Penetration Testing Methodology Of Managed Security Services
- By Michael Samson
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- 18 Sep, 2017
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Pen-testing is an assessment of the overall network for finding out susceptibility or loopholes. This is a fake attack on the network to analyse the weakness of available security. This way, every possible loophole is identified to overcome real time security attacks. These are the white hat techniques, mainly designed for:
- Security issues and loopholes within a network.
- Analyse ways that can let-down obeying policy.
- Support safety practices of security personals and
develop their awareness.
- Measure the effectiveness of a system in response to
security outbreak.
Experience and professionalism of a pen tester are really important to assess the security of a network. Regardless of the pen-test experience of in-house security experts, involving professionals like managed security services Qatar to name a single is recommended. Such a fresh eye can efficiently recognize the possible issues in a creative way.
Testing techniques need to be performed in a well-organized way. The tester must have a thorough understanding of different aspects to ensure that none of gap is left untreated before going out. Professional security services use the following methodology when they analyse a network.
Network Listing and Mapping:
Reconnaissance:
Reconnaissance is a technique used for digging out internal information like running applications on a system. Concern information of staff members is the key target of reconnaissance. Such information is used in preceding steps in the pen test, including phishing and social engineering.
Network Sniffing:
Network sniffing is mainly performed through the use of certain open source applications. The main purpose of network sniffing is to analyse the flow of traffic within the network for finding out data that has never been encrypted.
Vulnerability Scanning:
A system might have insecure versions of applications installed on it. Insecure applications are considered as broken links that acts as a way for attackers towards the network. Vulnerability scanning usually analyse weak passwords of access points.
Exploit Launching:
Certain vulnerabilities often stay undetected during vulnerability scanning. As not every susceptibility or loophole might lead to a major attack, so exploitation launching is performed as an additional process for focusing on the remaining loopholes. This step is mainly focused by certain service providers, including penetration testing Dubai.
Further Exploitation:
During the testing phase, certain exploitations help in further penetration of the network. For example, accessing a server related password file can further suggest the rest of valuable passwords that can help in accessing data and the rest of the systems.
Phishing and Social Engineering:
Both fishing and social engineering are used as tricking tools for workforce to gain access to secure information. Using different ways, login details can be acquired from them so that the system can be accessed regardless of their knowledge. Pen-testing, analyse the effectiveness of workforce in response to such techniques.
