In the business world, security is paramount. With the rise of cybercrime, it’s more important than ever for companies to take steps to protect their networks and data. One way to do this is through network penetration testing.
Penetration testing is a type of security assessment that simulates a real-world attack on a network or system. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. By performing this type of testing, businesses can take steps to address any weaknesses before they are exploited.
If you’re wondering whether your business could benefit from network penetration testing, read on to learn more.
In this Guide:
- What Is A Network Penetration Test?
- What Are The Benefits Of Network Penetration Test?
- How Does Network Pen Testing Work?
- What Should be Included in a Network Pen Test Report?
- Are Pen Tests Required by Law?
- Manual vs Automated Network Testing
- What Are The Steps In The Network Penetration Testing Process?
- What are the Dangers Associated with not Carrying out Network Penetration Testing?
What Is A Network Penetration Test?
A network penetration test is a type of security assessment that is used to identify vulnerabilities in a network or computer system. This type of test can be used to assess the security of both internal and external networks. During a network penetration test, a tester will try to exploit vulnerabilities in order to gain access to sensitive data or systems.
Network penetration tests are an important part of network security, as they can help to identify weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. By conducting regular penetration tests, organisations can ensure that their networks are as secure as possible.
What Are The Benefits Of Network Penetration Test?
Find Vulnerabilities Before Hackers Do
By performing penetration tests against your organization you can find and fix vulnerabilities before hackers do. By doing so, you can prevent costly data breaches and keep your business running smoothly.
Professional penetration testers are able to mimic the extra scanning and information-gathering techniques that hackers use. This means they will be able to identify many of the vulnerabilities a hacker would likely try to exploit ahead of time. Once you know what vulnerabilities exist, you can work to fix them. This may involve patching software, improving security policies, and increasing user awareness. By taking these steps, you can keep your business safe from hackers.
Test the Abilities of Your Network Defenders
Another benefit of penetration testing is testing your company’s internal network defenders. Some penetration tests are setup in a way where the internal security team is not made aware of the test. In these situations the goal is to evaluate how effectively the organization’s network defenders could identify and respond to a potential cyber attack. This can give you some valuable insight into how well prepared your organization is to deal with a real cyber attack and it’s a great opportunity for some constructive feedback.
Assess the Potential Damage of a Successful Attack
The big difference between a vulnerability assessment and a penetration test is that a penetration test involves exploiting the given vulnerabilities to identify the potential damage that could be caused by a hacker. This way rather than just getting a theoretical list of issues, you will get to see in real time how much damage a particular issue could cause to your business.
Prove Security Effectiveness to Customers or Executives
Penetration tests are an excellent way to demonstrate to customers and executives that your company is in a secure state. Penetration tests provide you with an unbiased, third party evaluation of your company’s secure posture and gives recommendations on important areas of improvement. This can be a great way to prove to both customers and executives the effectiveness of your company’s cybersecurity program.
Reduce Remediation Costs and Network Downtime
By implementing the recommendations provided to you by professional penetration testers you can save your company time and money in the long run. Cyber attacks can be very expensive to fix, averaging over $3 million to fix a single data breach for US businesses. By paying the upfront cost of a penetration test and getting advanced warning of potential vulnerabilities that could lead to a cyber attack, you can save yourself a significant amount of money and time in the long run.
How Does Network Pen Testing Work?
A network pen test is an evaluation of the company’s network by security experts. During the penetration test the testers will attempt to hack into the network, the same way a malicious hacker would. The testers will record the different techniques that they use and any vulnerabilities that they exploit in order to access the network. Finally, they will generate a report that will notify the client of what was done, what the results were and how the company can use this information to improve their defenses and achieve a more secure state.Penetration Testing: In-Depth Guide to Ethical Hacking
What Should be Included in a Network Pen Test Report?
Executive Summary
Probably the most valuable part of a penetration testing report is the executive summary page. Here you can see the high level overview of the penetration test, it typically includes details like the number of vulnerabilities found, the severity of those vulnerabilities, high level recommendations for remediation and other details that would be valuable to all stakeholders, not just the technical staff.
Risk Analysis
The risk Analysis of the report will discuss the different risks associated with the vulnerabilities that were found. This is important for the organization to understand the likelihood that any given vulnerability can be exploited and what data/business operations may be affected as a result.
Impact Analysis
The impact analysis goes into detail of what could happen to the business if any given vulnerability is exploited. Since penetration tests typically include the professionals actually exploiting the vulnerability this may include examples of what the testers were able to find or do while exploiting the different vulnerabilities. This section should give stakeholders a clear example of what damage can be done by exploiting any given vulnerability found in the report.
