The penetration test is a way to evaluate the safety of an application or network by safely exploiting any safety risks in the system. These security flaws are present in different areas. Such as system configuration settings, login methods, and misuse by the person.
In addition to assessing security, pen testing is necessary to evaluate the performance of defence systems and safety strategies.
Pen testing usually consists of both manual and automatic tests. Which aim to violate the application safety with appropriate permission.
When the risk and exploitation detects, the client can perform a penetration test report in which the scope of the test, the dangers found, their intensity, and their patch. Information about the suggestions includes.
Why does pen testing for business necessary?
Cyber risk is in a constant state of landscape flow. For the past decades, risks and threats have been increasing daily after new vulnerabilities and exploitation. All businesses need to secure their data from these threats.
Web services pentest
In this regard, Web services pentest helps you find the system’s risks that can lead to security violations, data theft, and denial of service.
Pentest is the most powerful tool to detect general risks with automatic tools and finds more complex security issues such as business logic errors and payment gateways.
It helps you get a clear picture of your organization’s security currency and fix problems to tighten your security.
The main goal of performing regular pentest is;
1. To keep data from the landscape of cyber threats.
2. Finding and reducing business logic errors
3.prepare for compliance audits
4. Saving your business from security violations.
What are the five stages of Penetration testing?
The following are the five stages of penetration testing;
Planning and reconnaissance
The first stage of pen testing defines the scope and goal of penetration testing. It includes system addresses and testing methods to apply.
It also complies with collecting intelligence data, i.e., network and domain names and mail servers, to understand how a target works and its potential breaches.
Scanning
The next step is understanding how the target request will respond to various interference efforts. We use it for;
Static analysis;
To take a survey of an application’s code to estimate the way it’s running. These tools can scan the whole code in one pass.
Dynamic analysis;
To survey an application’s code when it is running. It is practical to scan a real-time view of an application’s performance.
Gaining Access
At this stage, the web application uses to check the vulnerability attacks, such as cross-site scripting, SQL injections, and backdoors. Testers try to exploit these vulnerabilities by escalating privileges, stealing data, intercepting traffic, etc., to understand the damage.
Maintaining Access
This stage helps find if vulnerability uses to achieve a persistent presence in the exploited system. The idea is to imitate advanced permanent risks, which often live in a system for months to steal sensitive data from an organization.
Analysis
The results of the penetration test are then compile a report document such as;
1.Specific risk that exploited
2.Sensitive data accessed
3. time in which the pen tester can remain in the system undetected
This information is an analysis by security personnel to help configure an enterprise’s WAF settings and other application cyber security solutions to patch risk for future protection.
What are the methods of Penetration testing?
External testing
External penetration tests target by a company’s assets that appear on the Internet. Such as the web application itself, the company website, and the email and domain name server (DNS). This testing is helpful to access and remove valuable data.
Internal testing
In the internal test, a tester accesses an application behind its firewall and imitates the interior of the malicious attack. A standard starting scenario may be an employee whose credentials stole due to a phishing attack.
Blind testing
In a blind test, a tester gets the name of the targeted enterprise. It gives security personnel a real-time look into how an actual application can commit fraud.
Double-blind testing
In double-blind tests, security personnel have no advanced information about the simulated attack. In the real world, they will have no time to advance their defense before any risk.
Targeted testing
In this test, the tester and security personnel work together to assess each other’s movements. It is a valuable training exercise that provides the security team with a hacker’s point of view.
Conclusion:
The penetration test is a way to evaluate the safety of an application or network by safely exploiting any safety risks in the system. Web services pen test helps you find the system’s risks that can lead to security violations, data theft, and denial of service.
