What Is Online Penetration Testing- The Comprehensive Guide
Online Penetration Testing – In the days where hacking into companies virtually to gain access to sensitive information is a regular episode, it comes as no surprise that people and organizations are looking forward to investing in a good online security plan. This is where online penetration testing comes in. This process aims to educate the relevant parties regarding the improvements they can make to their security plan to make it more solid and durable against hacking.
This blog post will provide you with information on what online penetration testing is, how it can help your business and why we believe that every site should be tested for security flaws.
Table of Contents
What Is Online Penetration Testing?
Online penetration testing refers to identifying and exploiting security vulnerabilities in an online system, such as websites or web applications. The goal of this method of hacking is to identify any weaknesses before any potential harmful hacker does.
The Different Types Of Online Penetration Testing?
Broadly speaking, the types of online penetration testing can be split into three, they are, black box pen testing, white box pen testing, and gray box pen-testing.
- Black Box Pen Testing – this approach is carried out by an independent party, who has no prior knowledge or information about your business network or website. This type of testing makes it easier for hackers to test each vulnerability until they find a way in.
- White Box Pen Testing – this approach is carried out by a company’s own team, who have prior knowledge of your business network and website before they begin testing it for vulnerabilities. The beforehand knowledge of the organization’s network makes it easier to find vulnerabilities.
- Gray Box Pen Testing – this type of pentesting is somewhere in between the black and white box approach, so it gives hackers some information about your business network or website before they begin to test each vulnerability. This type of testing can give you a unique perspective on how secure (or insecure) your system really is.
What Are The Tools Used For Online Penetration Testing?
There are many different types of online penetration testing tools, but not every tool is designed to do the same thing or work in the same way. We’ve put together a list that explains some popular types of these tools and what they can be used for:
- Astra Pentest – this tool is used for reconnaissance and scanning web applications to find security vulnerabilities. It can also be used for gathering information about the target web application and its infrastructure, what technologies are being used by it, etc.
- Burp Suite – this tool can be used to find vulnerabilities, exploit them and avoid detection by attackers. It also contains a web application that allows users to input URLs or IPs manually and then scan the site with all its security features turned on.
- Cutycapt – this program captures web page screenshots and can be used to find sensitive information that may be exposed on the website.
- Nmap – this tool is used for network exploration, management and security auditing. It allows users to scan systems for open ports, services and vulnerabilities.
- Core Impact – this is a commercial penetration testing tool that can be used to create an exploit that will be executed on the system under test (SUT). It can also be used for privilege escalation and data collection, which are both important steps in identifying security vulnerabilities.
Advantages Of Doing Online Penetration Testing?
There are many advantages of doing online penetration testing, such as:
- Vulnerability Scan – it can identify if your system is vulnerable to an attack. It also identifies the risk level that each vulnerability poses and which one might be fixed first.
- Attack Simulation – this approach simulates security attacks against a website, web application, or network in order to identify vulnerabilities.
- Actionable Intelligence – the information gathered during an online penetration test can be used to create a prioritized list of security tasks that your company should focus on fixing first. This will ensure that your business is operating at maximum efficiency while also making sure you are not putting yourself in danger by leaving vulnerabilities open.
Areas of Improvement For Online Penetration Testing
It is expected that the future of penetration tests will include more automation. This means there are going to be fewer human testers needed in order to find security vulnerabilities and exploit them. It also makes it easier for companies who don’t have a lot of time or resources available to do additional research on their own systems so they know whether they need help fixing specific vulnerabilities. Automated tools will save businesses money because they require less manpower than manual tests, which usually have higher costs associated with them as well.
Conclusion
In the end, as you can see from this article, there are a lot of things to take into account when it comes to online penetration testing. At the same time, these factors also offer a wide range of benefits and opportunities for those who want to improve their security posture with an eye on both the present and future. We hope that we’ve been able to answer most or all your questions about how online penetration tests work in practice today.