Remediation Recommendations
This section is one of the most useful sections for the technical staff. This section gives detailed instructions of how the organization can fix the vulnerabilities and issues found within the final report. This can include activities like patching, changing configurations, adding security controls and more.
Are Pen Tests Required by Law?
Getting penetration tests are not required by law, however they are highly recommended since they help organizations to identify security gaps and make improvements. Generally, the recommended best practice for penetration testing is to have it done at least annually.
In addition to this while it’s not required by law there are some compliance regulations that require that companies do penetration testing if they meet certain criteria. This can be if you work in a certain industry like healthcare, if you collect personal data from citizens in certain regions like the EU or California or if you work with the federal government.
If your business is subject to certain compliance regulations then you will be required to do some penetration testing or be subject to fines, restrictions on your business, losing your business license or even face potential jail time.
Manual vs Automated Network Testing
When you’re talking about network testing you can perform it manually or using automated tools and scripts. There are pros and cons to both strategies:
First let’s talk at manual testing. Manual testing is the slower of the two options because the testers need to perform everything themselves, however the upside to this is that the testers can be more detailed and creative in their approach. This may allow them to find vulnerabilities that would overlooked by a security tool that is designed to simply check for pre-determined issues.
The second option is automated testing. Automated testing has the advantage of being very quick and very consistent because the tools that you will use are designed to test for a very specific set of vulnerabilities. This makes it a great use case when testing for a specific set of issues, for example if you’re getting a penetration test for PCI Compliance then using a tool specifically designed for that purpose may be a great option. However, security tools like the creativity and flexibility that may be needed for more general penetration testing.
There is no absolute answer on which option is better, both has there advantages and it really depends on what the goal of the penetration test is.
What Are The Steps In The Network Penetration Testing Process?
SCOPING
Scoping is the process of identifying the organizational assets that will be included in the penetration test. Not every penetration test involves testing all of the companies computer assets, sometimes the test will be limited to just the company’s web application, network, databases, active directory etc.
RECONNAISSANCE & DISCOVERY
In this phase the penetration testers will attempt to discover as much information as possible about the computer assets in the scope of penetration test. This is important because important like IP addresses, OS version, open ports and other information allows the professionals to assess where the vulnerabilities in that system may be and attempt to exploit them.
TESTING
In this phase the testers will use the information gathered during the information gathering phase to attempt to compromise the company network. In this phase the testers will perform a few key actions. The first is called initial compromise/access, this is when the testers attempt to gain unauthorized access to company systems.
Second, they will attempt to establish a foothold in the system by creating a backdoor. A backdoor is simply a persistent entry point to the organization that a hacker or in this case the tester can use to access the system and bypass security controls. Lastly, the testers will look to elevate privileges and see how much they can access while in the company’s systems.
REPORTING & ANALYSIS
In this portion of the penetration test, the testers will assembly all of the information they gathered throughout their testing and put it together into a final report for their stakeholders. The goal here is explain what was done, provide proof of concept for exploitation and provide recommendations on how the company can improve their security going forward.
What are the Dangers Associated with not Carrying out Network Penetration Testing?
Not performing penetration tests can significantly reduce the likelihood of a data breach in the future. Without having an outside professional examine your company, there is a good chance that you will have several blindspots that could allow a skilled hacker unauthorized access into your organization. By not having regular penetration tests you are keeping yourself blind to the real risks that affect your organization.
Conclusion
Penetration tests are simulated cyber attacks that are used to identify security vulnerabilities within companies. Penetration tests not only identify vulnerabilities but it also provides proofs of concept for the damage that can be done if that vulnerability were to be exploited. It’s important for companies to have penetration testing done at least annually to ensure that they are aware of their cyber-related risks.
Oppos Cybersecurity Consultants in Canada are one of the leading providers of Penetration Testing services. Our experienced professionals can identify security vulnerabilities and create a detailed report with corrective actions to be taken. Schedule a consultation today to learn more about our Penetration Testing services and how we can help you protect your organization from cyber threats.
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Network Penetration Testing FAQs
Pen testing helps you identify exploitable security vulnerabilities.
No, a vulnerability assessment simply checks for vulnerabilities while a penetration test also looks to exploit those vulnerabilities in order to assess it’s true damage potential.
Identifying security vulnerabilities early allows companies to fix issues that would otherwise result in data breaches if left unattended.
If you’re performing an automated vulnerability or penetration test providing your tools credentials for authentication allows you to find more vulnerabilities and therefore gain more information for making improvements.
