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A penetration test (in the IT vernacular referred to as a "pen test") is also known as "ethical hacking", and this network security tool provides an essential function in vulnerability assessment. By actively seeking out and deploying attacks and penetration efforts against your network, you are more likely to uncover vulnerabilities and be able to take action to block holes in your security and pre-empt attacks on the perimeter defences.
Penetration testing includes both script-based and human-based attacks on the network in order to seek out and exploit vulnerabilities. The difference between this and say, criminal hackers looking to cause mischief or theft of data, is that you control the "attacker". The "attacker" reports back to you on whether they were successful and if so, how to stop such an attack from being successful in real-life. Penetration testing will reveal network security holes but more than this, it will be able to provide you with a realistic risk assessment including the impact on your business should such an attack succeed. Knowing what such an attack may cost your business will provide you with the ability to quantify the business risk and determine whether you do in fact, need to implement a solution.
"Black Box Testing" involves a penetration test where the attackers have no knowledge of the network infrastructure. They are working from what a real, external hacker would be using - online connectivity and any human intelligence or reliance on human nature, in order to discover vulnerabilities.
"White Box Testing" involves attackers who have full knowledge of the network infrastructure and are seeking out vulnerabilities and scenarios to take advantage of perceived weaknesses.
An intermediate form exists, known as "Grey Box Testing" where some knowledge is provided, known also as "partial disclosure".
The aim of these differing forms of testing is to compel imaginative ways to hack into the network, compromising network security. While having full knowledge of a system may lead the ethical attacker to use an obvious defect in network security, they may pass over and completely miss a less obvious but more severe vulnerability. Blind or black box testing does not allow for precise testing of certain components of the network because they don't know how the network is established but, this form of testing does lead to more imaginative attack scenarios being developed and hence, a more realistic prospect of stopping a real attacker with mischief in mind.
Penetration testing should be a regular scheduled activity and performed at least once a year and every time the network infrastructure is added to or changed. Penetration tests are also a serious component of risk audits conducted to determine network operation and integrity. Script-based penetration testing is relatively inexpensive because of the level of automation involved and is eminently suitable for white box testing. Black box testing, on the other hand, is labor intensive because it involves real people emulating real life hackers and such a penetration test will involve more than simply running an online attack against the network, for instance, rummaging through company trash for computer information, and this dramatically increases the cost.
Lawrence Reaves works for PLANIT Technology Group, a leading provider of Richmond network security, Virginia Beach enterprise storage, and many other services. PLANIT can be found online at: PLANITTech.com.
For the smooth functioning of a company, computer networks and internet connectivity is a must. But with these requirements, is associated the risk of getting hacked or inviting virus from different sources. The ability to provide a secured system of protection from unauthorized entry, relives the companies of huge mind racking troubles.
Reams and reams of pages of information and innumerable data are located in the computer systems and servers of some companies. Not only are these important for the day to day functioning of the organization, but also they have a bearing on the working of many people. Such data protection is mandatory for the organizations and for this, they will have to entrust their system in the hands of a competent information security audit agency.
By doing a detailed audit of the security system in the network, the agency comes to know about the loopholes that might be present. In a computer network, there are a number of points of entry because there are a number of computers and these are being used by people for different works. Moreover, the link is also present to the servers. Despite of sufficient antivirus, or malware protections, it is possible to breach the information security cordon.
When the audit is done, the experts in the agency work with the method of penetration testing. In such a method, these experts use their know how to first try and enter into the given network by ethical hacking measures. Any network is penetrable and this is what these experts believe in and they try to find as many possible entry points as they can find. With the penetrability tests, the agency comes to know about the possible modifications and the points at which these modifications are required.
Most of the companies dealing in information security are nowadays adopting these measures so that the baseline assessment of the security of the computer network is done from the outside. The penetration test is a simulation of the hostile network attacks which are done in a covert manner by possible hackers or virus makers. By means of such tests, the information security personnel are able to know about the points of vulnerabilities and potential entryways into sensitive data in the given IT infrastructure security system.
The information security audit is done by means of port scanning, vulnerability identification of operating system, web application, antivirus, and other components of the networks. Then the audit is analyzed and reports of penetration testing are put under scrutiny. This helps in charting out an organized network security system. The expenditure, blue print of security programming, and operational procedures of the future securities are laid down for the benefit of the client companies.
By means of the information security audit, companies will be able to lay bare their existing system. This will also lead them to rethink their information security strategy and give them an opportunity to upgrade it or renew it. Without the proper assessment of the security system, it is not possible to know if it is weak or is providing adequate protection. With advanced means of data theft being rampant in the IT world, the line differentiating the risk and protection is quite thin. With proper information security audit and its correctional measures, it can be a boon for any company depending on computer networks.
