Types Of Penetration Testing

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration Testing is a legal, structured procedure to evaluate the security posture of an organization. This practice simulates an attack against the security infrastructure of the enterprise, such as its network, applications, and users, to identify the exploitable vulnerabilities. It determines the efficacy of the company’s security policies, controls, and strategies. To strengthen the system, penetration testers proactively analyze for design flaws, technical weaknesses, and other vulnerabilities. The results of the vulnerability assessment are then comprehensively documented for executive management and the company’s technical audience.

Along with that, penetration testing ensures an organization’s adherence to compliance requirements, the ability to respond to security incidents, and its employees’ awareness of increasing security risks. At the end of the penetration testing process, the findings of identified and exploited flaws are passed on to the organization’s IT and network system managers to make strategic decisions and prioritize remediation efforts.

Three Types of Penetration Testing

1. Black-box Penetration testing

Black-box penetration testing is a style of penetration testing that aims to find & exploit vulnerabilities in a system as an outsider. In black-box penetration testing, the security expert is provided with no information of the target system prior to the testing. Except for the target URL and (maybe) access similar to an end-user. This means the tester has no access to source code (other than publicly available code), internal data, structure & design of the application before the testing.

A black-box penetration test tests your live application, on run-time. It is thus also called?Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST). A black-box pentest is great for testing your external assets like:

• Web-apps
• SaaS apps
• Network
• Firewall?
• Routers?
• VPN, IDS/IPS
• Web servers
• Application servers
• Database servers, etc.?

Black-Box Penetration Testing Tools

selenium-tool

Selenium is a portable platform useful for web apps. It features playback for writing functional tests in the absence of scripting language knowledge. Using this framework, you can create test cases with a language, such as Scala and Ruby, which are suited for particular domains. for testing web applications.?

Apium-tool

Appium is a cross-platform testing tool that is flexible, allowing you to write the testing code against different platforms such as iOS, Windows, and Android using the same API. In other words, you can use the same code for iOS that you have written for Android, saving lots of time and effort. Similar to that of Selenium, Appium offers test scriptwriting in various programming languages which include Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, and C#.

HP QTP

QTP stands for QuickTest Professional, a product of Hewlett Packard (HP). This tool aids testers to do automated functional testing seamlessly, without monitoring, once script development is finished. HP QTP employs Visual Basic Scripting (VBScript) for automating the software. The Scripting Engine doesn’t have to be installed solely, since it’s accessible as a part of the Windows OS.

Ranorex-tool

Launched to the market in 2007 by Ranorex GmbH, an Austria-based software development firm, Ranorex Studio is a commercial Windows platform that provides testing for desktop, web, and mobile apps. Ranorex doesn’t need specific scripting programs. It’s developed on Microsoft’s .NET platform. Ranorex is compatible with standard programming languages C# and VB.NET to edit recordings or create custom tests

Pros of Black-Box Penetration Testing:

• Simulates a real attack to discover unexpected results.
• Identifies exposed vulnerabilities.
• Identifies implementation and configuration issues by testing the application on run time.
• Detects incorrect product builds, such as missing or old or modules and files.
• Employs social engineering techniques to discover security issues related to people.
• Locates security issues that occur due to interactions with underlying environments, including improper configuration files and unhardened operating systems.
• Find error issues, such as information disclosure in error messages and input or output validation errors.
• Looks for common vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF.?
• Checks server misconfiguration issues.?
• Helps fix flaws quickly by providing detailed remediation information.

Cons of Black-Box Penetration Testing

A black-box penetration test does not offer a comprehensive review of your source code and internal systems. A black-box pentest that discovers issues indicates that the target has a weak security build. However, a black-box pentest cannot guarantee the target is secure. The target may still have internal issues hidden beneath the surface.

A black-box pentest is based on the guesswork, trial, and error of the external party contracted to perform the test. The pentest can be quick and end after the identification of vulnerabilities, or it may take months of reconnaissance until the pentester identifies one vulnerability. The time range depends on the expertise of the pentester and other criteria.

