Penetration Testing as a Service: Everything You Need to Know
When it comes to penetration testing, many people think of it as a standalone service that can be performed by an in-house team or an external consultant. However, penetration testing as a service is becoming increasingly popular, especially among small and medium businesses. We’ll go through what penetration testing as a service is, the benefits it offers, and how it works in this post. We’ll also take a look at the difference between standard penetration testing and penetration testing as a service and some of the best penetration testing service providers in the market.
What is Penetration Testing as a Service?
Penetration testing as a service or PTaaS is an agile security approach that involves constantly testing and scanning your system with automated vulnerability detectors as well as human pentesters to ensure you don’t miss any newly discovered vulnerabilities.
Penetration testing as a service, on the other hand, enables real-time testing, rapid feedback on the most minor of changes, and easy accessibility to security experts. So, for example, you’ve completed all of your preparations to launch a slew of new features, the code is finished and ready to go, the developers are eager to witness their work take effect, and you know how much your clients will like them. You’ll be notified of a security loophole that was caused by one of the code modifications, as well as some instructions for correcting it.
Developers have the opportunity to fix vulnerabilities before they go live, which prevents malicious actors from exploiting those vulnerabilities and stealing sensitive data or causing harm.
How Does Penetration Testing as a Service Work?
PTaaS streamlines the process of penetration testing by providing a one-stop shop that comes equipped with everything you need to get started. Not only does our platform have all the tools you require, but it also offers a user-friendly dashboard to track your progress and store results.
Before using PTaaS, businesses must identify which systems they want to test. Once that’s been decided, businesses can select from a plethora of provider-offered pen testing services. These services are moldable according to the business needs, for example, the system being tested and how much detail is required.
After a service has been picked, businesses will need to give the provider some type of access to their systems so that testing can be completed. This is done through a secure connection like VPN or by allowing the provider temporary credentials.
The provider will produce a report that summarizes all of the findings following the pen tests. This document will summarize any security flaws discovered, as well as mitigation recommendations.
Difference between Standard Penetration Testing and Penetration Testing as a Service
In penetration testing, there are two types of services: standard penetration testing and penetration testing as a service. Standard penetration testing is a one-time event in which an external consultant is hired to test your systems for vulnerabilities. This type of testing can be costly and time-consuming, and it’s often difficult to schedule due to the consultant’s availability.
Penetration testing as a service, on the other hand, is a continuous and more proactive approach to penetration testing. With PTaaS, businesses can have their systems tested on a regular basis by an external provider. This type of testing is less disruptive and can be performed more frequently, making it an ideal solution for businesses that want to keep their systems secure.
Benefits You Can Obtain from Penetration Testing Service
The benefits of Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) are many and varied, but perhaps most importantly, it aligns perfectly with the present culture surrounding software development. In an era where speed and agility are highly valued thanks to DevOps adoption, it’s more important than ever to complement these fast-moving processes with an agile security methodology like PTaaS.
Hacker-Like Testing in Real Time
The penetration testing technique involves mimicking the hackers in order to exploit vulnerabilities. It allows you to see how your security posture appears to a hacker and how existing security measures perform against a realistic cyber assault. The tests may be conducted on demand with PTaaS, allowing you to view the flaws in real time.
Early Feedback on Code Changes
As we have previously observed, the software development lifecycle compliments Penetration Testing Service well. This implies that before any new code is deployed, your developers will be notified of a vulnerability. This puts you one step ahead of malicious attackers since it allows you to stay one step ahead of them.
Real-time Remediation Support
A good PTaaS platform will provide thorough remediation assistance, including videos and screenshots to assist developers in finding and fixing the vulnerability. This saves a lot of time because the developers do not have to spend much time trying to figure out what went wrong and why.
Access to Security Engineers
As a result, your developers can reach out to security engineers for resolving security flaws. Security necessitates particular skills as well as the ability to execute something that appears uninteresting on a large scale. Employing the assistance of security experts guarantees that vulnerabilities are not left unchecked, take up too much of your developers’ time, or remain in the funnel indefinitely.
Best Penetration Service Providers in the Market
Astra Security
Astra Security’s Pentest Suite is a versatile tool that allows you to do automated vulnerability assessments, manual penetration testing, or both. They carry out 3000+ tests on your assets and are GDPR-ready with a variety of criteria for ISO 27001, SOC2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance.
Astra’s Pentest allows you to accurately assess risks, prioritize repairs, and allocate resources effectively in order to maximize your return on investment. With Astra’s Pentest, you’ll benefit from accurate risk assessment, zero false positives, and comprehensive remediation instructions.
Key Features:
- Integration of the PCI/CD Standard: Vulnerability scans help to ensure the safety of your code before it is released.
- Slack Integration: It will save you time by providing security information in relevant slack channels.
Intruder
Intruder is a cybersecurity firm that provides an automated SaaS solution to clients, making penetration testing easier for them. Their robust scanning tool, which is designed to deliver highly useful findings, allows organizations wanting to focus on more important things.
Intruder’s state-of-the-art security scanner will do all the work for you, so you don’t have to lift a finger. In addition, their hybrid penetration testing service includes manual tests in order to find problems that normal scans would miss.
Netsparker
Netsparker doesn’t require any code from development in order to detect Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection, and other types of errors. Instead, it puts all the answers at your disposal by uniquely verifying confirmed vulnerabilities – so you know they’re genuine and not false positives.
The penetration tester may spend less time verifying these flaws manually after a scan is finished by categorizing them. It’s available as a Windows program and an online service.
Conclusion
Penetration Testing as a Service is an important approach for ensuring the security of your codebase. By providing early feedback on code changes and real-time remediation support, you can save time and money. In addition, penetration testing services give you access to security engineers in order to resolve vulnerabilities quickly and effectively. There are many reputable penetration testing service providers in the market, so be sure to choose one that best fits your needs.
Author Bio-
Ankit Pahuja is the Marketing Lead & Evangelist at Astra Security. Ever since his adulthood (literally, he was 20 years old), he began finding vulnerabilities in websites & network infrastructures. Starting his professional career as a software engineer at one of the unicorns enables him in bringing “engineering in marketing” to reality. Working actively in the cybersecurity space for more than 2 years makes him the perfect T-shaped marketing professional. Ankit is an avid speaker in the security space and has delivered various talks in top companies, early-age startups, and online events.
