Full penetration tests, conducted by experienced security engineers, measure the robustness of your systems. The more transparent the results, the better everyone understands the stakes.
Penetration testing can be challenging, as every company has unique security testing methodologies. But, the common goal should be to identify gaps in human factors, operational procedures, and technology stack to determine the likelihood of a cyber attack and an organization’s readiness to respond.
Your application security teams or external security firms can make recommendations by completing a technical assessment.
What a transparent penetration test for your web applications should look like:
- Web Application Security Assessment: There should be an in-depth analysis of vulnerabilities in web applications, including input validation, authentication, authorization, session management, and data validation.
- API Security Testing: You should do a comprehensive testing of APIs to identify vulnerabilities in authentication, authorization, input validation, and error handling.
- Cloud Infrastructure Security Review: Conduct security assessments of your entire cloud-based web infrastructure, including configurations, access controls, and network security.
- Detailed Reporting and Remediation Guidance: These reports should detail identified vulnerabilities, their potential impact, and recommended remediation steps.
Understanding How Penetration Testing Works
Penetration testing can either be done by your own security experts or outsourced to a penetration testing services provider. It begins with the security professional enumerating the target web application to find vulnerable components and/or configurations.
This involves simulating an external attack on a live application to identify security vulnerabilities that may have been overlooked. It is extremely rare for a web application not to have any weakness.
Once the penetration tester has a good understanding of your web stack and its common vulnerabilities, they will use various methods to identify weaknesses, including penetration testing tools, to exploit any vulnerability in order to gain unauthorized access.
Why Transparency Matters in Penetration Testing
Transparency improves security posture, which in turn enhances customer trust. When everyone is on the same page and informed about the testing process, weaknesses in security controls, and remediation efforts, it increases commitment to security and builds a foundation of customer trust.
It also helps minimize friction because everyone understands what’s happening and why—continuously improving their overall security posture.
Reporting
Transparent reporting gives organizations a comprehensive view of their security posture, which enables informed decisions about risk mitigation, resource allocation, and security investments.
By providing detailed reports and explanations, security teams help service owners (developers, admins, etc.) understand vulnerabilities and their potential impact. This leads to more effective collaboration on remediation efforts because the feedback loop created by transparent reporting allows organizations to track progress and measure the effectiveness of remediation efforts.
Engagement
You should schedule meetings with stakeholders to help them understand the broader context of cyber risks — making a case for why your company should stay one step ahead of malicious actors — explaining the relevance of specific threats to your organization’s industry.
By illustrating how cyber threats can disrupt operations, impact reputation, and lead to financial losses — stakeholders will be more likely to allocate resources towards proactive cybersecurity measures, including penetration testing to discover vulnerabilities before a potential breach, that ultimately support overall business objectives.
Compliance
Articulating the magnitude of cyber threats within the regulatory landscape clarifies compliance obligations that organizations must navigate.
Communicating how specific threats relate to these requirements not only emphasizes the legal imperative for robust security measures but also reinforces the organization’s broader commitment to responsible data stewardship, compliance, and transparent business practices.
What Penetration Testing Means for Your Business
Penetration testing allows businesses to effectively assess and validate the security posture of their customer-facing web applications and any other components exposed to the internet.
It is a crucial component of web application security, and through these tests, a business can identify:
- Security vulnerabilities before malicious actors could exploit them
- Gaps in their existing security controls and processes
- How quickly their security team can detect and respond to a real attack.
- The potential financial and operational impact of a successful cyber attack
- Actionable recommendations and remediation guidance to strengthen their security posture
This helps create safe customer-facing environments and builds customer trust.
How Siemba Can Help
When conducting a penetration test on live applications, it’s very important to ensure the provider has the necessary expertise to detect a wide range of vulnerabilities without causing issues and also offers the guidance needed to remediate problems as quickly as possible.
Siemba’s offensive security solutions help keep web applications safe. With years of expertise and experienced security professionals, web applications can be thoroughly tested and protected using advanced strategies and tested techniques.
The PTaaS (Penetration Testing as a Service) platform by Siemba provides real-time visibility into the progress of ongoing penetration tests, allowing you to track key metrics from vulnerability discovery to remediation efforts.
