Penetration testing, commonly known as “pen testing,” is a critical security practice where cybersecurity professionals simulate attacks on a computer network to identify vulnerabilities that could lead to a data breach. This proactive measure is essential for safeguarding an organization’s data and systems. Here, we explore the concept, objectives, types, processes, and benefits of penetration testing, emphasizing its importance in maintaining robust cybersecurity.
What is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing involves a cybersecurity expert attempting to find and exploit vulnerabilities in a computer system or network. The primary objective of this simulated attack is to uncover weaknesses in a system’s defenses before malicious actors can exploit them. Think of it as a bank hiring someone to impersonate a burglar to test their security. If the ‘burglar’ succeeds, the bank gains valuable insights into how to tighten its security measures.
The Primary Goal of Penetration Testing
The main goal of penetration testing is to identify security weaknesses in a system or computer network. By simulating an attack, penetration testing provides a realistic assessment of your security posture and helps you take proactive steps to strengthen your defenses. This process not only uncovers vulnerabilities but also assesses the effectiveness of existing security measures, ensuring that organizations are well-prepared against potential threats.
Who Performs Penetration Tests?
Penetration tests are typically conducted by ethical hackers—cybersecurity experts who use their skills to improve their client’s security rather than exploit it for nefarious gain. These individuals may be external contractors with little-to-no prior knowledge of the system they are testing, which helps challenge assumptions or expose blind spots that developers or administrators may have missed. Ethical hackers can range from experienced professionals with certifications to self-taught individuals.
Types of Penetration Tests
Penetration tests come in various forms, each designed to simulate different attack scenarios. Here are the primary types of pen tests:
White-Box Pen Test
In an white-box pen test, the hacker is provided with significant information about the target company’s environment. This information could include network diagrams, IP addresses, and other relevant data. The purpose of providing this information is to simulate an attack where the attacker has knowledge about the environment (such as an insider) or where the attacker takes time to map out and understand the environment to a great degree. Providing this information completely and accurately up front allows the test to focus on enumeration of what attacks are possible and can be more efficient in terms of the sheer number of results which can be found for a given level of effort.
Grey-Box Pen Test
The ethical hacker is given basic background and scoping information about the environment without granular details. This helps the tester to focus efforts on the most important areas and ensure coverage of organizational priorities or regulatory requirements. The test will also provide insight into what a potential attacker could discover in each phase of the attack. The tester must spend more time and effort mapping out the target environment than in a white-box test and, all things equal, will have less time to spend exploiting, and moving around the environment. This type of test will also naturally begin to differentiate low-hanging fruit vs attack paths which required more effort to discover or exploit and strikes a balance for efficiency, coverage an expense.
Black-Box Pen Test
The tester is given little-to-no information about the target environment beyond the bare minimum needed to define any critical scoping boundaries. This approach simulates an attack by an outsider who has no prior knowledge of the system. The black-box test is effective in identifying vulnerabilities that could be exploited by external attackers who are attempting to breach the system without any inside information. This type of test requires significant effort devoted to information gathering, enumeration, and analysis before exploitation can take place. In addition, the customer often confirms the target before the actual testing begins, For the same level of effort, a black box test will provide more insight into what areas of the attack surface a potential attacker may be able to discover and vulnerability results for only the most promising potential attack paths.
Covert Pen Test
In a covert pen test, also known as a ‘red team’ test, almost no one in the company knows about the test, including IT and security professionals. The testing scope allows for extended effort over a longer period and the rules of engagement allow for the most flexibility. This approach is designed to simulate an attack by an insider or an attacker who has managed to evade detection. The covert test is useful for assessing the company’s ability to detect and respond to unexpected threats. This test carries the most risk of impacts such as resources utilized responding to testing activity as if it was a real attack. Additional planning is required to ensure testing does not cause unacceptable impacts to critical systems and how the test should proceed once detected.
