Penetration Test
What does penetration testing mean?
In IT, it means penetrating a computer system. Hacking into computer systems can have different purposes. Hackers break into systems, sometimes out of pure interest in how the system works, but most often with malicious intent, to damage, destroy or steal information.
Penetration testers (or pentesters as they are also called) can behave like hackers, but with the legitimate purpose, to identify with simulated attacks vulnerabilities and security flaws and find countermeasures to increase the security of the system. The penetration test is thus a manual security test of the system and is suitably performed by professional security experts with high competence and extensive experience of cyber security work.
Vulnerability scan
Before doing a penetration test, you can do a vulnerability scan. These are done with automated tools. With the help of these tools, you scan through a computer system to find common known security flaws that may be present in a system. The scan tool is programmed with information about what vulnerabilities it should look for. The result of a security scan gives a first indication of security flaws that need to be addressed.
Penetration test
But just an automatic security scan is not enough if you want to achieve good security in the system. Attacks on computer systems are carried out by people with good knowledge of computer technology. Hackers are often professionals and experts to get into computer systems in different ways. A pentester that is to simulate an attack in a system must have at least as good knowledge as the potential attackers.
The penetration test is suitably performed by technical cyber security experts with extensive experience in finding vulnerabilities in computer systems. The test should be performed by a third-party provider to avoid conflicts of interest and to provide an objective picture of the security situation in the system.
Penetration tests are usually divided into three different types:
Black box
In this type of pen test, the tester does not receive any prior information about the system, but must penetrate it based on the same conditions as an outside hacker and must start by finding ways to get into the system.
Gray box
The Pentester gets some information about the system and studies what an attacker can do once it is inside the system.
White box
The Pentester receives advance information that provides full access to the system, often including credentials for authentication. The tester does not have to hack in. With these conditions, a thorough system review is performed from the inside. White box is the most comprehensive and time-consuming of the tests that gives maximum results in the form of identification of vulnerabilities and subsequent security-enhancing measures.
Test report
The final report from a penetration test must contain detailed concrete conclusions and clear recommendations. Each identified deficiency in the system must have proposals for concrete protection measures and be "patched" (patched up) by system technicians. The report should also have appendices with more specific details about the results.
A penetration test can be crucial to secure a system. The goal is to prevent future attacks. Performing pen tests regularly is one of the best protections against hackers. A pen test should be performed at least once a year to maintain the security of the system. Significant changes in the system should always be accompanied by a new penetration test.
If you do not have a clear picture of the security of the organisation's computer system, you do not know how far into the system an attacker can get. If you are unsure of this, you are also unaware of what costly losses the organisation can suffer in the form of damage and repair of the damage.