Understanding the Types of Penetration Testing Services for Enterprise-Level Security

Security conscious enterprises ensure periodic and effective penetration testing in their business priority list. The ever expanding threat landscape and technological growth are the primary reasons for the same.

Cyber incidents always wreak havoc on the years of business efforts and damage the reputation very badly. And since prevention is better than cure, it is always better for you to act now than later, when it comes to security.

On February 5, 2024, Fortune 500 giant Prudential Financial experienced a data breach, exposing the sensitive information of over 36,000 clients—demonstrating that even the largest, most secure institutions are vulnerable to attack. The leak comprised data on names, addresses, driving license numbers, and other PII (Personal Identifiable Information).

Conducting proper red or purple team assessment could have possibly helped them prevent the same by identifying the company administrative and user data in the information technology systems, from where it was accessed as per Securities and Exchange Commission reports.

The intent of this blog is to take you through the expert analysis of the types of penetration testing services for enterprise-level security by our security research team. Along with helping you as an enterprise leader at present or in near future to be prepared for adversaries.

What Is Enterprise Penetration Testing?

Enterprise penetration testing is the security evaluation process intended to detect and remediate vulnerabilities within your organizational IT infrastructure.

It checks for loopholes in the security measures implemented in your firm such as configuration related weaknesses, unpatched systems, and vulnerabilities in your application’s codebase.

The need for penetration testing in any enterprise, be it an MNC or startup is vital. Multiple systems including web, cloud, network, applications, and hardware to ensure resilience and responsiveness to threats and the bad actors.

However, it is more important for large enterprises to ensure their robustness of application security than to a startup. This is primarily due to the larger customer base and brand awareness to the public. And secondarily due to the by-default expectation of the stakeholders to ensure resilience.

Penetration testing is considered as the best approach when it comes to proactiveness to enterprise security from threats.

Key Benefits of Penetration Testing for Enterprises

Ever wondered what the loss due to lack of right security measures would be like?

USD 4.66 million. That is the global average cost of data breach in 2024 as per the IBM reports.

Avoiding penetration testing can result in much severe issues on business operations. Impacting the reputation severely due to increased chance of vulnerabilities, financial losses and costly fines, and business loss is also something to be anticipated.

Following are the key benefits of incorporating right internal or external penetration testing team:

1. Proactive threat detection: Being two steps ahead of bad actors is the key to ensuring your application and the business itself is secure in the ever evolving threat landscape. Simulating controlled-cyberattacks on your IT infrastructure helps to uncover vulnerabilities due to misconfigurations, weak access controls, and insecure applications.

As you know, the chances of companies relying on proactive threat detection measures to suffer major breaches is lower than that of those relying on reactive approaches.

2. Compliance to regulatory requirements: Penetration testing is never just a best practice when it comes to the regulatory requirements for certain industries. For example, enterprises in the hospital and health industry are mandated to follow HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). It is the widely accepted data privacy and security regulation which limits the access of PHI (Protected Health Information) and penalizes for non-compliance.

Similarly, GDPR and ISO/IEC 27001 for the majority of industries, PCI DSS for payment cards related firms, and SOC for service providers that handle data on behalf of other organizations are a few of the other infamous regulations. They demand enterprise penetration testing in order to ensure the security of the sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands with standards and strict fines for non-compliance.

3. Better risk management: Penetration testing enables enterprises to assess, prioritize and manage threats effectively. You will also be able to have a better understanding on the severity and impact of identified vulnerabilities which leads to better and effective resource allocation, in terms of talent and finance. Better focus on the critical threats is possible with this and it is important to enterprises with large and distributed IT systems, with higher risk potential.

4. Strategic incident response plan: Being proactive to security primarily delivers two benefits. The first one, finding and fixing vulnerabilities at the earliest. And the second, being prepared for the possibility of an incident with finest backup plans with the knowledge wealth of the IT assets and infrastructure.

Types of Penetration Testing Services for Enterprises

Each enterprise implements and upgrades into technology based on the domain on how they adopt, integrate and utilize the same to achieve their business objectives. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data management platforms (DMPs), and business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools are few of the primary classifications of organizations.

The common factor in all the above mentioned enterprise classifications is their need for any or multiple types of penetration testing combined as mentioned below.

Network penetration testing

It is the technique of assessing “how secure your entire enterprise networks are against the attacks”. The in-depth evaluation is done through internal and external tests with an aim to gain unauthorized access to assets behind the firewall or other IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems).

With network penetration testing, hardware controls, web apps, APIs, and endpoints can all be evaluated through simulating the real-attack.

With this, the security flaws and areas of vulnerability for the company are pointed out.

Internal network penetration testing simulates a situation where the security expert acts as someone within the organization, to find out the impact they can cause in a real attack.

Similarly, external network penetration testing services check for issues for the possible situation of attackers from outside trying to break into the organization’s network infrastructure.

Web application penetration testing

The resilience of your web applications are assessed in this technique by simulating attack focusing on the web application infrastructure, design, and configuration.

Vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS attacks, business logic bugs, CSRF, file inclusion vulnerabilities and so on are evaluated. It helps organizations to be in compliance with data privacy and security standards and regulations, while maintaining the integrity and threat resilience of their applications.

The web application penetration testers breach the application systems with proper authorization and check APIs and servers connected to the web application to find vulnerabilities within.

Mobile application penetration testing

Mobile application penetration testing is the process of identifying weaknesses in an iOS or Android mobile application's cybersecurity posture through real-world attacks. The goal is to identify, prioritize, and resolve vulnerabilities before they are exploited by an attacker.

