Pentests have historically been pricy, so the value generated from conducting an assessment should be weighed carefully. Pentesting is not just about the quality of the assessment, but how results are communicated and remediated.įinally, value is the depth and quality of results relative to cost. The scoping process, scheduling flexibility, vulnerability quality, notification process, delivery time and reporting quality will all play a role in a customer’s satisfaction. Companies must also foster pentester satisfaction and support continuing education as the industry rapidly changes.ĭelivery and execution should also be considered. A pentester should have strong familiarity with the technology stack being tested. A quality penetration test requires a pentester to have exceptional creativity, the ability to think like an attacker and strong communication skills. Talent is the strength of a company’s pentesters. In order to decide which pentest vendor best suits your needs, I recommend considering them from three different perspectives: talent, delivery and value. Each provides a unique pentest experience and satisfies different business objectives. The manual pentest industry now falls into five vendor categories: assurance consultancies, boutique security consultancies, bug bounty, pentesting as a service and security technology companies. Today’s technologies allow remote testing and facilitate seamless integration with global pentesters. However, today’s pentesting market has transformed due to disruptive cloud and API technologies, as well as a faster and more iterative software development life cycle. A wave of security companies launched in the 1990s to provide such services as the information technology industry exploded and Apple galvanized personal computer use.Īssurance and boutique consultancy services persist today, and the second wave of automated tools continues improving. For companies with hundreds of fast-changing assets, pentesting should occur even more frequently.īefore the digital transformation, manual pentesting required an on-site assessment. A company may request a recent pentest report before engaging in a business partnership, as vendors increase a company’s risk profile.Īs cybercrime continues to rise, it is a best practice to conduct pentests on a biannual or quarterly basis. With respect to vendor security and auditing, pentesting also plays a significant role in assessing a company’s security posture. The General Data Protection Regulation in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act require reasonable and demonstrable security procedures and practices, for which penetration testing is widely considered a necessary component. Privacy regulations also encourage assessments. The United States federal government also requires pentesting for its agencies. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, for instance, requires external pentesting at least once a year, or after any major changes to an application or infrastructure. Many regulations and frameworks require - or at least recommend - pentesting. Pentesting frequency depends on an organization’s business needs. Remediation following a penetration test will hinder threat actors attempting to tamper with the confidentiality, availability or integrity of data. Pentesting is ideally a preventative measure to help harden applications and systems. Since they typically specialize in specific applications or networks, they can provide feedback on security architecture and bigger-picture design. Pentesters assume the role of an attacker, providing a fresh perspective on the attack surface. Pentesting can reveal weaknesses in infrastructure and applications, demonstrate the success of effective security controls, elucidate potential attack pathways and provide quality assurance. The business drivers behind a recurring pentesting program will vary depending on an organization’s security posture and needs. Pentest reports detail methodology, results and remediation plans. Pentesters reach an agreement with a company before conducting a series of tests, and they are compensated for their time evaluating assets. Pentesting is the manual process of assessing an application or network for security vulnerabilities. Although Capital One’s breach demonstrates why manual penetration testing is so important, procuring the right pentesting vendor is not always easy.
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