
According to recent studies, 68% of respondents say their organizations conduct offensive security testing with third-party offensive security providers.
While 41% incorporate testing by both internal and external offensive security service providers, 27% only use external testing.
For their offensive security testing, organizations choose third parties depending on their efficacy, engagement customization, and deliverable quality.
Selection Criteria for The Top Penetration Testing & Offensive Security Provider
How can you locate a business that provides competent manual testing, tested procedures, and reliable approaches?
Determine the kind of testing your company needs before selecting a penetration testing firm.
· Speed & Agility
In order to provide quick assessment and incorporation into security procedures, effective pentesting necessitates a provider’s flexibility to quickly adjust and react to new vulnerabilities within quick development cycles.
Naturally, agility can also refer to the provider’s quick response time, which is very helpful for companies that need to evaluate a new application’s security before launching it or quickly fix any vulnerabilities found through other channels, like a vulnerability disclosure program.
· Knowledge & Experience
A professional penetration test provider is frequently essential to preserving the reputation of your company.
Verify that your vendors have a track record of successfully completing penetration tests. Examine the prior work of the possible vendor, taking into account the years of experience, the industries they have worked in, and the credentials and certifications of their staff.
Given the size of the offensive security provider sector, it can be helpful to have a partner with experience in a variety of businesses.
· Risk-Based Methodology
When a penetration testing company begins a test, it frequently launches its standard product. It is packaged, possibly partially (or even completely!) automated, tailored to the scope you requested, and includes all the standard tests.
Attackers don’t operate like this. After examining your attack surface, they move toward the low-hanging fruit, which is where they may most quickly infiltrate.
These easier-to-access paths appear to you to be the most dangerous ones. You need a penetration tester who understands that you don’t care about their fancy tools. Keeping the evil people out is your goal.
More than their equipment, your hired hackers should care for your company. Thus, during the interview process, make sure they are expressing a business focus and have a strategy that pinpoints and addresses your biggest risks. What’s the point otherwise?
· Scalability
Businesses’ requirements for penetration testing may alter as they expand and change. Selecting a supplier who can expand its offerings to meet these evolving needs is crucial.
The ability of the provider to modify and broaden its testing capabilities in order to accommodate the organization’s expanding infrastructure, applications, and user base is known as scalable penetration testing.
· Customer Feedback
Reputable penetration test providers frequently offer a customized strategy that fits your requirements.
Reputable pentest suppliers will be in touch with you at every stage of the process to clear up any misunderstandings and gain an understanding of the infrastructure, compliance requirements, and goals of the company.
Make sure they also consider your comments and recommendations.
Verify that you and their customer service model complement each other. Manual penetration testing might be a preferable option for your business if it needs an expert assessment report and to mitigate logical problems.
· A Workable Remediation Strategy
Getting a penetration report back that demonstrates the ingenuity of the pen testers and how they took advantage of every vulnerability and broke in left and right is all well and good.
However, if it doesn’t provide you with the knowledge you need to address the issues, it isn’t really helpful. A quality report will explain each issue, including what was discovered, how it was discovered, how it was used, why it’s a problem, and any suggested fixes.
The report should be able to stand alone in providing the information required for the client to make business decisions and carry out the repair, even though a read-out call with the testers can be extremely helpful in learning the background and context of any exploits.
· Cutting Down on Risk and Reaching Compliance
A comprehensive penetration test might take a few days to several weeks, depending on the complexity of the systems being tested and the size of the engagement. Some suppliers, however, assert that they use automated tools alone to expedite the testing process.
Fully automated testing lacks the imagination and intuition of human testers, even though automated technologies like Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) can be helpful for spotting common vulnerabilities.
Automated scans could overlook business logic errors or intricate, chained attacks that call for a more thorough comprehension of the system and its intended operation.
· Research and Development
Updates to the vendor’s skill set are necessary to satisfy the client’s requirements. For R&D activities like launching internal tools and frameworks and raising knowledge of the most recent dangers and assaults, you should confirm that your providers have a dedicated staff.
These kinds of initiatives demonstrate their commitment to research and development and help you comprehend their capabilities.
· Lastly, Clear Reporting and Post-Test Assistance
The significance of hiring a skilled penetration and offensive security provider will become evident during the post-test support; the pentest report is not the end of the penetration testing process. Peruse the study thoroughly, comprehend the key flaws, and assess methods to mitigate these weaknesses.
It can be extremely helpful to have a vendor with knowledge of various environments and the ability to quickly detect and eliminate dangers. Not every vulnerability poses the same danger; in order to create an action plan, you must determine its impact and rank them.