Penetration testing plays an essential function in identifying the presence of, diagnosing, and fixing vulnerabilities in an institution's computer systems and applications before hackers discover and exploit the weakness. It's the method of exposing security weaknesses in computer software and assessing the probability of a compromised system by testing the network or system using various forms of attack. When multiple users are granted access to the system with fewer security protections, this vulnerability can be vulnerable to attack.
This exercise aims to safeguard sensitive data from attackers who continuously try to gain unauthorized access to the system and detect flaws that are difficult to spot through manual analysis of the system. Penetration tests often complement web application firewalls (WAF).
Pen testing entails trying to hack into various systems (e.g., APIs, APIs backend servers, frontend servers) to identify vulnerabilities, like not sanitizing HTML inputs that are susceptible to attacks using code injection. Once a vulnerability within the system is placed, it can be utilized to access the targeted data.
What are the different types Of Penetration Tests?
- White Box Testing
Testing penetration tests using white boxes provides the tester with all information about the system and network and network mapping and access credentials, which reduces time and reduces the overall cost of the engagement since the money is then spent on the required items and a particular problem. A penetration test conducted using a white box simulates an attack targeted at a system by testing the most feasible attack routes. Every business should have a QA team capable of carrying out thorough tests using methods and tools specific to the company.
- Black Box testing-
In black-box testing for penetration, the test subject has no information and must mimic the behavior of an attacker starting from the initial access through implementation and then exploit. The most real-life scenario demonstrates how an attacker who has no prior knowledge could approach and penetrate a company, which causes it to become the least costly alternative.
What are the best Penetration Testing Tools/Software?
- Nmap
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This Network Mapper (Nmap) can be described as software that permits users to look into the cloud server. Nmap is a treasure trove of knowledge that has been accumulated and can be found in many different scan types. These diverse types of scans are designed to bypass defenses or identify specific characteristics used to determine certain operating systems or apps. Beyond a penetration test tool, Nmap functions as an open port scanner. It also aids pen testing by pointing out the best places to attack. This assists ethical hackers in identifying weaknesses in networks. It's also free because it's open-source, making it highly beneficial for people familiar with using open-source software. Still, it could be a struggle for people who are not familiar with these programs. It is compatible with every central operating system. However, Linux users are more likely to find it helpful.
- Nessus-
Due to its vast number of vulnerability signatures, Nessus is considered the world's most widely used vulnerability scanner. A Nessus scan can examine the system targeted and present the security vulnerabilities and other details regarding exploitation and mitigation. The scans will provide potential routes of attack options that can be used to gain access to the target network system for the penetration tester. With over two million downloads worldwide, Nessus by Tenable performs vulnerability tests for more than 27,000+ businesses. The company has templates for compliance and configuration to manage tasks like patch management and configuration audits. This allows IT to spot vulnerabilities, risks, and patches that are out of date.
- Burp Suite-
However, many security testing experts affirm that testing pen-based penetration without this tool isn't possible because it is one of the essential scanners equipped with the restricted "intruder" tool to detect attacks.
So, although the technology isn't wholly cost-effective, it's highly efficient. It performs various tasks such as the use of a transparent proxy and dragging functions and functions, vulnerability scanning, and so on. Additionally, you can use this program to perform these tasks on all major platforms, including Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux ecosystems.
A penetration tester could use Burp Proxy to conduct an attack known as a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attempt by interfering between the web server and the browser. It allows them to monitor and modify the network's traffic in real-time, which will enable them to detect and exploit flaws in web applications or data loss.
Portswigger's Burp Suite is a collection of security testing software tools. Burp Proxy is their web proxy, and is perhaps the most popular of these tools.
- Wireshark
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There's Wireshark, an incredibly versatile tool that can reveal your network's activity. It's frequently used to look into typical TCP/IP connectivity issues. This program permits the analysis of a wide variety of protocols and also authentic decryption and investigation capabilities for several of them. Additionally, suppose you want to capture data packets. In that case, it allows you to examine the various aspects of a particular package, such as their source, the purpose, their objective, and the method they employed. If you're unfamiliar with pen tests, Wireshark should be your first choice!
- SQL Map
SQLMap is an open developed penetration testing tool that simplifies and automates detecting and eliminating SQL injection weaknesses and gaining control over server information. In the end, sqlmap is an application that can see the source of SQL injection vulnerabilities effectively and quickly. Additionally, it has an input for the command line and is entirely free to use on various Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.
Conclusion-
This article gives a brief overview of the most commonly used penetration testing tools the top penetration testing companies employ. However, it's not a comprehensive list. Except for Nessus, most of the tools for penetration testing listed above are available for free, which makes it easy to integrate them into the toolkit of a penetration tester. Additionally, most of these tools come pre-installed with Kali Linux making them simple to install and test. Utilizing the open-source Penetration Testing Tools has many advantages, such as the possibility of constantly getting improved by users and other kinds of cybersecurity experts to ensure that they stay up with the current threshold threat landscape.
