Penetration testing is also referred to as pen testing. It is a practical cybersecurity practice planned to find, exploit, and answer vulnerabilities in the digital infrastructure of a company. By simulating actual world cyberattacks, pen testing permits businesses to review the strength of their defenses. Penetration testing services can find areas where security measures can be improved.

 

Look ahead at the process, kinds, and tools utilized in penetration testing.

 

 

What is the process of penetration testing?

The penetration testing procedure commonly follows up five different stages:

 

Planning and exploration

The phrase includes known that target system. It speaks about the scope of the target system and setting objectives. Information collection and reconnaissance speak about finding out the IP addresses, names of the domains, network structure, and software usages. It could be the right entry point for an aggressor.

 

Scanning and Vulnerability Appraisal

At the time of the stage, testers use scanning tools to recognize possible weaknesses in the system. Vulnerability estimation tools inspect the target for open ports, unsecured usage, outdated software, and other usable configurations.

 

Attack and Exploitation Simulation

In cases where vulnerabilities are found out, testers make an effort to exploit them to evaluate how much a real attack could break ground. It can comprise the bypassing of security calculation, unauthorized access, or escalating privileges to know the future risk linked with each vulnerability.

 

Reporting and Analysis

Once the test is complete, testers compile a comprehensive report on their findings, which comprises vulnerabilities that were exposed, how they were exploited, and the complete security posture. The report is helpful for the IT teams to know where they should follow up on the required changes.

 

Remediation and Retesting

If the shortfalls have been answered, retesting is being performed to make sure that the security patches and changes have been effective. The end step assists to confirm that the vulnerabilities are ended and the system is completely secured.

 

Different Types of Penetration Testing

 

• Black Box Testing
• White Box Testing
• Gray Box Testing
• Social Engineering Testing

 

Different tools that are used in penetration testing

Nmap

 

It is referred to as Network Mapper. It is basically an open-source tool that scans networks for open ports. It is about to find out the services and look into the vulnerabilities. It’s commonly used for reconnaissance and scanning at the time of the penetration testing.

Metasploit

 

Metasploit is supposed to be a powerful tool used to find out and develop vulnerabilities. Having a library of pre-built payloads and exploits, it assists the testers to suggest real-world attacks and test the efficacy of security lines.

Burp Suite

It is widely used for web app testing. It comprises tools for mapping, analyzing, and offensively exploiting web vulnerabilities. It can be cross-site scripting and SQL injection.

 

Wireshark

 

Wireshark is referred to as the packet analyzer. It directly assists the testers to capture and analyze network transfer. It is about to find out the possible issues within the real-time data flow.

 

OWASP ZAP

 

ZAP is referred to as an open-source web application security scanner. It can directly assist in finding the issues with the web applications. It’s broadly used for finding the common issues, such as XSS and CSRF.