Penetration testing is an essential security practice that assesses vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and web applications before attackers can exploit them. It involves gathering target information, identifying entry points, attempting to break in either virtually or for real, and reporting findings. Penetration testing should be done regularly to identify issues that vulnerability assessments and security tools may miss, as hackers develop new techniques daily. It is important for organizations of any size to conduct penetration testing to protect their business continuity, save money, and comply with regulations like GDPR.

1. HACK YOURSELF …
BEFORE SOMEBODY ELSE DOES!
Penetration testing is an essential part of any security program in any organization.
We conducted this guide to make it simple to understand and help you to do it the right way.
The guide is in Q&A format...

2. TSS | PENETRATION TESTING
" There is no silver bullet to the problem of insecure software,
especially when it comes to application security assessment software.
This is why we adopt a Hybrid model of assessment that combines
both automatic scanning and manual investigation "
TSS Security Team
Penetration testing is the practice of testing a computer system, network
or Web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit.
They can be automated with software applications or can be performed manually. Either way, the
process includes gathering information about the target before the test (reconnaissance), identify-
ing possible entry points, attempting to break in (either virtually or for real) and report back the
findings.
Based on this definition, we can say
"Penetration Testing is an essential security measure which is supposed to
assess all system's safety measures before a real-world attacker does."
WHAT IS
PENETRATION
TESTING?

3. Vulnerability assessments often provide the most value when used by organizations
that do not have an in-house security team. An organization may recognize issues
within its environment but is in need of outside technical expertise to identify and
address the weaknesses.
A vulnerability assessment can help organizations understand the problem &
establish a plan to remediate the identified vulnerabilities.
Vulnerabilities
Assessment:
A vulnerability assessment is a process of
Discovering, Documenting, and Quantifying
the current security vulnerabilities found within an environment.
The primary goal of a vulnerability assessment is to
Identify, Catalog, and Prioritize the Population of Vulnerabilities
present within an environment.
The intent is to
Remediate the Identified Issue
to an acceptable risk level.
Penetration
Testing:
Penetration testing should be conducted by an organization with at least a
moderate level of maturity of its security operations.
A reasonable level of security encompasses investment in security tools and process-
es and a team to manage its security operations. This level of maturity allows the
organization to test not only the technical security of its environment, but its people,
and the incident response procedures that support security operations.
A penetration test attempts to
Simulate the Actions of an External or Internal Attacker
who is trying to breach the information security of an organization.
The primary goal of a penetration test can be customized
Based on The Organization and Environment
undergoing the test.
A penetration test typically requires
Achieving Some Level of Insider Access
to demonstrate control of a critical system
or asset on the internal network.
However, you have to distinguish between two different expressions:
Penetration Testing
& Vulnerabilities assessment.

4. WHY DO
YOU NEED A PENTEST?
CYBERCRIME THREAT
IS INCREASING EVERY DAY.
We do not need statistics anymore to hear about accidents. Everyone in the world have already known
about the latest Facebook's data breach. Netflix, Disney, Sony and Nokia, all of them were victims of
cybercriminals.
You may think that you are not at risk, because your organization is not world-famous. However, in reality,
SMEs are a potential and growing target for cybercriminals, according to all of statistics.
A Vulnerability Scan
is very good at finding known flaws, and anti-virus detection
is likewise good at finding known threats, but Hackers are developing
their tricks everyday. They take an action and you just wait to take a reaction.
Therefore, you need to exploit what is not known and it is the purpose of a penetration test.
Even if you have the best security teams that are making the best efforts to implement
security controls, those controls are only as good as the sum of all of their parts,
and just one single vulnerability can destroy your network.
The Penetration Test
is looking for that proverbial needle in the haystack.
We seek to find the 1 or 2 issues within the larger interconnected web
of controls and see where each successful execution will lead.
TSS | PENETRATION TESTING

5. WHAT ARE
BENEFITS OF
PENETRATION
TESTING?
Manage
The Risk Rightfully
We will not be honest, if we argue that your system will be risk-free. But
penetration testing will give you a baseline to work upon to minimize the
risk in a structured and optimal way.
Protect
Your Business Continuity
It is true that some Hackers are employee by other organization to stop the
continuity of business by exploiting the vulnerabilities to cause a denial of
service.
Saving
Your Money
Saving your money by a penetration test is not just, because you will be far from the
threat of fines or losing your reputation among customers, but also this test can lead
you in your security plan. It would be necessary to spend more money across a broader
range of aspects without penetration testing to guide you.

