What is Penetration Testing?

A Penetration test or pentest is an ethically-driven attempt to test and analyse the security defences to protect these assets and pieces of information. A penetration test involves using the same tools, techniques, and methodologies that someone with malicious intent would use and is similar to an audit

Penetration Testing Ethics

1. White Hat:

   • White hat individuals are ethical hackers and cybersecurity professionals.

   • They use their skills to identify and fix security vulnerabilities, helping organizations improve their defenses.

   • White hats are authorized to perform security testing and penetration testing on systems, networks, and applications.

   • Their goal is to enhance security and protect against cyber threats.

2. Black Hat:

   • Black hat hackers are individuals who engage in malicious activities for personal gain or harm.

   • They exploit vulnerabilities in systems, steal sensitive data, and conduct unauthorized activities.

   • Their activities are illegal and unethical, often causing financial loss and damage to individuals and organizations.

   • They may engage in activities such as hacking, identity theft, and spreading malware.

3. Grey Hat:

   • Grey hat hackers fall in between white hat and black hat hackers.

   • They do not have malicious intent, but they may engage in hacking without formal authorization.

   • Grey hats might discover vulnerabilities and notify the affected parties, but they may also expose vulnerabilities publicly before they are fixed.

   • Their actions can be seen as ethically ambiguous, as they may cause harm inadvertently or by exposing sensitive information.

Rules of Engagement (ROE)

Q : You are given permission to perform a security audit on an organisation; what type of hacker would you be?

~ White Hat

Q : You attack an organisation and steal their data, what type of hacker would you be?

~ Black Hat

Q : What document defines how a penetration testing engagement should be carried out?

~ Rules of Engagement

Penetration Testing Methodologies

Q : What stage of penetration testing involves using publicly available information?

~ Information Gathering

Q : If you wanted to use a framework for pentesting telecommunications, what framework would you use? Note: We're looking for the acronym here and not the full name.

~ OSSTMM

Q : What framework focuses on the testing of web applications?

~ OWASP

Black box, White box, Grey box Penetration Testing

1. Black Box Penetration Testing:

   • Approach: Testers have no prior knowledge of the system being tested.

   • Simulation: Mimics an attacker with no internal information.

   • Benefits: Tests real-world vulnerabilities, simulates external threats.

   • Limitations: May miss internal vulnerabilities, can be time-consuming.

2. White Box Penetration Testing:

   • Approach: Testers have full knowledge of the system's internals.

   • Simulation: Simulates attacks with detailed information.

   • Benefits: Efficient for pinpointing vulnerabilities, thorough analysis.

   • Limitations: Might miss real-world attack scenarios, lacks external perspective.

3. Grey Box Penetration Testing:

   • Approach: Testers have partial knowledge of the system, often limited to high-level details.

   • Simulation: Combines external threat simulation with some internal knowledge.

   • Benefits: Balances real-world attacks and insider insights.

   • Limitations: May not fully capture complex attack vectors

Q : You are asked to test an application but are not given access to its source code - what testing process is this?

~ Black Box

Q : You are asked to test a website, and you are given access to the source code - what testing process is this?

~ White Box

Practical: ACME Penetration Test

Q : Complete the penetration test engagement against ACME's infrastructure.

~ THM{PENTEST_COMPLETE}