21–26 of 26 posts
If this is a baseline for "very bad" penetration testing, it makes me think I could start up an "almost competent" low-end penetration-testing business just by blindly following a checklist found on the internet, as long as I used a checklist for the right operating system and proof-read the final report.
This was on retail eCommerce websites.
Does anyone have any recommendations for reputable penetration testing organizations in the US?
If this is a baseline for "very bad" penetration testing, it makes me think I could start up an "almost competent" low-end penetration-testing business just by blindly following a checklist found on the internet, as long as I used a checklist for the right operating system and proof-read the final report.
That so many companies manage to screw this up so badly, and still stay in business, indicates that all you need to succeed is some business acumen, the basest level of technical competency, and a little luck! :)
Just as a note to startups here considering "penetration tests": "Penetration test" is a term that means wildly different things depending on who you talk to. The kind of test discussed in this post is the most common kind. People in the field call them "network penetration tests". These are the projects where someone runs nmap and Nessus and Metasploit against your network, dumps the Nessus results into a Word docum…
There's a large number of people running those tools and doing exactly as you describe. I call them, 'the competition'. They bid low and ship a canned report with little to no analysis or follow-up. I highly recommend everyone scan themselves regularly. None of the tools you mentioned are too scary. I do tend to find the severity ratings to be out of whack with the real world impacts a lot of times, so if you see a bunch of red in the report don't panic. Read the text and figure out what it means to your network. The Metasploit Framework has a bit of a learning curve, but nothing too daunting and really it's not necessary for a maintenance scan. You can always invest in a licensed version if the Framework scares you.
Those tools don't provide meaningful coverage of web applications but they would give you a decent idea of the security posture of your network perimeter.
Many situations require the disinterested third party to perform the assessment or audit though. Sometimes customers/partners want to see your last report if you're dealing B2B and then there are the compliance requirements (PCI, health or personal information).
The one thing about that report that really bothered me was the remediation price tags. I know a lot of companies do similar things but we never offer remediation services since it would put us in a conflict of interest. I turn down security product installs regularly on our assessment and penetration testing customers because I don't want us in a position where we're auditing our own work. It's a point of contention sometimes but its an audit independence requirement and I won't budge on the issue.
Does anyone have any recommendations for reputable penetration testing organizations in the US?