Building Virtual Pentesting Labs for Advanced Penetration Testing - Second Edition

Myths and misconceptions about pen testing

After more than 20 years of performing professional security testing, it is amazing to me really how many are confused as to what a penetration test is. I have on many occasions gone to a meeting where the client is convinced they want a penetration test, and when I explain exactly what it is, they look at me in shock. So, what exactly is a penetration test? Remember our abstract methodology had a step for intrusive target searching and part of that step was another methodology for scanning? Well, the last item in the scanning methodology, exploitation, is the step that is indicative of a penetration test. That's right! That one step is the validation of vulnerabilities, and this is what defines penetration ...