If you’re looking for a comprehensive, professional penetration testing solution, you’re in luck. Many top-notch third-party providers can help you assess your system’s security posture and find vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the best providers in the business and discuss the different services they offer. We’ll also provide an overview of penetration testing basics so that you have a better understanding of what to expect from these services.
Penetration testing basics: What does it involve?
Penetration testing works by simulating attacks on your web application, network, or IT infrastructure. Through this, successful attacks tell us what vulnerabilities exist in your systems.
Different stages of penetration testing
There are five stages to penetration testing: reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning, exploitation, post-exploitation, and reporting.
- Reconnaissance is the first stage of pen-testing. During this phase, you will gather information about your target systems such as names of employees or IP addresses in use on those networks. This can be done through social engineering techniques like phishing emails or by using tools that scan public databases for this type of information.
- Vulnerability scanning involves identifying vulnerabilities in your target systems via port scans and vulnerability assessments. The goal here is to discover weaknesses that can be exploited during the exploitation phase which we’ll discuss later on.
- Exploitation takes advantage of any vulnerabilities discovered during the scanning stage and attempts to compromise systems or networks to gain access. Once a tester has gained access it may be possible for them to escalate privileges as well perform other malicious activities such as installing malware on servers or stealing sensitive data from databases.
- Post-exploitation refers to what a tester does to maintain the access it has gained to your network or system. They may use this foothold for further attacks such as pivoting onto other systems within the organization’s infrastructure, exfiltrating data out of databases via SQL injection attacks, changing passwords, or leaving backdoors to access them later.
- Reporting summarises all findings from each stage of the penetration testing process and provides recommendations on how to fix any vulnerabilities discovered.
Types of penetration testing
Black-box pen-testing is the most common type and simulates an attack from an outsider who has no prior knowledge about your system or its vulnerabilities.
White-box pen-testing is performed by testers who have full knowledge of the target systems including passwords, IP addresses and other sensitive information.
Grey-box pen-testing is a combination of black-box and white-box testing where the tester has limited knowledge about the target systems.
Different approaches to penetration testing
There are also three different approaches to penetration testing: automated, manual, and a combination of both.
Automated pen-testing works by using software that performs vulnerability scans on your systems and identifies possible weak spots for hackers to exploit. It can also run exploits against these vulnerabilities to determine if they are exploitable or not (this is called fuzzing). If you want speed then this option might be for you, but it is important to note that automated pen-testing cannot replicate the ingenuity and creativity of a human hacker.
Manual pen-testing is done by testers who use their knowledge and experience to find vulnerabilities in systems. This can be more time-consuming than automated pen-testing, but it often leads to more reliable results as humans can learn from their mistakes and adapt accordingly if something doesn’t work out as expected.
The last option is a combination of both automated and manual testing. This approach uses software tools in conjunction with human testers who then verify any findings by manually inspecting the code or application themselves before reporting back on what they found to be vulnerabilities that may be exploited. This is usually the best approach and is recommended.
7 best third-party penetration testing providers
There are many different providers of penetration testing services and it can be difficult to know which one is right for you. Let’s look at some of the top providers and what they offer.
Astra Security – Astra Security is a penetration testing company that offers services for all types of businesses, from small startups to large corporations. They have teams of ethical hackers who can test your systems and identify vulnerabilities before they become security issues.
Their tool, Astra Pentest is an automated pen-testing tool carrying all the essential features required. It can test for 3000+ threats and vulnerabilities, provide remediation tips, risk scores, and real-time threat updates.
Offensive Security – Offensive Security provides pen-testing as well as training on how to perform it themselves to create better awareness within their own organization.
They offer both on-site training sessions and webinars that go over common vulnerabilities such as XSS attacks (cross-site scripting), SQL injection attacks, etcetera.
CrowdStrike – CrowdStrike offers various cyber security services including penetration testing and incident response consulting to help organizations deal with breaches or attacks.
HackerOne – HackerOne is a bug bounty platform that connects businesses with ethical hackers who can find and report vulnerabilities in their systems in exchange for rewards (known as “bounties”).
Veracode – Veracode offers cloud-based security solutions that include vulnerability scanning, static analysis, dynamic analysis, and web application firewalls (WAFs) for businesses looking to protect their applications from malicious attacks.
BugCrowd – BugCrowd offers bug bounty programs with a focus on crowdsourced security testing, which means that they use an army of white-hat hackers instead of just one or two people to do the job.
They provide both web and mobile app security testing services for companies that want to ensure their applications are free from vulnerabilities before releasing them into the wild (i.e., production).
BreachLock – BreachLock offers a variety of cyber security solutions including vulnerability management, penetration testing, application security assessments, and more to help organizations stay ahead of the latest threats.
Conclusion
In the end, it is important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to penetration testing and the best approach for your organization will depend on its specific needs.
However, the providers listed above should give you a good starting point as they all offer a variety of services that can cater to your organization’s needs.
If an attack does occur on a system that has not been tested by any of these providers, then there may be unforeseen consequences such as data loss or financial losses due to stolen credit card information being used fraudulently.
Once again, it is important to remember that even though automated pen-testing can provide some benefits over manual testing (such as speed and cost), humans are still needed for these tests to be effective.
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Author Bio
Ankit Pahuja is the Marketing Lead & Evangelist at Astra Security. Ever since his adulthood (literally, he was 20 years old), he began finding vulnerabilities in websites & network infrastructures.
Starting his professional career as a software engineer at one of the unicorns enables him in bringing “engineering in marketing” to reality. Working actively in the cybersecurity space for more than 2 years makes him the perfect T-shaped marketing professional.
Ankit is an avid speaker in the security space and has delivered various talks in top companies, early-age startups, and online events.