6. TSS | PENETRATION TESTING
WHAT ARE
BENEFITS OF
PENETRATION
TESTING?
Helping You
To Abide By GDPR
According to GDPR, you will face much more significant penalties and
fines if your business loses personal data because of poor cybersecurity.
This regulation has come into force since May 2018 and will doubtless
affect any company that does business within the EU or with its citizens.
A Pen-Test Can Examine
Your Team’s Capability To Treat With The Attack
It is vital to check response times of available staff, i.e., the average time
needed to bring the systems back up or regain access to data. In addition, it
informs you about the reactions of employees to threats as well as testing if the
procedures in place are adequate & everyone is ready to apply them.
Helping To Increase Public Relationships
And Guard The Reputation Of Your Company
The perspective of the public for an organization is very sensitive to security issues and can
have destructive consequences which may take years to repair. So, if you conduct a penetra-
tion test regularly, we can create a strong wall against the attackers who always tried to pene-
trate and gain the access in any organization.

7. WHAT ARE
THE BEST PRACTICES
WHEN CHOOSING YOUR
PENETRATION TESTING
PARTNER?
Look for
a company you can trust:
Remember that you will allow them to access your system. Have
they worked with similar clients? Put yourself in contact with their
previous customers. What kind of reputation does the company
have in the marketplace?
Define exactly
what you need:
To get the best value for your IT security investment, you need to
know where you need help, why and what you want to test. What
type of pentest do you need?
Do not
keep any question in your mind:
Ask questions about the testing methodology. What defined
procedures and tools does the company use? How do they protect
your business and data during the testing? How do they remove
false positives? Ask about options for retesting if you’re on the
lookout for a long-term Pentesting partner.
Focus your attention on
the consequences of the test:
Be aware about what you will receive at the end of the penetration
test. Take a look on some reports from them. Read about what
should be included in a penetration testing report. Regardless of
what you’re looking for in a pentest report, make sure that it
contains the right elements for whoever will read it.
Find out
who exactly will be conducting the testing:
The company itself does not conduct a test, Persons do. You need
to know the team who will work on your system. Interview them by
phone, Skype or in person. Evaluate the skills of the Pentesting
team.

8. TSS | PENETRATION TESTING
CUSTOMER ALLIANCE GMBH
Abdo Wahba
Head of Product�
" As the Head of Product at Customer Alliance, frequent testing the product security is mandatory. I was looking for a
partner who has the hands-on experience and delivers on time to maintain our delivery plans without disruption. We evalu-
ated different offers and found that TSS offer is matching our expectations. The team showed high-level of experience,
they deliveed on time and they were very responsive "
THE BEST PRACTICES WHEN CHOOSING YOUR PENETRATION TESTING PARTNER:

9. WHAT ARE
THE AREAS OF
PENETRATION TESTING?

10. The infrastructure part or the system part concentrates
about:
The installed OSs versions like:
Microsoft Windows, Linux, VMWare, Hyper-V & so on & these
OSs installed for different infrastructure
System components like:
Active Directory, Exchange Mail Server, SQL DB, End Point
Security solutions, Backup solutions and so on.
The penetration test will be useful at this area to simulate
either the internal attacks or the external attacks that will try
to hack the servers and get unauthorized access that may
lead to system compromise, denial of service, data loss, data
theft, admin accounts password cracking and so on.
Any discovered vulnerabilities through the Pen Test cycle
may lead to penetrating the server and stop the service and
from the business prospective the company may loss its
business, reputation, money and may be closed.
The Pen Test may success because of existing vulnerabilities
and may success also because of wrong configuration. Pay
some money at the Pen Test service better than paying more
and more money to the ransomware attacker to restore your
data.
Karim Bremer,
CEO, Eagle Security & Consulting GmbH
" Approximately 50 percent of the attacks on corporate knowledge were initiated or
accompanied by social engineering techniques. At the same time, employees are
often not even aware of their complicity and thus become ignorant helpers of the
attackers! "
In this testing, the physical structure of a system needs to be
tested to identify the vulnerability and risk which ensures
the security in a network.
In the networking environment, a tester identities security
flaws in design, implementation, or operation of the resp-
ective organization’s network. Network devices such as
Routers, Switches, Firewalls etc. will be tested.
In this testing, the logical structure of the system needs to
be tested.
It is an attack simulation designed to expose the efficiency of
an application’s security controls by identifying vulnerability
and risk. The firewall and other monitoring systems are used
to protect the security system, but sometime, it needs
focused testing especially when traffic is allowed to pass
through the firewall.
Social engineering gathers information on human interac-
tion to obtain information about an or gani- zation and its
computers.
It is beneficial to test the ability of the respective organiza-
tion to prevent unauthorized access to its information
systems. Likewise, this test is exclusively designed for the
workflow of the organization.
TSS | PENETRATION TESTING
Learn More...

