Technology and digitization is fundamental to the evolution of the economy and in general society. This also involves prior training to maintain security in corporate infrastructures. Just as we protect our homes with advanced security systems, we must protect the most valuable element of businesses, their data, and infrastructure. With the control and implementation of cybersecurity systems we can save ourselves on most occasions a bad experience that puts months and even years of work at stake. The solution, audit your security with pentesting.
What is pentesting?
Auditing pentesting or intrusion test: Analysis and security testing on a web page, servers, or network that simulates a real attack. This test is used to analyse the possible failures or vulnerabilities of the system in order to avoid possible threats. They are having a particular impact at present, perhaps one of the cybersecurity tests that gives the greatest visibility in terms of risks and vulnerabilities.
Types of pentesting:
- White Box (Internal Audit)– Access to all critical information on the web, applications, database, and infrastructure. The attack is carried out by someone who knows the entire organisation.
- Gray box– Partial access to resources.
- Black box (external audit): This type of audits or intrusion test, give a view of high objectivity about how systems are displayed towards the Internet, allowing to obtain clear conclusions about them.
- Range of a potential attacker.
- Degree of fortification or bastioning shown by web portals.
- Stability of services running on the platforms.
The attacker does not have any information about the analysed infrastructure, nor valid users of the various exposed applications or services.
Classification of vulnerabilities:
There are several types of vulnerabilities by which different points are analyzed,depending on the type of pentesting audit that develops will be performed one or the other.
Examples include:
- Obsolete product versions. Services or operating systems running with outdated product versions or known vulnerabilities.
- Items without secure configurations. Products or services with configurations that are not secure or are missing elements to protect part of their infrastructure.
- Exposed information. Network machines or services that expose information to users for access without any control or authentication, which may result in an unsecured element.
- Access to management portal authentication. Exposing brute force attacks or disruption of the exposed service.
These vulnerabilities in turn are categorized into levels based on the risk they pose to the organization and its systems.
- Critical:strong need for corrective measures, possibility of committing an attack and resulting in being able to compromise systems.
- High: possibility of committing an attack and resulting in being able to compromise the systems.
- Loss of key resources or tangible assets.
- Possibility of being able to damage or prevent the organisation from working.
- Medium: Exploiting these vulnerabilities requires an expert attacker profile and does not result in elevated privileges.
- Low: Exploiting these vulnerabilities is extremely difficult.
An example of how such vulnerabilities would be represented in a report would be:
| Risk | Type of vulnerability | State |
| Medium | Information on display | Active/Inactive |
Such audits are recommended on a regular basis as hacking methods are becoming more and more advanced. In many cases these attacks occur from within the organisation due to security breaches or massive access by employees or even outsiders. They prevent network intrusion or tampering and control improper access and modification of data.