Torrid Networks is a global leader in end-to-end information security management services. Company is a CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team - India) empaneled security auditor under the Ministry of Information Technology of India. To get a free Quote on penetration testing or information security kindly visit- Torrid Networks
Penetration testing is also known as a pen test. It is used for evaluating the security of a computer system or network that suffers from the attack of malicious outsider and insiders. In this process, we use an active analysis of the system for any potential vulnerability.
The penetration testing is valuable because of following reasons:
1. It determines the feasibility of a particular set of attack vectors.
2. It identifies the vulnerabilities from the higher to lower sequence.
3. It identifies the vulnerabilities which is not detected by the automated network or scanning software.
4. It provides evidence to support increased investment in personal security and technology.
The penetration testing is a component of security audit. It has several ways to conduct the testing like black box testing and white box testing. In black box testing there is no any prior knowledge of the infrastructure to be tested. It is necessary for the tester to first determine the location and then extend the system for commencing their analysis. The white box testing provides the full information about the infrastructure to be tested and sometime also provides the network diagrams, source code and IP addressing information. There are some variations between black and white box testing which is known as gray box testing. The black box testing, white box testing and gray box testing are also known as blind, full disclosures and partial disclosure test accordingly.
The penetration testing should be carried out on any computer which is to be deployed in any hostile environment, in any internet facing site, before the system is deployed. By this we provide the level of practical assurance for that the system will not be penetrate by any malicious user. The penetration testing is an invaluable technique for any organization for the information security program. Basically white box penetration testing is often ally used as a fully automated inexpensive process. The black box penetrating testing is a labor intensive activity that is why it is required expertise to minimize the risk of targeted system. The black box penetration testing may slow the organization network response time due to network scanning and vulnerability scanning. It is possible that system may be damaged in the course of penetration testing and may be inoperable. This risk may be minimizing by the use of experienced penetration testers but it can never be fully eliminated.
The web applications of penetration testing are as follows:
• It is used for the knowing vulnerabilities in Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) application.
• For the technical vulnerabilities like URL manipulation, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, back-end authentication, password in memory, session hijacking, buffer overflow, web server configuration, credential management, etc.
• For knowing business logic errors like day-to-day threat analysis, unauthorized logins, personnel information modification, price-list modification, unauthorized fund transfer, etc.
Torrid Networks is a global leader in the information security services. Our strong leadership and passion for information security helped us build unique onsite-offshore service delivery model combined with unparalleled culture of customer satisfaction. We bring cutting-edge information security products in association with our global partners and early adoption of best practices and quality standards (closely emulating CMM Level 4 practices) helps us deliver excellence.
http://www.torridnetworks.com/
In the recent times, ethical hacking has come out to be a trendy term in the cyber world. It is well known fact that hacking is illegal as well as unethical. If you penetrate in someone's network and extract his information, then it is legally unacceptable. Hacking has come out to be a serious problem for numerous people across the world and they are in the search for a possible way out.
Irrespective of their size and potential every business organization wishes to safeguard its network and information from hackers who are always on the lookout for it. You need to be wary of them and look for solution such as network penetration test. Webmasters are trying to get proficiency in this field because this is the most sought field.
All about Network Penetration Test:
The problem of hacking is not new among us, as it has been looming for past many years. Over the years, you may find that the methods used by hackers have become sophisticated, so it is tough for a normal person to safeguard their network.
The anti-hacking devices one can get in the market cannot complete the techniques used by hackers, so there is need for some better techniques. It is essential for you to know that penetration testing can efficiently deal with the problem of hacking. This testing offers immaculate baseline for the design of the security system for your website.
Reasons for opting this testing:
There are numerous for performing this testing and every reason is important in its own. This testing can guarantee you with a safer website security as well as protection of your sensitive information.
It can be helpful in testing the responsiveness of the organization against different forms of security breaches.
Organizations can evaluate their security methods, identify gaps if any and eradicate them instantly before any data theft occurs.
It builds a strong wall around the network of the organization which makes it impossible for the hackers to steal the sensitive information.
Strategies employed for the Network penetration test:
Wireless penetration is greatly important for every organization, so you need to also go for it in order to avoid all possible troubles. This industry is evolving drastically, so you can upgrade your network by taking its assistance. On the daily basis a new technique is coming up for testing the penetration of the network, but there are certain techniques which are famous for their effectiveness.
Penetration test of network externally: Your partner can perform the test from another computer or system. This is the reason it is called external testing of the network. There is no need for the revelation of the website for performing this form of testing.
Internal Wireless Network Test: This form of testing is performed within the environment of the network or your organization. People using WiFi are prone to thefts within their organization, so there is grave need for performing this test.
You need to incorporate these things in your organization if you wish a safe technological environment. The best part of these tests is that they are reliable and one can bank on them.
At strategicsec.com, you can get comprehensive wireless penetration test and in-depth data security thereby giving you an assurance of complete protection of your network from hackers.
