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Penetration testing services

Penetration testing services, also known as ‘pen testing services’, are crucial for companies of all sizes. Pen testers simulate real-world cyberattacks and uncover weaknesses in your existing security measures, firewalls and incident response plans. This is an important investment for any business that wants to protect its data, systems, and reputation. CovertSwarm can help you identify and fix security vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

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What is penetration testing?

Penetration testing, or pen testing for short, is a cybersecurity practice where ethical hackers simulate real-world attacks on a system, application, or network to identify vulnerabilities. The goal is to evaluate the system’s security, expose weaknesses, and recommend fixes before malicious attackers can exploit them.

Different types of penetration testing

Penetration testing comes in different forms, each designed to assess different aspects of your security. The type you choose will depend on the systems you want to test but conducting a combination of the independent types will give you a more comprehensive view of your security posture. 

Testing based on the knowledge of the system:

  • Black box penetration testing: Simulates an external penetration attack in which the attacker has no prior knowledge of the client’s security system.
  • White box penetration testing: Simulates an external attack in which the attacker has full knowledge of the client’s security, such as its source code and architecture.
  • Gray box penetration testing: Simulates an external attack in which the attacker has greater knowledge of the client’s security, such as access to the network infrastructure.

Testing based on the target: 

  • Web application testing: It’s a simulated cyber attack to probe the security of websites and their features, such as vulnerabilities in code, design or implementation. This type of penetration testing will include cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and authentication bypass.
  • Mobile application testing: Assess the security of mobile apps including the vulnerability of the app itself and communication with backend servers. 
  • Cloud penetration testing: Identifies vulnerabilities in cloud environments such as AWS, GCP or Microsoft Azure. Whilst these platforms provide the environment you deploy onto, you will be responsible for cloud security of everything you deploy and configure. 
  • Infrastructure penetration testing: This type of testing focuses on identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses within the IT infrastructure of an organization and can include evaluating components like network devices, servers, databases, and security systems. 
  • Physical penetration testing: Assesses the physical security of a facility helping to identify vulnerabilities that could allow unauthorised physical access.

Our Penetration Testing Services

Modern-day penetration testing companies should increase the pace of company growth and contribute to greater product development – not reduce the likelihood of gaining a competitive advantage as per previous legacy testing methodologies.ur Swarm-based approach cuts through the archaic nature of traditional pen testing software. Rather than relying on a one-dimensional method, we have a team of diverse and experienced hackers with a broad range of skill sets at your disposal.

As part of CovertSwarm’s penetration testing services, you will have access to:

Ongoing support from experts: Our penetration testers are backed by a Hive of cyber specialists who are on hand to answer all of your pressing questions and queries. Starting from less than the cost of a single internal security hire, you’ll have access to decades of collective intelligence.

True risk discovery and threat mitigation: Be ready to receive an alert at any time. We won’t bombard you with useless information, but we will ring the alarm bells if you’re at a high risk of suffering a breach. Gain peace of mind with our true risk discovery, threat mitigation, and penetration testing.

Enjoy round-the-clock engagement: 24 hours a day and 356 days a year. Our support is as ongoing as it gets. Our swarm of ethical hackers will continuously hunt and eradicate threats to ensure your security posture remains uncompromised. We offer threat-led penetration testing, and we don’t take the day off.

Detailed debriefs that focus on unique points of compromise: Traditional penetration testing companies tend to bombard clients with hundreds and thousands of low-impact vulnerabilities that are unlikely to result in a breach. Although we will still address these issues, we’ll begin by prioritizing the unique points of compromise that truly matter.

We avoid the risk of genetic testing and provide penetration testing services that fit your unique needs. As part of our pen test services, you’ll be awarded personalized reports that deliver actionable results.

Benefits of our penetration testing services

Gain personalized cyber reports
Once we get to know your business, we’ll curate debriefs that are rooted in the context of your business, technology, and industry. We reduce the unnecessary noise typically found in risk reports and offer direct remediation to your cyber risk status.

Detect and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities
Our team is trained to search for more than known cyber issues. They’ll uncover every weakness and leave no stone unturned. They will only stop once they exploit unknown, zero-day vulnerabilities that reside deep within your technology stacks.

Customize your penetration testing service
We avoid the risk of genetic testing and provide penetration testing services that fit your unique needs. As part of our pen test services, you’ll be awarded personalized reports that deliver actionable results.

CREST certified pen testing
CovertSwarm holds multiple accreditations, including CREST , one of the cyber industry’s most highly- regarded accreditation bodies.

Walking a client through security testing results

focus on the points of compromise that truly matter

Once we collect the insights we need, we focus on the points of compromise that truly matter to the livelihood of your business. We won’t overwhelm you with countless pages of meaningless data. Instead, we’ll build upon the relationships our ethical hackers have formed with your team and deliver truly impactful debriefs.