External Pen Test
An external pen test focuses on the company’s external-facing technology, such as their websites and internet-facing systems. The ethical hackers attempt to breach the network from the outside, identifying vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers who are not physically present within the company’s network. The test should include company-controlled aspects of cloud and externally hosted services such as email, collaboration, and identity services while complying with appropriate policies or agreements. This means an external test might find a user’s weak password or an exploitable configuration in the company’s use of a hosted file transfer provider but would not attack the hosting company directly. Often this type of test will include social engineering via email, chat or text messages, or even phone calls. This type of test is crucial for identifying weaknesses in the company’s public-facing assets.
Internal Pen Test
An internal pen test is conducted from within the company’s internal network. The ethical hacker performs the test as if they were an attacker who has already gained access to the internal network. This is often accomplished by connecting a tester-controlled computer or virtual machine to one or more internal company networks, providing VPN or other remote access typically used by employees or system administrators. Entirely virtual or cloud networks sometimes require a more tailored methodology. This approach helps identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by insiders or attackers who have breached the network perimeter.
The Penetration Testing Process
Penetration testing follows a structured process to ensure comprehensive evaluation and accurate results. Here are the main phases:
Planning and Reconnaissance
In the planning and reconnaissance phase, goals, scope, rules of engagement, communication, and expected deliverables for the test are defined. A well scoped test will ensure appropriate resources are allocated to each area to be tested. The ethical hacker gathers intelligence about the target system, such as network details, domain names, and other relevant information. This phase involves understanding the target environment and identifying potential entry points.
Scanning
During the scanning phase, the ethical hacker uses tools to examine the system for weaknesses. This includes understanding how the application responds to various intrusion attempts and performing static and dynamic analysis to assess the system or application’s behavior. The goal is to identify potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Just like a real attacker, the tester will use their experience to focus efforts where there is the greatest potential to find a viable attack path.
Gaining Access
Once vulnerabilities are identified, the hacker attempts to exploit them to gain access to the system. In some cases, a single vulnerability does not yield access directly, and multiple techniques must be combined to achieve usable access. For example, an attacker could obtain user credential through social engineering and then find a misconfiguration which allows for bypass of multi-factor authentication (MFA) controls before the credentials can be used. Successful attacks will often involve one or more methods of command and control (C2) for communication with the compromised system.
Lateral Movement and Escalation
Once access is gained, the question is “to what?”. The attacker must explore the environment to which they have gained access and identify opportunities to access sensitive information which may require elevating privileges, identifying and accessing other reachable systems, and exploiting different vulnerabilities on these systems. The attacker is constantly re-evaluating the previous steps in the process in light of new information to inform future efforts.
Maintaining Access
Once access is gained, the ethical hacker tests whether the vulnerability allows for a persistent presence within the system. Initial access paths are often fragile or come with increased risk of detection. It is usually beneficial to establish one or more persistent paths for return access which do not depend on the initial vulnerability. Even if the initial attack is detected and the vulnerability remediated, an advanced attacker will have moved on and can maintain access, returning to the network at will or moving large amounts of data out over time. This phase simulates advanced persistent threats (APTs) where attackers maintain long-term access to the system without detection. The goal is to assess the potential impact of such threats.
Analysis and Reporting
In the analysis phase, the results of the penetration test are compiled into a detailed report. The report includes information about each phase of the pen test process. This includes what was found during scanning and reconnaissance efforts, details of potential attack paths which were investigated even if not successful, exploited vulnerabilities, the data that was accessed, persistence or long term access methods, and details of any C2 methods used. This information is used to make recommendations such as configuration changes, implementation of new security methods, or patching of vulnerabilities. The report should also provide insight into effectiveness of detective controls, and guide future efforts to improve overall security posture.