It helps tighten security settings for critical data and various app functionalities, resulting in a well-protected software that protects both users and administrators. This approach includes tests on software, architecture, storage, network, and security methods.

Wireless penetration testing

Wireless access points are among the most simple to get hacked into. This is primarily because physical proximity is all it takes for an attacker to infiltrate.

Often the bad actor will be sipping a coffee from a nearby cafe or nearby floor of your organization while trying to access your network. And interestingly, most of the time, they can do it even without being discovered.

Wireless penetration testing is the approach of checking for loopholes in your wireless networks to find and fix them before an attack. WiFi networks, wireless access points, routers, bluetooth devices, printers, etc. are evaluated in this technique.

Social engineering penetration testing

Humans are the weakest resource prone to cyberattacks than IT assets in your organization.

Social engineering is the technique of manipulating them to act as per the attacker’s intent using various techniques. Human emotions and tendencies are leveraged for this.

Social engineering penetration testing is the systemic technique of evaluating how secure the people (from security and front desk to internal teams) within the organization are from attacks.

Common social engineering attacks are phishing, scareware, baiting, honey trapping, tailgating, and business email compromise.

Using this technique, employees’ adherence to the company policies and security practices is assessed to reveal violations and thereby prevent the company from being at risk.

Cloud penetration testing

Cloud infrastructure is often not assessed in a regular audit, since it is not included in the on-premise assets. However with its wider adoption being a scalable, reliable, and efficient resource, the attacks targeting them are not less than any other technology.

Cloud penetration testing focuses on finding the weaknesses which are cloud-specific such as configuration errors, passwords, APIs, databases, storage, and its encryption. It also helps to define the responsibility of the platform, infrastructure, and software along with its impact on a real world cyber incident scenario.

A few of the major security threats related to cloud are misconfigurations, insufficient identity and access management (IAM), insecure APIs and interfaces, account hijacking, Denial-of-Service attacks, shared technology vulnerabilities, advanced persistent threats, and insider threats.

Internet of Things (IoT) penetration testing

In olden times, threat actors used to mainly target computers or cellphones to cause disruptions to your business. However with the emergence of IoT applications, the prime target has shifted to internet connected devices.

With such a vast attack surface, the need for securing your enterprises is alarmingly higher than ever.

Think of a situation where a cybercriminal compromises a smart vehicle produced by your firm causing an accident, or interrupting the health gadgets such as heart monitoring devices to stop its operations causing serious reputational damage as well as concern on individual lives.

IoT penetration testing is the systematic evaluation technique of finding loopholes in your IoT system before being found and exploited by an attacker. Real world cyberattacks are simulated.

Major IoT applications in enterprises are:

1. Smart wearables
2. Connected health devices
3. Industrial automation devices
4. Connected vehicles
5. Agricultural automations
6. Connected retail devices

How to Choose the Right Penetration Testing Service for Your Enterprise?

At present the number of enterprise security consulting is alarmingly higher than ever before, and is still growing.

As per expert opinions, a few of the best checks while choosing the right partner for you in securing your business are:

1. Understanding your needs: The requirement should be defined which contains the technology classification for your enterprise such as network security, application security, cloud security, and so on primarily.

2. Defining the scope: Which system, application, network, device or infrastructure is to be tested is determined in this step. Including the critical assets and areas of data sensitivity also should be considered.

3. Determining the test type: Choosing type of penetration testing according to your business needs is defined in this step.

4. Expertise and credibility: An expert is often better than a fresher when it comes to output quality. Also, choosing an enterprise security consultant with experience in your specific industry is beneficial.

5. Check reporting style and further assistance: Majority of the enterprise security testing service providers share comprehensive reports with complementary fixation assistance. However, ones who deliver understandable and actionable documentation would be much helpful for you.

6. Budget alignment: Cost is yet another important factor to consider, however, going with the lowest priced service is not a good option either. Look for better quality reporting, experience of the team, and the post-test support.

7. Legal considerations: Not at last, but always ensuring they follows all the regulations and legal requirements and liability is much important factor to be considered.

Conclusion

Enterprise penetration testing should be the first priority in business strategy if the plan is for a longer and sustainable continuity of the business.

The cost of data breaches is alarmingly high and is increasing each year. However, the number of security-conscious enterprises is lower in comparison to the same.

Choosing the right enterprise security consulting providers might seem overwhelming at some point. However making the right choice is as important as being proactive and being resilient to cyber threats.

FAQs on Enterprise-Level Security

1. What are the most common types of penetration testing for enterprise?

Web application, mobile application, network, wireless, social engineering, cloud, and IoT penetration testing are the most common types of penetration testing.

2. How often should an enterprise conduct penetration testing?

It primarily depends on the business needs and the industry you are operating in. However bi-annually or annually at least is the best enterprise should conduct penetration testing.

3. What is the difference between vulnerability scanning and penetration testing?

Vulnerability testing is basically an evaluation process where the surface of the threats are found. Whereas, in penetration testing the criticality, occurrence,and business aspects of the vulnerability is found through simulating the attack.

4. What should be included in a penetration testing report for enterprises?

Executive summary, scope and objective, methodology employed, testing environment details, detailed findings, risk ratings, business impact analysis, strategic remediation recommendations, conclusion and appendices.

5. How long does a typical enterprise penetration test take?

Generally for SMEs (Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises) one to two weeks are the usual duration of a typical enterprise penetration test. And for large enterprises, it would take three to six weeks for the completion. Factors such as the size of the organization, system complexity, scope of the test, and the type of penetration test are the factors behind duration of the evaluation.