Understanding Penetration Testing
Vectra’s penetration testing services validate the security of your systems and applications by identifying and attempting to exploit vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Vectra conducts penetration consulting services in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane. To be effective in safeguarding systems against attack, penetration testing should be performed on both the applications and the underlying supporting network and infrastructure. Penetration testing can be performed from the perspective of an external internet attacker with no prior knowledge of your environment or as an attacker with credentials or access to the internal network.
The Vectra penetration testing service meets the stringent requirements of the PCI SSC (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council) for PCI DSS compliance.
Penetration Testing Methodology
Vectra has a well defined and proven penetration Testing Methodology based on industry best practice. This ensures that our clients receive consistent and quality results. Our team uses an arsenal of commercial, open source and custom developed penetration testing tools. Some of these tools are similar to those used by attackers on the internet. Penetration testing is performed using a variety of automated tools, tailored to suit each engagement and manual interaction to validate and attempt to exploit vulnerabilities.
Regulatory Requirements and Governance
Penetration tests are a mandatory requirement for meeting several regulations, including PCI DSS, SOX, GLBA and HIPAA. Penetration testing is defined in industry best practice standards such as ISO 27001 as an important security validation test that any organisation with an internet presence should regularly undertake.
PCI DSS Penetration Testing
As a QSA (Qualified Security Assessor) company, endorsed by the PCI SSC (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council), Vectra is well versed in the specific requirements for PCI DSS penetration testing. If penetration testing is required to meet PCI DSS compliance obligations, as a QSA company Vectra is able to provide PCI DSS Assessment services and other services required to maintain PCI DSS compliance.
Network Penetration Testing
The primary objective for a network penetration test is to identify exploitable vulnerabilities in networks, systems, hosts, and network devices (ie: firewall, routers, switches) before hackers are able to discover and exploit them. This is a very important test, as the network is often the nerve system of an organisation, and can allow or restrict users based on the network policy. It is important for the network to be secure in all areas, particularly if remote users access the system regularly.
Infrastructure Penetration Testing
Vectra’s Infrastructure Penetration Testing is a simulated attack on your infrastructure which forms part of your network. These tests may be either internal to your network or externally facing the internet. Internal tests focus on the internal security of your network, and whether secure areas of your network (Card Data Environments, etc) are segmented from a standard user’s environment. External tests review your firewall’s ability to restrict access to non-authorised users while allowing reliable access for authenticated users on the network.
Application Penetration Testing
Applications can often contain many different vulnerabilities and are usually a major weakness in a computing environment. Vectra’s Application Penetration Testing services team can perform simulated attacks and run various scans to identify the effectiveness of an application’s security controls.
Mobile Penetration Testing
Vectra’s Mobile Penetration Testing is a simulated attack on your organisations applications to validate their controls. The aim is to identify any vulnerabilities or misconfigurations within the application, that could potentially be exploited. We can assess the source code of your application using market-leading methodologies conducted by our highly skilled and accredited penetration testing staff.
What is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is a comprehensive way of testing an organisations’ IT systems and applications. The objective of a penetration test is to assess what would happen if a hacker decided to target your systems, how they would do it and upon doing so, would they be successful. Using penetration testing tools, a penetration tester views your network, application, device, and/or physical security through the eyes of both a malicious actor and an experienced cybersecurity expert. This allows them to discover weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and identify areas where your security posture needs improvement.
Why Penetration Testing is Important
Automated vulnerability assessment tools are an essential part of your security strategy, but they only go so far. They focus on breadth of coverage – every IP address, every port, every URL- and look for well known technical flaws.
Penetration testing however is all about, using human cunning, and the latest strategies of real threat actors. This tactic allows organisations to assess their real-world risk and locate security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by criminals.
That typically includes highly skilled specialists using both tech-based tools and also social engineering to manipulate individuals into divulging information that can be used to access your system.