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Your IoT devices sit on your client’s networks. They may even sit there for years without the ability to obtain software updates. Your clients may even expose these devices directly to the Internet with no network firewall in place. All the same, your clients still expect these devices to always be available and secure. Before deploying these devices, your team should consider a IoT/hardware penetration test. However, before you begin this process, let’s discuss the uniqueness of this style of engagement, followed by traps to look out for when selecting a provider.

In any information security program, mobile applications should be considered for inclusion in penetration tests. No matter the size of an application, it may serve as an avenue of attack against your environment or users and the threat potential of these applications is similar to that of web applications. In fact, some mobile apps are effectively web apps with a wrapper while others utilize a unique frontend, but with a backend web API.

You may feel confident that your organization has a mature cybersecurity program if you’re able to thwart the vast majority of threats through established practices and procedures. However, despite those efforts, even amongst the most secure of organizations there is still the ever-looming threat of the legendary Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). Furthermore and unfortunately, it’s difficult to ascertain if you’ve been compromised by one. Thankfully though, it is possible to simulate an external APT attempting to breach your organization’s perimeter through a red team exercise.

It's no secret: many organizations view and treat phishing as a periodic checkbox assessment. It’s often a basic email template sent to an entire organization. If someone clicks the link, they are recorded and possibly enrolled in training. While this approach can certainly check the “quarterly phishing exercise” box, you should consider demanding even more from your phishing assessment. After all, when you engage with a third-party provider, they should provide both depth and value within their specialization.

Web applications grow and evolve each year. There’s always a new feature, a new API, and a new way of doing things. These constant changes may introduce some form of vulnerability, which is not ideal when web applications often sit on your external network. This makes web applications an ideal vector for an attacker to migrate into your internal network or compromise customers. Therefore, any web application test deserves an adequate level of thoroughness and attention. Below, we’ve provided a list of questions you should consider asking prospective pen test providers to ensure the most effective web application pen test experience.

When people hear of an upcoming pen test, they most commonly think of network testing. These tests can be focused against your external network (i.e. network perimeter) or your internal network (cloud environment and/or on-premises network). As these networks typically change year to year with new devices, cloud migrations, on-premises migrations, and firewall migrations, periodic testing may be necessary. This can leave you wondering how to find the right pen test provider to ensure your organization's network security posture is thoroughly assessed.

You think you’re close to picking the right team. Your goals align, and you think the team is of sufficient quality. But, there’s one aspect that can be easily overlooked – yet it may ultimately determine whether the exercise was worth conducting.

So, you’ve decided you need a pen test – and you have your requirements in mind. Now comes the process of finding your team to perform the test. As with any service or product, there are large variances in quality between vendors and individuals – so you’ll need to perform a balancing act. Below, we’ll walk through questions designed to help you assess the capabilities, experience, and ability of any prospective provider to meet your specific requirements.