“We are really happy with CovertSwarm as our external RED team.”

COO and Co-founder, IT services and consulting company.

Constant cyber attack via subscription

For a simple monthly fee, our dedicated team of ethical hackers will constantly attack the full scope of your brand using digital, physical and social methods.

And when we find a way to breach your organization, we’ll raise the alarm before a real threat succeeds.

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STOP TESTING. START ATTACKING.

Just as your security defenses must evolve to keep pace with organizational change, so must your approach to cyber attack.

With most security breaches occurring many days prior to detection, effective simulated assaults must be constant. It’s the only way to counteract an APT and avoid zero-day exploits.

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NO PATCH FOR HUMAN ERROR

It’s not just your systems and applications which are susceptible to threat. Your people are too. Staff members are one of the most common breach points for successful cyber attacks.

That’s why, thinking beyond the digital, we’ll seek to exploit previous unexplored weaknesses in your physical and social environments too.

SAY HELLO TO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE

Ready to be hacked? For a demo of our services or to get a quote, just get in touch.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS)?

Let’s face it. Hackers don’t take the day off for Christmas, so neither should your security team. Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) is a subscription service that provides your organization with continuous penetration security testing services.

Penetration testing services offer a viable solution to the problem of cyber risks. In essence, a subscription model of penetration testing software offers an efficient way to keep up with the latest tools and techniques in the cyber security and penetration testing industry. Plus, outsourcing penetration testing provides access to a highly qualified and expert team of hackers when you need it the most.

What’s the difference between penetration testing and vulnerability scanning?

IT vulnerability and penetration testing are services commonly offered by the same cybersecurity providers. Although vulnerability scanning and penetration testing services share some similarities, they are vastly different.

IT penetration testing is designed to detect and exploit hidden vulnerabilities whereas vulnerability scanning aims to flag know threats on the technologies used. Another distinction is that ethical penetration testing involves a more targeted approach and often requires more specialized skills.

The reports released by cyber security penetration testing companies should be in-depth and require further investigation. On the other hand, vulnerability scanning tests tend to involve a more generalized list of infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Who performs a pen test?

Penetration testers are usually experts in ethical hacking and have a deep understanding of the techniques used to execute real-world attacks. Pen test partners should be able to provide clients with the insights needed to improve their overall security posture.

How is a pen test carried out and what are the steps?

There are various steps to consider when carrying out cyber security penetration testing. These can be loosely categorized as:

  • Scoping: First, the goals, limitations, and scope of the penetration test service are outlined.
  • Collecting: Information is gathered to identify potential weaknesses that double as entry points.
  • Vulnerability Analysis: Next an analysis of vulnerabilities is conducted, and issues are prioritized in terms of potential impact and likelihood of exploitation.
  • Exploiting: Next, the fun begins. Your vulnerabilities are exploited to gain access to your network.
  • Assessing: Once the damage is done, it’s time to see how far we were able to go and whether it’s possible to gain even deeper access.
  • Reporting: Lastly, the findings of the penetrating testing will be reported, alongside the potential impact of the simulated attack and recommendations to mitigate your cyber risk posture.
How much does a penetration test cost?

The cost of a penetration testing assessment is far less than the expenses associated with a significant data breach. But as a general rule of thumb, the cost of pen testing will vary based on the size and complexity of the system, the experience of the penetration testing company, and the scope of the attack and penetration testing itself.

How long does a pen test take and how often should you have one?

A few days or a few weeks. Just like the cost of pen test services, the length of a test is relative to the size of the network and scope of the project, as well as the experience of the team.

In terms of frequency, penetration testing as a service should be performed as regularly as possible. That’s why penetration testing service providers, like CovertSwarm, will often offer subscription-based models to their clients.

What do you do after a pen test?

After conducting an initial test, companies specialized in penetration testing should provide you with a detailed brief of their findings. They should prioritize your vulnerabilities by their level of risk and offer plenty of solutions for their remediation. Overall, they should ensure your weaknesses are patched up and ready for the next round of penetration testing.

Are ethical hacking and penetration testing the same?

Both ethical hacking and penetration testing share an overarching goal – to keep your security posture safe. However, they should not be used interchangeably as they are disparate in their functions.

Penetration testing and ethical hacking both look for vulnerabilities in your network or system. Any kind of pentest, such as website penetration testing, is designed to simulate an attack on your system and test its defenses and it’s one subset of ethical hacking.

On the other hand, ethical hacking encompasses a broader range of hacking techniques that are used to improve the security of your organization. This being said, physical penetration testing is still a type of ethical hacking.

Our services

Successful organizations are constant targets for malicious actors. Those who take security seriously don’t test their defenses once a year, they subscribe to CovertSwarm to attack continuously through our services.