Penetration Testing & Vulnerability Assessment
There are two classifications of vulnerability testing, each dependant on the criteria you use, and what you want to test.
| Outside In (with or without Social Engineering*) | Internal (with or without Social Engineering*) |
|---|---|
| This is where we will attempt to gain a hold of your network from the outside world. We will use a variety of tools at our disposal to do this within a time frame agreed with you. | This is where you give us some information or access to your network and we try to move laterally over it. For instance, you may give us very limited access but challenge us to get access to your companies most secure data without being detected, or within a given timeframe. |
| *Social engineering can be defined as ‘hacking the human’. It essentially means we can use non-technical ways of gaining access to your network. Our consultants will attempt to trick your employees into helping us through a variety of methods. Do you trust them not to get caught out? | |
Testing Variations
The above tests can be carried out in a variety of ways:
Blackbox
This is where you don’t give us any information about a specific application or system you want to test and we try to break into the application or system within a given time frame. We act as the ‘uninformed’ attacker against you. This would lead to a more realistic attack and highlight the easiest ways into your system or application.
Whitebox
This would involve you sharing all the information about a system or application and we use our skills to try to find the gaps. We would require time with the developers, source code and information about the surrounding networks. This may include a code audit (see below). This is done so that you, as the owner, can allow us, as the ‘attacker’, to hone the scope of the test to specific flaws in the application or system. Although not as realistic as an attack it can highlight areas you have previously missed when protecting the system or application.
Greybox
This is a mixture of blackbox and whitebox. This may be where you provide some information about the system or application, such as an IP address or network credentials, and we try to ‘attack’ the system or application. Although this may seem like cheating, it is a common attack method nowadays. People are able to buy credentials online with ease, what is to say we couldn’t do the same during blackbox testing.
Wireless
Wireless is now considered a requirement for most office situations, as people require a connection to the Internet at all times, combined with the ability to roam around the office environment without losing connectivity. However, it is also considered a major risk to a security of a company. If designed poorly or altered after installation, then it can result in data being accessible to a nefarious attacker looking for an easy way in. We will review your wireless set up and perform scans to see where vulnerabilities are, and if any data can be breached.
Code Audit
A lot of vulnerabilities relate to program code itself. This is either as it is released, due to changes or how it reacts once live in the application. This may be due to a change introducing bugs or it may not have been correctly tested to start with. Often the issues can cause the application to be open to attack as the code reacts in an insecure way once live. Our Professional Services Team can carry out this review for you – often fresh eyes will spot things missed by those creating the code in the first instance.
Contact Us
Scan 3XS offers a wide range of professional services, fully customisable to your requirements. Please contact us for further information and pricing.
