// THREAT DETECTION AND DATA PRIVACY TERM
Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is a simulated cyberattack against a computer system, network, or web application to find security vulnerabilities that an actual attacker could exploit. It helps organizations identify and fix weaknesses before malicious actors can take advantage of them.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
Penetration testing, often called ethical hacking, is a proactive security assessment methodology where authorized ethical hackers simulate real-world cyberattacks against an organization's IT infrastructure (e.g., systems, networks, applications) to identify exploitable security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, thereby assessing the current security posture and informing risk remediation strategies.
BACKGROUND
A penetration test, colloquially known as a pentest, is an authorized simulated cyberattack on a computer system, performed live to evaluate the security of the system. The test is performed to identify weaknesses, including the potential for unauthorized parties to gain access to the system's features and data, as well as strengths, enabling a full risk assessment to be completed.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- Pen testing
- Ethical hacking
- Security penetration test
- PT
- Vulnerability assessment (related)
USAGE NOTE
Penetration testing is crucial for regulatory compliance, validating security controls, and improving an organization's overall cybersecurity posture by prioritizing and remediating identified risks.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to Penetration Testing.
Rapid7 develops security analytics and automation solutions, most notably Metasploit, an open-source penetration testing framework used by cybersecurity professionals to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.
Offensive Security specializes in penetration testing training and certifications (like OSCP) and develops Kali Linux, a popular Debian-derived distribution pre-loaded with numerous penetration testing tools.
Tenable provides vulnerability management solutions, including Nessus, a widely used vulnerability scanner. While primarily a scanner, its output is crucial for effective penetration testing by identifying potential targets.
PortSwigger is the creator of Burp Suite, an integrated platform for performing security testing of web applications. It is an indispensable tool for web application penetration testers.
Core Security, now part of Fortra, develops Core Impact, an automated penetration testing software that helps organizations discover, test, and prove their real-world security posture.
Mandiant, now part of Google Cloud, is renowned for its incident response, cyber defense, and red teaming services. They develop proprietary tools and methodologies that heavily leverage penetration testing techniques to simulate real-world attacks.
Synopsys offers a suite of application security testing (AST) solutions, including static analysis (SAST), dynamic analysis (DAST), and software composition analysis (SCA), which are critical components for penetration testing applications throughout the development lifecycle.