11. WHAT ARE
THE TYPES OF
PENETRATION
TESTING?
BLACK BOX
In black box penetration testing, tester has no idea about the systems that he is going to
test. He is interested to collect information about the target system.
For example, in this test, the assignee only knows what the expected outcome should be
but does not know how the outcomes arrive. He does not examine any programming
codes. As a result, this particular type of test can take a very long time to complete, so very
often, the tester will rely upon the use of automated processes to completely uncover the
weaknesses & vulnerabilities.
WHITE BOX
This is a comprehensive testing, as tester has been provided with whole range of
information about the systems such as Schema, Source code, OS details, IP address, etc.
it is normally considered as a simulation of an attack by an internal source. White box
penetration testing examines the code coverage and does data flow testing, path testing,
loop testing, etc.
A White Box Test can be accomplished in a much quicker time frame when compared to
a Black Box Test. The other advantage of this is that a much more thorough Pen Test can
be completed.
But, this approach also has its set of disadvantages. First, since a tester has complete
knowledge, it could take more time to decide on what to focus specifically on regarding
system and component testing and analysis. Second, to conduct this type of test, more
sophisticated tools are required such as that of software code analyzers and debuggers.
GREY BOX
This type of test is a combination of both the Black Box and the White Box Testing.
In this type, a tester usually gets limited information about the internal details of the
program of a system. It can be considered as an attack by an external hacker who had
gained illegitimate access to an organization's network infrastructure documents.

12. WHAT IS
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
AN INTERNAL & EXTERNAL
PENETRATION TEST?
The main difference between internal and external penetration
testing is that with internal it is assumed the attacker already has
access. Or, perhaps they have gained access through means
inside the system.
This is the approach taken to simulate an attacker on the inside. An attack from the
inside has the potential to do far greater damage compared to an outside or
external attack because some of the protection systems have already been
bypassed and in many cases the person on the inside has knowledge about the
network itself. This means they understand where it is located and know what to do
right from the start. This provides them with a strong advantage over an external
threat.
Internal Penetration Testing
This is the more common form of penetration testing and is
considered traditional as it has been in use for quite some time.
This approach is designed to test out the ability of an intruder to the internal
network of a computer system. The goal of this form of testing is to access specific
services and the desired information that can be found. This is done by going
through exposed servers, the clients, and people who may interact with the system
itself.
External Penetration Testing
TSS | PENETRATION TESTING

13. WHEN & HOW OFTEN
DO YOU NEED PENETRATION TESTING?
It is a common mistake that many organizations
start a pen test too early.
When a system or network is being deployed, changes are constantly
occurring, and if a company undertakes a pen test too early in that process,
it might not be able to catch possible future security vulnerabilities.
In general, you should conduct a pen test right before a system is
available into production, once the system is no longer in a state of
constant change.
A pen test is not a one-time task.
In order to ensure more consistent and secured IT network, you should
perform penetration testing on a regular basis.
A penetration tester helps in identifying new threats and vulnerabilities. In
addition to regular analysis and assessment, test should be run whenever:
- Significant changes are made to the infrastructure or network.
- Any Upgrade &modification are applied
- New application release/addition
- A new office is added to the network
- End user policies are changed
Did you have any of the above recently...
Speak to our expert

