Methodologies of Penetration Testing
In this tutorials we will explain the methodologies of penetration testing. There are multiple guides, standard and framework in the market. You can choose any of it based on your requirements and type of penetration test. Following are just the list of few:
- OWASP testing guide
- PCI Penetration testing guide
- Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES)
- NIST 800-115
- Penetration Testing Framework
- Information Systems Security Assessment Framework (ISSAF)
- Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM)
These methodologies of penetration testing are not mandatory but can be very helpful when you follow during your testing. They follow industry’s best practices. In general penetration test can be divided into five main steps but sometimes two additional steps are also added one in the start and one in the end.
- Pre-engagement Interactions
- Intelligence Gathering
- Threat Modeling
- Vulnerability Analysis
- Exploitation
- Post Exploitation
- Reporting
Pre-engagement interactions and reporting are important part of the penetration testing process but they are not included in the actual conduction of the test, because of this it is sometimes not included when defining the steps of performing penetration test.
Following are the five steps when conducting penetration test.
Phase 1 | Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the act of gathering preliminary data or intelligence on your target. The data is gathered in order to better plan for your attack. Reconnaissance can be performed actively (meaning that you are directly touching the target) or passively (meaning that your recon is being performed through an intermediary).
Phase 2 | Scanning
The phase of scanning requires the application of technical tools to gather further intelligence on your target, but in this case, the intel being sought is more commonly about the systems that they have in place. A good example would be the use of a vulnerability scanner on a target network.
Phase 3 | Gaining Access
Phase 3 gaining access requires taking control of one or more network devices in order to either extract data from the target, or to use that device to then launch attacks on other targets.
Phase 4 | Maintaining Access
Maintaining access requires taking the steps involved in being able to be persistently within the target environment in order to gather as much data as possible. The attacker must remain stealthy in this phase, so as to not get caught while using the host environment.
Phase 5 | Covering Tracks
The final phase of covering tracks simply means that the attacker must take the steps necessary to remove all semblance of detection. Any changes that were made, authorizations that were escalated etc. all must return to a state of non-recognition by the host network’s administrators.
At inspect InfoSec we provide Vulnerability Assessment, Web and Mobile Application Penetration Testing Services. For more details contact us.