Preparing for a Penetration Test
Preparation is key to a successful penetration test and your organization should tailor these steps to your needs. Here are some steps to ensure readiness:
Inform Personnel
In most cases, it’s essential to notify relevant staff about the upcoming test. This ensures that they are aware of the test and can respond appropriately. Informing personnel helps in coordinating efforts and avoiding unnecessary disruptions during the test. Specialized or unique environments especially benefit from stakeholder involvement early in the planning process. Test results will be most helpful if staff avoid taking special precautions or altering security posture during the test.
Be Ready for Results
Anticipate the test results and be prepared to address identified vulnerabilities. Understanding that the test will reveal weaknesses is crucial for taking proactive measures to fix them. Being ready for the results helps in prioritizing remediation efforts. Scope the test to provide a manageable set of results that your organization can address.
Availability Considerations
Be aware that the test may impact system availability. Plan accordingly to minimize disruptions to business operations. Scheduling portions of the test during off-peak hours or during maintenance windows can help in managing availability considerations but may increase cost or length of an assessment.
Avoid Last-Minute Improvements
Refrain from making significant security changes just before the test. It’s essential to assess the existing state accurately, and last-minute improvements can lead to unexpected results. Conducting the test on the current security posture provides a realistic assessment of vulnerabilities.
Post-Test Procedures
After a penetration test, the ethical hacker shares their findings with the company’s security team through a quality written report. It is often beneficial to provide a forum for stakeholders of affected systems to ask clarifying questions or discuss potential options for remediation with the resources who conducted the assessment. This information is used to implement security upgrades to fix the vulnerabilities discovered. Post-test improvements may include:
Mitigation of Legacy Systems
Testing often exposes unknown or underestimated risk of legacy systems and the configuration of related systems necessary to support them. Decommissioning or adding additional layers of security around these systems can limit risk to the rest of the environment.
Separation of Privilege
Limiting access and privilege of any single user and the exposure of multiple privilege level accounts to single systems. This makes it more difficult for an attacker to use one compromised account to gain access to other systems.
Rate Limiting
Implementing rate limiting helps in reducing the number of requests a user can make in a given time, preventing abuse and mitigating the risk of certain types of attacks.
New Web Application Firewall (WAF) Rules
Updating WAF rules to block identified attack vectors is crucial for protecting against web-based threats. New rules help in preventing the exploitation of discovered vulnerabilities.
DDoS Mitigation
Implementing strategies to protect against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks is essential for maintaining system availability. DDoS mitigation measures help in ensuring that the system remains accessible even during an attack.
Better Form Validations and Sanitization
Ensuring that user inputs are properly validated and sanitized can prevent injection attacks. Improving form validations and sanitization helps in protecting against vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
Benefits of Penetration Testing
Penetration testing offers numerous advantages, including:
Identifying and Fixing Vulnerabilities
Penetration testing helps organizations discover and address security weaknesses before attackers can find and exploit them. Identifying vulnerabilities early allows for timely remediation and strengthens overall security.
Insight into Security Measures
Penetration testing provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of current security controls. Understanding how well existing measures protect against attacks helps in making informed decisions about security improvements.
Regulatory Compliance
Penetration testing supports compliance with industry regulations by ensuring that security controls are effective. Regular testing helps in meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining compliance.
Enhanced Security Posture
Penetration testing strengthens overall security defenses by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. A robust security posture protects sensitive data and ensures the resilience of the business’s digital infrastructure.
Proactive Security with LBMC Cybersecurity's Pen Testing Solutions
LBMC Cybersecurity’s penetration testing service line is a critical component of any comprehensive security strategy. By simulating real-world attacks, our experts help organizations identify weaknesses, enhance defenses, and safeguard their data and systems from malicious actors. Regular penetration tests conducted by LBMC Cybersecurity not only fortify security but also ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, preparing organizations to face evolving cyber threats.
Investing in LBMC Cybersecurity’s penetration testing services means committing to the safety and resilience of your digital infrastructure. With our thorough assessments and continuous improvement strategies, you can stay ahead of potential threats and maintain a robust security posture.