If you’ve heard of penetration testing, then you probably know what it’s all about. Penetration testing is a special branch of IT security testing that specifically aims to determine if a given software system has any vulnerabilities which could potentially allow an attack to penetrate the system and gain access to the information or resources of a system. Penetration testing may also be called a white-box test. It is conducted primarily to test the performance of a security solution against known vulnerabilities. Penetration testing is done by testing the software to determine whether it can be exploited by an unauthorized user or the security provider.
A penetration test, commonly known as ethical hacker testing, is conducted to test the protection of a network from known or suspected hackers. The purpose of this kind of testing is to discover if a software program’s vulnerabilities allow attackers to compromise a system. It usually involves testing the protocol implementation, database design, execution of code, security policy enforcement, and access control management. It also involves determining if the program’s architecture and deployment structure would allow for an attack to penetrate and achieve successful operation.
In the past, penetration testing was carried out by security personnel who are authorized to conduct such tests under the direction of a qualified security engineer or software engineer. With the development of new technology and with the advancement of the cyberstrategy, these responsibilities have been delegated to qualified computer consultants. These consultants are typically paid to perform these functions in exchange for a fee.
The scope of what is penetration test varies depending on the type of testing undertaken. For instance, in some tests, data from the Ethernet header or WAN are tested in order to detect weak or vulnerable areas where packets of data are transmitted. Similarly, other tests may require testing for the presence of invalid Internet protocol (IP) addresses, application compatibility, and the like.
What Is Penetration Test?
Typically, these activities are carried out as part of infrastructure improvement projects. These tests aim to detect and reduce the vulnerabilities of the current infrastructure in an IT organization. Moreover, the goal of implementing such an initiative is to save costs on the long run, enhance performance of IT systems and eliminate security risks.
Pen Testing is one of the most commonly employed forms of Internet security testing. It involves the use of a digital pen – a small and portable testing device – that is used by an experienced operator or a trained computer hacker to trace and replay the path of an intrusion. The purpose of carrying out such tests is to detect security flaws by using what is called a “penetration test.” A digital pen can be a paper clip, a T-shirt, or other common items found in the vicinity of an intrusion detection system (IDS).
There are two types of pen-testing that can be employed. The first one involves a manual probe, which is executed with the aid of a computer program. Such a probe operates through the client’s IP address and compares it against the IP addresses recorded in a server’s log files. If any of these IP addresses matches the log records of any servers targeted, the program informs the intruder that it has been detected and that further investigation will be performed. The second type of Penetration Test that can be conducted is a digital/clamp pen-testing method that compares an IP address against a known hexadecimal string.
Penetration testing and pen testing differ in many aspects such as their level of complexity, their frequency of execution, and their mode of data collection. In addition, they also differ in the methodologies that they employ. The former requires an operator or a hacker to actively search through a web application for security vulnerabilities; the latter requires scanning to identify identified vulnerabilities and their corresponding Fix-ups.
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