Introduction: What is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is the practice of simulating an attack on a network to identify potential vulnerabilities. Pen testing relies on manual and automated techniques to test for security vulnerabilities, some more advanced than others. The most basic pen testing in cybersecurity is automated, but these tests are minimal compared to more comprehensive methods. Penetration testing and vulnerability assessment are two methods that are more comprehensive than basic, automated pen testing. Both methods use a variety of tools to identify vulnerabilities in the system (such as through web application pen testing). Attackers use multiple tools during their attacks. They include social engineering (which is a form of manipulation), lateral movement through network access and exploit kits, botnets, and malware.
A red team is a group of individuals who are tasked with defending an organization from external threats or internal threats by performing an adversarial simulation of the threat. Red teams are typically much more aggressive than the normal defenses on an organization’s network, attempting to gain knowledge about the company’s defenses by making attacks similar to those that could be expected from a malicious attacker. In information security, red teams use techniques such as social engineering and physical penetration testing in order to test for weaknesses in other systems.I for defenders to implement effective countermeasures against. In the U.S., red teams are popular among law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in order to test security across borders and jurisdictions, such as how a smuggler might try to enter or exit the country. The use of red teams has been criticized by some security experts who argue that it is not cost effective because it is difficult to detect and hard to make predictions using such methods. Some argue that the programs are subject to bias in the way they approach security. Others say they do not work because it is difficult to predict what an adversary will do. Those who support the red team concept argue that it helps hone in on specific threats by considering different ways an adversary might react to a situation. Another argument is that red teams force organizations to think about their security and make changes before any disaster happens.
Blue Teams are the internal security team beating back both real attackers and Red teams. Most organizations don’t have the security operations mentality of the blue team, which is focused on preventing cyber attacks. The reason for this is because most standard security teams focus on defense and are not trained to think like an attacker. A lot of InfoSec tasks are defense-oriented and don’t require offensive techniques or alerts. Examples include tier-1 SOC analysts who are focused on keeping the system secure, not breaking into it.
Penetration Testing Tools That You Can Use For Your Own Security Audit
Pen testing tools are a great way to test the security of an organization’s networks. Pen testing involves the tester trying to find vulnerabilities in the system. The pen tester then exploits these vulnerabilities to gain access and do various things such as gaining administrative privileges and stealing data. Then, there are frameworks. Different pen tester frameworks are used for different purposes. Commonly, a framework is used for mapping the target system, identifying points of attack and performing initial penetration testing. They are often used in conjunction with various tools (e.g., Nmap).
The following is a list of popular pen tester tools:
1. Kali Linux Pen testing Framework (KALI)
2. Metasploit Framework
3. Hob0Tep
4. Scapy
5. Veil-Framework
6. The Gauntlt Toolkit
7. nmap
8. Burp Suite
9. Wireshark
10. Metasploit Scanner
11. dnmap
12. Scapy
13. Netcat
14. Nmap scripting language
15. Winpcap
Here is a list of popular Pen testing certifications:
- GIAC Certified Penetration Tester (GPEN)
- GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT)
- GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN)
- EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- EC-Council Licensed Penetration Tester — Master (LPT)
- CompTIA PenTest+
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
Penetration Testing Terms
Pentesting involves the use of specialized tools to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in the system. The values assigned to these terms in this article are based on those used by NIST SP 800-53 and other sources.
Vulnerability – A weakness in an asset; a piece of software, process or configuration that could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the system or its data.
Vulnerability Assessment – The process of identifying vulnerabilities in the system and categorizing them into groups so that they can be remediated.
WSDL – Web Services Description Language. It is the standard language used to publish a web service’s interface to make it accessible over the internet.
XML – Extensible Markup Language. The markup language that defines how documents are built from markup tags and nested elements .
XSL – Extensible Style Language. A style language that includes instructions on how to format text in XML documents.
XPath – An XSL extension which enables an XML document to be searched for a specific node, attribute, or text within the document based on an XPath expression
XSLT – An XSL extension which enables the transformation of XML documents using style sheets following a defined pattern
Xerces – A software framework for parsing and validating XML documents and performing streaming HTML to text conversion. It is also used as a parser library in its own right, in other applications such as XML Schema or XQuery.
Cybersecurity Risks are Everywhere. Take Action Now and Start Pen Testing
There are numerous risks that arise from the cyber world. From personal identity theft, ransomware, DDoS attacks to phishing websites and more, the conventional methods of protection that we still rely on today can no longer maintain a high level of security. The most significant risk that has been identified is actually the inability of organizations to protect themselves from attacks from criminals and even nation states. This is an inescapable risk for companies due to the interconnected state between all systems used by these enterprises. For those reasons, a plan must be created to deal with all of the risks and vulnerabilities that may arise in such situations. Without a plan, the consequences faced by large enterprises can be devastating.
