitation and attack
Once a penetration tester has gained access to a system, they’ll be on the attack. They’ll move through the network and attempt to maintain access (all while covering their tracks and avoiding detection!).
During exploitation, hackers will try to cause data breaches, disrupt service, access sensitive information, and destabilise the system's integrity. This stage must be carefully monitored to avoid genuine damage to the system.
However, the main goal is to uncover and exploit vulnerabilities to determine their criticality to the organisation’s overall structure and integrity.
Documentation and mitigation suggestions
Once the attack is complete, a penetration tester will put together a detailed report about what they did during it. This report will include how they gained access to the system, what vulnerabilities they uncovered, and how successful their breach was.
Although this report will outline problems found, it’ll also offer patching solutions and potential improvements to security policy. So, it’s a guide for an organisation’s security team to bulk out their infrastructure and prevent any vulnerabilities from being realised by a malicious hacker.
Why Is penetration testing important?
Penetration testing is critical for any organisation that wants to protect its networks, systems, and endpoint users from potential cyber attacks.
Not only does it help to prioritise security risks, but it assures potential clients that you’re fully security-compliant and value data privacy.
By delving deeply into a business’s security infrastructure (and stress-testing it for vulnerabilities!), penetration testers offer usable, data-driven mitigation strategies to stop malicious hackers in their tracks.
And really, what could be more important than that?
Launch TryHackMe for penetration testers
If you're interested in becoming an ethical hacker and honing your red-teaming skills with adversary attack simulations – you’re in luck! Our Red Teaming and Offensive Pentesting Training modules will teach you to use industry-standard tools while enhancing your knowledge of complex cyber environments.
With almost 100 hours of training between both learning paths, you’ll be well prepared for everything an interview or job could throw at you. You’ll even earn a certificate of completion that’ll prove your prowess! Now, that’s what we’re talking about.
Ben Spring