Pentesting involves conducting a controlled attack on an ICT system that is aimed at enabling practical assessment of the current security status.
The primary objective is finding all vulnerabilities and verifying their possible exploitation by cybercriminals. It also double-checks the resistance of securities that have already been implemented.
The tested systems are subjected to analysis for the presence of potential threats and bugs, such as incorrect configuration, software or hardware vulnerabilities, weaknesses in technical or procedural security measures or insufficient user awareness.
Penetration tests can be conducted in three ways:
- blackbox – lack of knowledge regarding the tested system
- graybox – with limited knowledge
- whitebox – with full knowledge access
Pentesters, who are the people conducting the tests, use many automatic tools, such as vulnerability scanners, however, their findings are always verified manually. This is done by attempting to exploit a given vulnerability and presenting evidence confirming the possibility of an actual attack.
Benefits
- possible verification of implemented technical solutions, as well as process and procedural solutions by a third party specializing in cybersecurity
- better identification and stock-taking of own IT resources, including measures ensuring information security
- support in achieving conformity with legal regulations (e.g., GDPR or Act on the National Cybersecurity System) or standards (ISO 27001, ISO 22301)
- access to the knowledge of auditors and pentesters with extensive experience in implementing projects for many organizations from various industries and sectors
- guaranteed information confidentiality owing to cooperation with a company holding ISO 27001 (information security management) and ISO 22301 (business continuity management) certificates and a first-degree industrial security certificate with “Top Secret”, NATO Secret and EU Secret clauses
