Cybersecurity. Part 2. What is penetration testing

Penetration testing, also known as "pentesting," is a legitimate and controlled assessment where a specialist is hired by a company to perform hacking activities. Because pentesters and hackers share the same tools and techniques, this process allows for the identification of security weaknesses in a way that mimics real-world threats.

Key Phases of Penetration Testing While methodologies can vary, the process generally follows eight main steps:

Planning and Preparation: The scope is defined, covering areas such as websites, internal networks, cloud environments, or mobile applications. This stage involves legal agreements, including Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and clear "rules of engagement" that dictate when testing can occur and what limitations are in place (e.g., bandwidth restrictions).

Reconnaissance: The specialist passively collects data about the target, such as emails, domains, and credentials.

Scanning and Enumeration: An active phase where the specialist performs tasks like port scanning and searching for open directories, backups, or potential leaks.

Vulnerability Assessment: Automatic web vulnerability scanners are utilized to detect known security flaws.

Exploitation: The specialist exploits the discovered vulnerabilities. This is a critical stage where they may pause to confirm with the client whether they should continue or stop.

Post-Exploitation: After successfully hacking a system, the specialist may attempt to elevate privileges to become an administrator or expand access to other systems.

Reporting: Documentation of the findings for the client. Remediation: Addressing the identified issues.

Tools and Technical Concepts Scanning Tools: Tools like NMAP are commonly used to identify open ports. Commercial tools such as Acunetix, Nessus, and Burp Suite are also employed to generate vulnerability reports.

Ports and Protocols: There are 65,535 possible ports for both TCP and UDP protocols. Since a full scan is time-consuming, specialists often focus on the "top 100" most commonly used ports.

Banner Grabbing: To identify which services are running on a port, specialists use "banner grabbing," where the system connects to a port and captures the service's default response, which helps reveal the protocol and software in use.

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