5 Penetration Testing Schemes for Network Security

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5 Penetration Testing Schemes for Network
Security
These days, the threats associated with malware,
ransomware, and identity theft have grown in
number. You can easily spot escalated trouble for
organizations when it comes to securing valuable
data and system operations. Based on previous
reports, human error can be seen as a leading
cause for numerous security breaches. A basic
fault by an employee can end up in a devastating
outcome thereby, making penetration testing a
vital necessity.

• Pen testing or penetration testing is a specific
  testing process to analyze different aspects of
  an IT infrastructure to search for
  vulnerabilities. What makes penetration testing
  useful for an organization?
• This isnt any usual vulnerability testing but
  moves a step ahead to exploit weaknesses for
  successfully recognizing all valid threats.
• You can perform penetration testing on software
  programs, websites, and even mobile devices.

These days, network penetration testing is
gaining supreme prominence. The sole reason
centred at being efficient in safeguarding your
companys network from hacker threats. With a
network penetration test, you get to spot
exploitable vulnerabilities within systems,
networks, network devices, and hosts. Such a
process is helpful since you get to recognize
potential weak links before hackers can find and
exploit them.
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For organizations to function in a secure manner
it has now become crucial to augment penetration
testing for network security. This can be
achieved by implementing better penetration
testing strategies. Some of the latest and
effective schemes for network penetration
testing are Internal Testing Approach This
testing scheme is applied from within the
enterprises technology surroundings. Internal
testing creates a mock attack on the internal
network masked as a discontented employee or an
official visitor having access to standard
privileges. The primary purpose of this scheme is
to understand the extent to which a problem can
arise if the network perimeter is successfully
penetrated and vital information resources are
hampered.
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External Testing Approach An external penetration
testing refers to an attack on the enterprises
network perimeter with the help of procedures
operated from outside the enterprises systems.
Do remember that this test can be performed with
full disclosure of the scheme put in place. An
external test initiates with openly accessible
information associated with the client. The next
step is network
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inventory this targets the organizations
externally visible devices or servers, including
e- mail server, the domain name server (DNS),
and a firewall.
Blind Testing Approach The main purpose of this
test is to replicate the actions of a real
hacker. Similar to a real hacking incident, the
testing team receives limited or no data about
the organization, prior to executing the test.
It is majorly through publicly available
information that the QA testing team gathers
information concerning the target and conducts
its penetration tests. It should be known that
blind testing proves helpful is acquiring
additional information about an enterprise which
might not emerge under usual circumstances. A
blind penetration test may reveal issues like
directly linked networks, added internet access
points, proprietary information, etc. The only
downside of this scheme is its high cost and
time-consuming nature.
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Double Blind Testing Approach This is an upgraded
approach to the blind penetration testing scheme.
As per this arrangement, the companys IT and
security teams are not informed and are kept
totally unaware of the planned testing
operations. You can view double-blind testing as
a vital component since it works to test the
companys security monitoring, escalation as well
as response events. Focusing on the purpose of
this test, only few people are informed about the
testing. Typically, its the project manager who
is responsible to ensure the testing procedures
and the companys incident response actions.
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Targeted Testing Approach A targeted approach
usually involves both the companys penetration
testing team and IT team for conducting the
test. A better understanding of the testing
scheme is shared among the two teams that
include network design as a primary component. A
targeted testing approach is viewed as an
efficient method when the test objective is
centred majorly on the technical setting or
network design. In addition, a targeted test,
unlike blind test, can be conducted in less
time. However, the difference is that it may not
present an absolute picture of the companys
security vulnerabilities and response abilities.
The different schemes for running a penetration
test for network security are comprehensively
mentioned above. You can easily refer to these
approaches and chalk out a better plan for
safeguarding your organization from hacking
threats. ImpactQA, a leading software testing
company, actively indulges in resolving queries
associated with penetration testing, security
testing and a lot more.
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