Network Penetration Testing

The overall objective of network penetration testing is to discover areas of the enterprise network where an intruder can exploit security vulnerabilities. Different types of penetration testing are necessary for different types of network devices. For example, a penetration test of a firewall is different from a penetration test of a typical user’s machine. Even a penetration test of devices in the DMZ (demilitarized zone) is different from performing a scan to see if network penetration is possible.The type of penetration test should be weighed against the value of the data on the machine being tested and the need for connectivity to a given service.

The penetration testing process has three primary components:

• Defining the scope.
• Performing the penetration test.
• Reporting and delivering detailed results.