2. White-Box Penetration testing

A white box pen test is a form of penetration testing where the testers know the software or system’s internal makeup. Unlike the black or grey box, the test aims to reveal or expose the system’s details under the test. Because of these reasons, it may be named as a clear box or transparent box testing.

?White box penetration testing gives clear and complete information. It grants access to the system, and the software engineer knows everything about the application in question. A penetration tester (an ethical hacker) is given this information to mimic the scheming hacker, the real and terrifying threat to a system’s safety. In this case, the test imitates the hacker’s actions but with more information about a system.?

White-Box Penetration Testing Tools

PyTest tool

-This Python-based testing tool supports the development of more systematic programs. It enables behavior-driven development along with test-driven development.

Nmap tool

-Being an open-source network scanning tool, it administers network connections to enable auditing hosts and unwanted access. Nmap is suitable for both scan-level and packet-level network analysis.

Nunit tool

-It is an open-source unit testing tool for the Mono and .Net framework that supports more accurate coding and error reduction in the proposed application.

Metasploit tool

-This tool helps pentesters create and assess exploit codes before exploiting the existing system.

Wireshark tool

-Wireshark is a well-known open-source network protocol analyzer used for assessing the traffic type that moves through your network. It is valuable for filtering network protocols and troubleshooting system and network performance glitches.

Pros of White-Box Penetration Testing

• Time-saving: Due to the ample information that the hacker is given from the start, it takes less time than a black-box test.
• Thoroughness: The tester’s information means that the tester can do a more comprehensive test than if he didn’t have as much info. He does a more extensive analysis than in any other penetration test.
• Bug detection: There’s a greater chance of discovering the error.?
• Clarity: The internal system can be tested because of the clear box nature of the test.
• Modifiable: Especially in web app development, it’s easier for the developer to make changes in the system. The apps can be secured even when it’s still in development.

Cons of White-Box Penetration Testing

• The abundance of information to the tester means a high likelihood of the tester going in a different direction than the hacker would go.
• A large amount of data available for the tester to process means that this can be a slow process.
• Due to its comprehensive nature, doing a thorough analysis of an extensive system would be a significant chore, if not impossible.

3. Grey-Box Penetration testing

In a grey box penetration test, also known as a translucent box test, only limited information is shared with the tester. Usually, this takes the form of login credentials. Grey box testing is useful to help understand the level of access a privileged user could gain and the potential damage they could cause. Grey box tests strike a balance between depth and efficiency and can be used to simulate either an insider threat or an attack that has breached the network perimeter.

In most real-world attacks, a persistent adversary will conduct reconnaissance on the target environment, giving them similar knowledge to an insider. Grey box testing is often favored by customers as the best balance between efficiency and authenticity, stripping out the potentially time-consuming reconnaissance phase.

Grey box penetration testing techniques

Matrix testing

Matrix testing is a technique of software testing that helps to test the software thoroughly. It is the technique of identifying and removing all the unnecessary variables. Programmers use variables to store information while writing applications. Several variables should be as per requirement. Otherwise, it will reduce the efficiency of the program.

Regression testing

Regression testing is retesting the software components to find defects introduced by the changes made previously or in first the testing iteration. Regression testing is also known as retesting. It is performed to ensure that weaknesses are not introduced or reintroduced into a software system by modifications after the initial development. Regression Testing is an essential part of software testing because it helps to ensure that newly introduced software features continue to work as intended.

Orthogonal Array Testing

Orthogonal array testing is a software testing technique used to reduce test cases without reducing the test coverage. Orthogonal array testing is also known as?Orthogonal array method (OAM), Orthogonal array testing method (OATM), and Orthogonal test set.

Pros of Grey Box Testing

? Clear testing goals are established, making it easier for testers and developers

? Test accounts for a user perspective, improving overall product quality

? Experience in programming is not required

? Testing methods provide developers more time to fix defects

? It can provide the benefits of both black and white box testing

Cons of Grey Box Testing

Gray box testing has the following drawbacks:

? Difficult to link faults to root causes in distributed applications

? Code path traversals are constrained due to limited access to internal program structure

? Does not qualify for complete white box testing benefits because not all internals are available

? Cannot be used for algorithm testing