A Brief Overview Of Penetration Testing As A Service (Ptaas)

Companies are constantly under threat from a variety of security vulnerabilities. Security professionals are often ineffective in identifying and repairing security holes in IT systems, resulting in a wide risk of being exposed. In the last 10 years or more, penetration testing has become a well-known method for companies to protect their infrastructure, identifying security gaps and weaknesses before cybercriminals are able to use them to their advantage.

Penetration testing as a Service (PTaaS) simplifies the process of pentesting services, which allows for greater frequency and less expensive penetration tests. It also provides the opportunity to collaborate between the organization together with the PT company. This allows organizations to find weaknesses and correct the issues on a regular basis. At first, it was a specialized, contract-based task that companies could only conduct every year or once. With PTaaS, it is possible to perform penetration tests daily or even follow every code update.

Pentesting as a service does not mean the same thing as pentesting in the cloud. PTaaS is a platform for delivery. Cloud pentesting, on the other hand, aims to identify security weaknesses within a specific cloud infrastructure.

Benefits of Penetration Testing Services

• Real-Time Testing, Hacker-like Testing

Pentesting is a distinct kind of hardening security. It’s the only method to know exactly what criminals perceive when looking at your application or business. The information cybercriminals receive could differ from what the company or the developer perceives.

Continuous retesting increases the utility of a pentesting tool. This means that you’ll instantly be aware of if there’s a security flaw in the most recent update before it’s too late.

• Continuous and early feedback

Agile methodologies encourage frequent testing of small changes to code. They are much easier to handle as opposed to a massive software release. This results in more durable software that shows resilience and is simpler to patch.

PTaaS provides the same advantages as conventional penetration tests. It provides your developers with immediate and constant feedback during and after the test regarding potential vulnerabilities, and they are able to swiftly fix these vulnerabilities. A quality PTaaS will provide complete reports, including the steps to attack, screenshots, and documented error codes to ensure that the developers don’t have to think about the reason or method of resolving it.

This results in an increase in efficiency and more effective insinuation of security-related measures within the process of development.

Methodology of Pentesting as a Service (PTaaS) 

Before cloud computing was introduced, security experts presented testing results for penetration at the conclusion of the testing time. Although the data was valuable, the delay of the data frequently made it difficult for security professionals on the site to correct and prioritize the results of tests.

PTaaS platforms permit customers to view their data in real-time via an interface that shows the relevant information prior to the test, during, and after the test has been completed. PTaaS providers also provide comprehensive reports to their customers that help them identify and repair vulnerabilities.

Many platforms are adaptable and can handle everything from a complete testing system to custom-designed reports tools that customers can use to satisfy strict requirements of regulatory compliance.

Different types of Penetration Testing Services

You can make use of PTaaS to find security flaws within various parts of the infrastructure of your business, including web applications, network APIs, and mobile apps.

• Web Application Penetration Testing Services

PTaaS solutions use sophisticated scans to crawl web pages and perform initial reconnaissance. They also identify weaknesses and exploit them to determine the impact of each vulnerability. They are able to identify issues such as:

• Insecure validation of information and integrity in web pages such as forms or other data input
• Session management and authentication are not as strong.
• Insecure coding practices in the source code of web applications
• Security weaknesses in databases that are back-end and networks that are exposed to web application

Network Penetration Testing Services

You may grant PTaaS system access to access your network and permit it to conduct security tests for your network, using techniques like port scanning, traffic fuzzing, configuration benchmarking or virus scanning, and fingerprinting. This allows for the investigation of weaknesses such as:

• Security tools aren’t perfect, such as firewalls and intrusion detection security systems (IDS/IPS).
• The weaknesses of network equipment include routers and switches.
• Security vulnerabilities in workstations, servers and other endpoints that are deployed within the network.

Network-based PTaaS can stop attacks exploiting weaknesses in any of the systems tested improper security tool settings, DNS attacks, and man in the middle (MiTM) attacks.

 

API Penetration Testing Services

Another reason to use PTaaS is to test application programming interfaces (APIs). A large number of IT systems provide APIs via the open Internet; they also have publically accessible documents and provide access to important data, which makes them a popular threat to attackers.

PTaaS can be taught API structure and commands whether using a standard, such as OpenAPI or by importing a list of rules. PTaaS solutions can help you identify problems such as:

• Weak API authentication
• Code injection vulnerabilities
• Limiting resource rates due to lack of resources
• Sensitive data exposure

 

Mobile Application Penetration Testing Services

Many organizations offer mobile apps for their staff, their associates and clients. Because these apps are often used on personal devices, they are vulnerable to a greater number of security threats.

PTaaS for mobile apps can look for and pinpoint various issues, like:

• Malware is often present in mobile applications or user’s device
• Phishing messages are sent to user devices
• There are weaknesses in WiFi networks
• Compromise of MDM protocols. 

Integrating Penetration Testing into Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Testing for penetration and PTaaS is important to ensure that your applications and networks are secure. However, a substantial portion of both is performed manually by expert penetration testers. Although PTaaS has made it easier to purchase and manage pentests more frequently, the process is still taking some time, isn’t scalable, and costs can rise.

With more companies now using DevOps and CICD, more automation of testing security is necessary to eliminate security barriers and create clear instant feedback for development.

 

TFT’s Penetration Testing Services assists organizations in protecting their business against data breaches and unauthorized access

We at TFT know what a security breach could do to your business, not only to your software, but also to the whole company. Our Cybersecurity expertise and years of experience allow us to make sure your business is secure. 

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