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So you want to know just how secure your computer network is. You can't really tell until you perform a text which assesses your system's weaknesses and how these could be taken advantage of. Companies and personal users do these tests so they can narrow down their locus of problems regarding their systems and come up with possible ways to remedy whatever irregularities are spotted. In a way, these so-called "Penetration Tests" are synonymous to ethical hacking which aims to get into a system to see how it can be further strengthened and guarded against black hats.
Doing a penetration test will, of course, begin with a plan where goals are defined as well as the time limits for the achievement of those goals. Here, the major problems will be discussed, as well as the specific parts of the system that should be tested, when and how long the process will take. Basically, this is where the structure of the test to be performed will be mapped out, beginning with pinpointing the actual potential sources of problems and the approach that will be used to solve them using the penetration technique.
Once everything has been detailed out, the role of the ethical hacker will be defined. The person who will pretend to be a hacker will now put himself in the shoes of a black hat and will try to do things as a black hat would to a system that he plans on attacking. After this, the tester will now go through the system and see from which actual points a hacker might possibly attack. In other words, this is where vulnerabilities of such a system will be exposed.
The last step is for the tester to "hack" the system as though he was a real hacker with real objectives for doing the hacking. For example, the tester would try to dig as much information from the system as he can. By knowing how this is possible, he will be able to come up with counter measures that will make such an intrusion impossible.
After the test, a report will be submitted to the company and will detail whatever vulnerabilities have been discovered with the system as well as how to best remove these weak points by providing solutions. In other words, the main goal of a penetration test is to see where a hacker might be successful in hacking a computer network and provide solutions to make sure these weaknesses are fixed before a real hacker makes a go for them.
Prevention is still, of course, the main thing when it comes to avoiding hackers. Companies must make it a point to ensure that their employees only visit clean sites or, if this is not possible, web surfing other than those directly related to the job, should be prohibited. However, as one can never totally get rid of the threats of hacking, it would be wise to install a software that isolates such risks significantly.
An IP change software, which allows a computer to go online with its real IP address hidden, could be a very good option. When the IP is hidden, any computer can run around freely on the Internet without being targeted for hacking. Or the computer may be targeted but the hacker's efforts will simply be in vain because such computer won't really be accessible to him since it's using a fake IP.
For safe surfing, surf anonymously and preserve your online security.
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
Each day seems to bring new threats to a business' computer systems. Businesses with websites that handle credit card data are favorite targets of hackers or disgruntled employees. Protecting customer credit card information is critical to earning trust and maintaining revenue. In the case of a security breach, customers must be notified, and that cost is high, not only in dollars, but also in company reputation. In addition, companies may need to comply with standards established by the payment card company for which they process transactions. Computer security testing services can help companies build, deliver and maintain applications and databases that resist hacking, reduce the risk of exposing credit card data and demonstrate compliance with standards.
To build more secure applications, developers should be aware of the various types of threats and attacks, and whenever possible, add defenses to their systems. Testing during the development phase can help identify possible areas of exposure so they can be addressed early on. It is also less expensive to build application security from the start, rather than needing to rework an application when it is almost completed.
One of the standard tools used in computer security testing is called penetration testing. Penetration testing tools emulate the system attack methods a hacker might use. The testing tools automate some of these processes, resulting in faster and more effective tests. Because this testing can disable a system, it should be conducted with care when targeting production systems. Effective testing can also be done on a development environment that accurately the production systems.
Even when these tools are used, there could still be value in conducting a source code review. Through the review process, security issues can be identified across the entire code base and mitigated more quickly as specific faulty lines of code are identified. Because of the size and complexity of most applications, code reviews also use automated tools to identify common vulnerabilities.
Databases, those all-important storehouses of information, such as customer names and credit card numbers, should also undergo security testing. Databases can be configured to take advantage of various information security layers and types, such as access control, authentication and encryption.
An important piece in securing the database is real-time monitoring. Network and host-based intrusion detection systems can identify and warn of suspicious traffic. The results can be analyzed for policy breaches and known exploits. Monitoring can also establish baselines of normal patterns of use, which can be compared to abnormal, potentially suspicious activity. This suspicious user can then be "quarantined."
Attacks against websites that transact credit card payments are a fact of life. A security breach costs the company loss of money and reputation. Computer security testing services, source code reviews and database and security event monitoring are all security controls that can help protect against breaches, while demonstrating compliance to standards.
Author writes about a variety of topics. If you would like to learn more about Source code review, visit http://www.plynt.com/.
Who really needs to have their network security tested? If a computer is used "online" and is used to store sensitive data, it should be tested for security. While it is tempting to rely on patches, updates or an application to secure the network, it is never that simple. Every company that has been hacked has thought their network was secure.
What might tempt hackers to attack a computer, a network or websites? There are a variety of reasons. First, hackers might be after personal customer information including credit card information. A hacker might also be looking for any proprietary software application, trade secrets or company tax information. In some cases a computer will be attacked and information destroyed for revenge if the attacker feels he was wronged by the company or any individual at the company that owns the computer. There are also some hackers who will compromise a computer to try extorting the company, "pay up or all company info will be destroyed or made public."
Why else might security testing be important? Peace of mind. With proper security testing the company has less chance for loss of customer personal or credit information leading to identity or monetary theft for which the company could be held liable. Liability in these cases is a tricky thing, as it depends on an interpretation of liability based upon how well a company tried to protect their users information.
How does security testing work? In many cases testing your software applications, computer systems or network for vulnerabilities does not require physical access and can be done from off site. This can be advantageous as it keeps anyone, such as clients, employees or competitors from knowing anything is happening and allowing them to draw erroneous conclusions. The tester, working from off site, will connect to the network, with the client's permission, then begin using various applications designed for penetration testing. Through the course of testing, the tester will check the network hardware and software for any known or theoretical vulnerabilities. The tester will then pass on all results, with possible recommendations, and known fixes to the hiring company.
So for the reasons listed above and others that are not listed here application security testing makes sense for all companies that have anything sensitive stored on the network computers. No matter how secure a system seems, there is no way to know for sure unless it has been through a thorough security assessment.
Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information about Application security, please visit http://www.plynt.com/.
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/
