Penetration testing, or pen test, is a process that simulates real-world attacks on an organisation’s network to identify potential weaknesses.
The goal of penetration testing is to discover vulnerabilities and provide recommendations on addressing them effectively.
In this article, we will explore the concept of penetration testing in detail and understand its importance in today’s cybersecurity landscape.
The term “penetration testing” has become almost synonymous with “white-box testing”, an informal term used for the various ways a vulnerability can be identified and is often used interchangeably with white-box security testing. Penetration testing, however, has its own nuances and is usually considered a subset of black-box testing.
Objectives and Benefits of Penetration Testing
With penetration testing, a business can find out if its implemented security measures are working as expected. This takes the guesswork out of the equation. The penetration tester will have to act out what an attacker would do and show that they could break into the critical systems they were trying to get into. Hence, it takes an ethical hacking approach.
In the most successful penetration tests, the tester can prove without a doubt that the vulnerabilities found will cause a big drop in revenue if they aren’t fixed. Think of the impact you would have if you could prove to the client that practically anyone in the world has easy access to their most confidential information!
Penetration testing requires a higher skill level than is needed for vulnerability analysis. This generally means that the price of a penetration test will be much higher than that of a vulnerability analysis. If you are unable to penetrate the network, you will be ensuring your clientele that their systems are secure to the best of your knowledge. If you want to sleep well at night, I suggest you do everything possible to ensure your clients are safe.
How Does Penetration Testing Work?
A penetration tester or an ethical hacker mimics actual attacks to test the data security and application security of an organization. Utilizing different tools and techniques, the tester attempts to discover vulnerabilities in software, networks, and security features and exploit them. The process maintains compliance with security standards like PCI DSS and enhances general information security by exposing known vulnerabilities prior to the possibility of being abused.
The pentester begins with a network diagram to identify the areas of interest and potential attack vectors. The pentester may conduct a manual assessment to identify the weaknesses or conduct an automated scan and review. When conducting an automated scan, the pentester will use a variety of web-based vulnerability scanners that perform a range of tests on your network.
For instance, one common test, open redirector, automatically determines whether an endpoint has been configured to route network traffic through an insecure HTTP proxy. A vulnerable HTTP proxy, typically used to monitor and mitigate traffic to external websites, allows attackers to capture the session cookies of your web browser, which could be used in further attacks.
The most common vulnerability, known as the “default gateway” issue, occurs when Internet-bound traffic is directed through a weak or non-existent proxy. A typical example is the default gateway not having a proxy listening on its public IP address, so the next-hop router routes traffic to the external Internet. In this case, if a user clicks on a malicious link or opens an email, the attacker can capture the session cookie or steal the cookie file for your email account.
These tests are automated, and the results may be analyzed to identify which components need remediation. A security audit typically involves a review of the configuration of servers, networks, firewalls and web browsers, which may then be targeted for a specific attack. Penetration tests are similar, but take this a step further by identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities.
Stages of a Penetration Test
1. Reconnaissance
The initial step in a penetration test is reconnaissance, whereby the tester identifies information about the target system. This includes employing open-source intelligence, network scanning, and finding potential security vulnerabilities. Ethical hackers tend to use passive and active information gathering in order to understand the structure of the target system and its security controls.
2. Scanning for Vulnerabilities
During this stage, penetration testers employ testing tools to probe the target system for vulnerabilities. A vulnerability scan is performed to identify security concerns like misconfigurations, software that is out of date, and known vulnerabilities. Some common tools are network scanners, SQL injection scanners, and web application security scanners.
3. Exploitation of Vulnerabilities
After identifying vulnerabilities, the penetration tester tries to exploit vulnerabilities in order to identify the possible harm that a real hacker might achieve. This is the step that mimics actual attacks, such as SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), and social engineering attacks that mislead users into divulging sensitive data.
4. Maintaining Access and Further Exploitation
Once they have been able to exploit a vulnerability successfully, the tester checks if they are able to gain long-term access to the system. This phase, called maintaining access, determines how much an attacker may be able to infiltrate the target system. Security experts study the level of harm a prolonged breach would bring and suggest countermeasures.
5. Reporting and Remediation
The last step of a penetration test is reporting findings and proposing fixes. The tester draws up a report containing the security flaws, steps attempted to bypass the system, and proposals for improvement in security standards. The company can apply patches and updates to reduce risk.
Conclusion
A penetration testing (pentesting) audit is a structured set of skills designed to identify various weaknesses in an organization’s technical and physical security controls. This type of audit is sometimes performed by security software developers and IT support staff, but many organizations are now performing their own penetration tests.