14. WHAT SHOULD
BE INCLUDED IN
A PENETRATION TESTING
REPORT?
Describing your overall security situation and indicating vulnerabilities that
require immediate attention.
An Executive Summary
Describing the activities performed to determine vulnerabilities and the
results of the activities conducting in attacking target systems, including
the methodologies used.
A detailed list of the vulnerabilities with technical review
After testing, you need to prioritize which vulnerabilities are to fix first and
which ones will take the most time and resources for the organization.
Once you can recognize the weaknesses, your security team can work on
avoiding the most dangerous ones.
Potential Impact of Vulnerability
Recommendations to optimize protection of the assets identified in the
report, with consideration of the resulting cost in capital investment,
operation and maintenance, personnel and time.
Multiple Vulnerability Remediation Options
" TSS has added a considerable value to SIMAH’s IT Security
environment with their professional teams and high standards "
SIMAH SAUDI CREDIT BUREAU,
Saad Al-Rashid,
Chief Internal Auditor �
TSS | PENETRATION TESTING

15. HOW TO
MAXIMIZE THE VALUE OF
A PENETRATION TESTING?
Review the Report in details
and share your comments with testing team.
Then, Arrange a meeting
between the penetration testing team
and the cyber security staff in the company.
and Finally, After covering all the vulnerabilities,
scan the system again.

16. The penetration test alone is extremely unlikely to cause any service disruptions
unless that is something the client decides to include as part of the testing
parameters (which is extremely rare).
Yes, it is true that pen testers are usually paid to break the rules.
After all, they have to follow rules too.
Moreover, when we talk about ethical hacking, the best, safest and most used method is to practice
within a virtual environment. Virtual machines are safe because if a guest VM faces a problem, the host
machine will remain safe.
In any case, it is very important to remember the rules of engagement must be formally registered and
approved by the client. This includes defining a clear scope for the assessment; explicitly mentioning
which systems or assets are red lines; what type of tests examiners can perform; the time windows for
execution; and a clear communication channel for emergencies.
CAN
A PENTEST
BREAK MY SYSTEM?
TSS | PENETRATION TESTING

17. The Pen Test service will be useful at the following
points for ISO 27001 ISMS:
The Pen Test service with its cycle starting from the information gathering, the
vulnerability assessment and the exploitation phase can be used as an input to one of
the mandatory controls at the ISO 27001 which is the Risk Assessment Part (Clause 8.2)
and the Risk Treatment Part (Clause 8.3). without doing these mandatory controls the
organization will not take the ISO 27001 ISMS certificate.
The Pen Test can be considered one of the Internal Audit parts or components (Clause
9.2) to raise the findings and resolve them.
The Pen Test service can be very useful at some of the 114 Annex A controls that need to
be applied at the organization like:
A.6.1.2 (Segregation of duties)
A.9 (Access Control to Information Assets)
A.12 (Operation Security)
A.14 (Securing application Services on Public Networks
Technical review of applications after operating platform changes
System Security Testing)
A.17 (Business Continuity Management)
ISO 27001
is a specification for an information security management system (ISMS).
An ISMS is a framework of Information security is achieved by implementing a suitable set of
controls, including policies, processes, procedures, organizational structures & software and
hardware functions. These controls need to be established, implemented, monitored,
reviewed and improved.
HOW CAN
PENETRATION TESTS
SUPPORT COMPLIANCE
WITH STANDARDS SUCH AS ISO 27001?

18. TSS | PENETRATION TESTING
WHAT WE DO
We help clients focus on their core business while we take care of securing their
information technology environment. We partner with leading technology
providers to deliver transformational outcomes.
Trusted Security Solutions (TSS) specialized in information security services since 2010 through its
branches in EMEA: KSA, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and recently take the first step to serving more customers
in the European markets through our office in Berlin.
WHY CHOOSE US?
TSS has a Hand-Picked Team of leading industry experts in Information Security
Services. The talents are developing their capabilities continuously independently
and through the company programs. Our approach is a long-term partnership
with our customer to achieve a win-win situation for both parties.
ABOUT
TRUSTED SECURITY SOLUTIONS (TSS)
Certified
Ethical Hacking
Certified
Forensic Computer
Examiner
Certified
Secure Software
Lifecycle Professional
Certified
Cloud Security
Professional
GIAC
Certified
Incident Handler
Certified
Information Systems
Security Professional
TEAM
CERTIFICATIONS

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