Penetration Testing For Dummies

Chapter 2

An Overview Look at Pen Testing

IN THIS CHAPTER

Exploring why pen testing is important

Understanding that pen testing is an ongoing endeavor

Learning who’s bad and who’s good

Pen testers are the cops of the network. They make sure people aren’t breaking rules and getting themselves or others into trouble. Hackers — be they white, grey, or black — are always out there actively trying to thwart security systems and access systems that they shouldn’t be accessing.

In this chapter, I give you the knowledge you need to become the cop of your network: the goals of good pen testers, the importance of ongoing scanning, and how tell the good hackers from the bad.

The Goals of Pen Testing

The ultimate goal to penetration testing is to test your technology assets for their security, their safeguards, and controls by trying to penetrate through any configured defenses. But pen testing can be broken down into individual smaller goals.

Pen testing, although a hot topic, isn’t a new concept nor is it an incredibly difficult one. The underlying technologies, concepts, and techniques ...