Penetration testing (T) is a method used in detecting and verifying the integrity of a software system or network. A Penetration test, officially called a protest, ethical or pen testing is an unauthorized simulated cyber-attack on a specific computer system, carried out to test the protection of that system; this is different from a vulnerability analysis, which is carried out in order to find out the vulnerabilities of a system or network. A Penetration test may also be called a black box test.
Security Policies
Security policies involve regulating the level of access to information and whether these would affect the operation and performance of a system. Penetration testing is a technique used to test the integrity of a system in a controlled environment without exposing the system to the vulnerabilities that may be needed to exploit the information. Companies often use it before introducing a new system into the production environment to determine the level of security that will be required. Penetration testing helps organizations identify the vulnerabilities that could be exploited for malicious intents. In many cases, the objective of penetration testing is to gain an insight into a company’s existing security policies and determine whether these need to be adjusted according to the new requirements.
Virus Attack
The most common scenario for carrying out a Penetration Testing is a Computer Virus attack. When a Virus enters a machine, it traverses from its source code to the control/administrative programs and then to the rest of the machine. The objective of a Computer Virus is to install program/programs onto a targeted machine and then to monitor what it does once it is installed. A typical method of carrying out a Penetration Test is to send the infected program/code to a tester’s machine and to let it execute on it.
As soon as the scanning results start coming out, the tester should note down the parameters that he has observed. Based on this data, the tester should be able to build a code generation injector or a worm. Once the injecting code is created, it should be sent to the other scanning machines for execution. Once the injection code is successfully written into the machine, the tester should close all vulnerable windows and launch the attack again. However, a novice user may not have the required skills and resources to achieve this goal. For them, automated Penetration Testing tools like the Simple Network Security scanner are used.
Magnetic Penetration Testing
Penetration Testing is carried out using various scanning techniques. One such technique is the Magnetic Penetration Testing. This technique requires insertion of a magnetic device into a machine’s circuit board. The device acts as a magnetic shield and protects the circuit board while performing various processes. Once the Magnetic Penetration Testing is successful, the tester should note down the possible weak points that might be exploited through remote control attacks.
Briefly, Penetration Testing and Pen Testing are two distinct phases of cyber security testing that can be performed simultaneously. They are highly specialized tasks that require skilled professionals for successful completion. A Network Security company should only hire penetration testers and no other security professionals for Pen Testing.
