Things To Look For In Outstanding Pen Testing Companies

If you want to detect vulnerabilities in your organisation's technical infrastructure and network, you better have a penetration test. Ethical hackers perform this test in all infrastructure elements from servers and routers to switches firewalls and endpoints. You can find such hackers in pen testing companies. These companies will help your organisation understand the network's security, externally and internally, involving multiple manuals and automated enumeration techniques to compromise systems in scope to establish the current landscape systematically.

If you're planning to hire a pen testing company soon, make sure to find a reliable one to protect your technical infrastructure and network's security. Listed below are things to look for in a pen-testing company.

Certifications

Certifications are the first thing a new buyer should look for, as they can provide a convenient shortcut for building trust with a pen testing company. Top pen testing companies UK wide are certified by the most prestigious organisations in the country. These certifications prove that the testing consultancies can precisely solve your problem, and they are usually an internationally recognised hallmark of quality for a variety of cybersecurity disciplines.

Price

People often ask what a normal cost for a penetration test is. Various factors affect pen test prices, such as the IT systems' size and complexity. It depends on what you are working with, and how much depth you need to go to. If you imagine it like painting a bridge, it depends on how big your bridge is, and how many coats of paint you want, just a thin covering might leave you exposed to the elements. Day rates vary based on things like reputation, certifications, and special requirements for the tester’s experience. However, you can negotiate discounts if you're buying lots of days (anything more than fifteen days would be considered an extensive test).

Clear and detailed reports

Reports should be easy to understand and include summary data for executives and detailed data for technical personnel. Top penetration testing companies will issue pen test reports that include prioritised risk-based findings with comprehensive procedural suggestions. Any steps taken to exploit systems should consist of screenshots, where applicable. Your team should be able to reproduce the results, given the steps in the report. The pen-testing company should be able to provide a sample and redacted reports. If you can’t understand the report or take action on the findings, what’s the point of the penetration test?

Manual and automated testing

Automated tools do not detect all vulnerabilities and are prone to false positives. Top pen testing companies UK wide use manual methods on top of these tools to fill in the gaps left out, remove false positives and assure test completeness. Reputable testers use both manual and automated processes for every penetration test. Many penetration testing organisations run automated tools, then try to pass those results off as a penetration test. A penetration test should involve many tools and many manual techniques as much as possible.

Identify and eliminate false positives

A false positive is when the penetration testing team tells you there is a vulnerability or a problem when there isn’t one. Top penetration testing companies will do everything to eradicate false positives and mark suspicious findings. This is why manual analysis is critical. A report riddled with false positives wastes your time.

Attentiveness

Are they attentive to all your requirements? How many questions do they ask? A penetration testing company that cares about doing a good job will most likely ask you follow up questions about your business, the expected outcome of the pen test and your larger security strategy.

Passion

Pentesting companies who have passion for their service will indeed render an effective pen test. However, this is easier said than done. How do you “see” passion? Talk to them and ask as much as possible. You’ll know if they love what they do based on how detailed their questions are and their eagerness to answer all of your questions and meeting your needs.

Industry oversight

This means penetration testing companies follow standards in providing pen tests because there is an authoritative or governing body regulating them. The industry does not yet have a good governing body. Many have tried with some level of success, but they all have shortcomings. The industry is still trying to work itself out and agree upon how they should measure pen test quality. It would help if you indeed considered company certifications or certified testers, but it shouldn’t be your defining factor.

Pen testing companies with the qualities mentioned above will detect existing weaknesses in your technical infrastructure and network. They can also identify your employees' actions and habits that could result in data breaches and malicious infiltration. Moreover, they will issue reports to let you know about your security vulnerabilities. This way, you can have an idea on the software and hardware improvements to consider or what recommendations and policies would improve the overall security. That said, you will know what to do to improve your system's security, safeguarding your organisation's sensitive data. So before you hire a pen testing company, make sure they have the qualities provided in this article.