Internal Network Penetration Testing
Internal network penetration testing stands as an important line of defence. Our service dives deep into your organisation’s internal networks, uncovering vulnerabilities that could be exploited by those with inside network access.
What is Internal Network Penetration Testing?
Internal network penetration testing is critical to any cybersecurity strategy, designed to simulate a cyberattack from within the organisation.
Internal network penetration testing evaluates the security of your internal IT infrastructure. It simulates an insider attack, potentially by an employee or a breached internal account, to identify and exploit vulnerabilities within your internal network. The primary objectives include:
- Identifying Internal Vulnerabilities: Detecting weaknesses that could be exploited from inside the network.
- Assessing Internal Threats: Understanding the potential damage an insider attack could cause.
- Ensuring Compliance: Verifying adherence to internal security policies and regulatory requirements.
Differences from External Network Penetration Testing
While external penetration testing focuses on vulnerabilities accessible from outside the network, internal testing targets threats originating from within.
Key differences include:
- Threat Perspective: Internal testing assumes the attacker has some level of authorised access.
- Scope of Vulnerabilities: It often uncovers threats related to user privileges, internal applications, and network segmentation flaws.
- Security Policies and Controls: Evaluating the effectiveness of internal security policies and controls.
The Importance of Internal Penetration Testing
The landscape threats are continuously changing, driven by factors such as evolving technology, complex internal systems, and the increasing skills of hackers. Internal threats can arise from a variety of sources, including disgruntled employees, compromised accounts, and even unintentional insider actions. These threats pose a unique challenge as they often bypass traditional external defences.
There have been significant real-world attacks where lapses in internal network security have led to substantial breaches. They often demonstrate how internal vulnerabilities can lead to significant data loss, financial repercussions, and reputational damage. These examples underscore the need for in-depth internal network penetration testing to identify and mitigate such vulnerabilities proactively.
Internal penetration testing is integral in detecting and mitigating insider threats, enhancing your overall security posture, and building a culture of security awareness. It helps organisations identify potential security issues that could be exploited by insiders, thus strengthening the overall security of the internal network. Moreover, it plays a crucial role in fostering an environment where security is a shared responsibility, highlighting the importance of each individual’s role in maintaining cybersecurity.
Why Samurai Security?
Our team of specialist, CREST-certified penetration testers adopt a meticulous and tailored approach to internal network penetration testing, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of your organisation’s internal cyber defences.
Through our continued research and development into cybersecurity, we have adopted industry standards and also developed in-house testing methodologies and techniques to offer the best possible service.
Our approach begins with an initial assessment where we gain a comprehensive understanding of your internal network architecture and identify key assets. This phase is crucial in tailoring our testing strategy to align with your unique business needs and security concerns.
We then move on to strategy development, creating a customised testing plan that is specifically designed for your network’s infrastructure. This plan is pivotal in ensuring that our testing is as relevant and effective as possible. Following this, we conduct simulated insider attacks, emulating various insider threat scenarios to pinpoint vulnerabilities within your network. This is crucial to understand how an actual insider attack might unfold and where your network’s weaknesses lie.
Our testing utilises a combination of both automated and manual techniques to ensure a comprehensive assessment. Automated tools allow us to efficiently scan for known vulnerabilities, while manual testing provides the depth and insight of a skilled professional actively searching for security gaps and potential exploits.
Key Benefits
Identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities:
One of the main benefits of internal network penetration testing is its ability to uncover and rectify security vulnerabilities. This includes a range of potential weak points, such as inadequate password policies, outdated systems, and improperly configured network equipment. By proactively identifying and addressing these issues, organisations can limit unauthorised access, safeguarding against financial repercussions, reputational harm, and legal liabilities.
Improving security controls:
Internal network penetration testing plays a critical role in reinforcing an organisation’s security infrastructure and its controls. This involves elevating access control mechanisms, refining network segmentation, and optimising the configuration of network devices. The outcome is a robust, resilient infrastructure capable of repelling internal threats, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of the organisation.
Meeting compliance requirements:
Regular security assessments are crucial for industries dealing with sensitive data, as they are often mandated to adhere to strict regulatory standards. Through consistent and thorough penetration testing, businesses not only align with these compliance requirements but also fortify their defences against potential breaches. This proactive approach is essential in navigating the complex landscape of cybersecurity regulations and avoiding the pitfalls of non-compliance.
Our Approach
01
Scoping
At Samurai Security, we believe that accurate scoping is the foundation of every successful penetration testing project. That’s why we start by gathering as much information as possible about the system in question. If additional information is needed, we will invite you to complete a scoping document or schedule a scoping call to discuss the requirements in more detail.
Our in-depth scoping document helps us accurately scope your penetration testing assessment. It gathers key information regarding the systems in scope of the assessment. If you prefer, we can fill out this document on a scoping meeting instead.
After completing the scoping document, we peer-review it to ensure accuracy and completeness. If additional information is required, we’ll request a scoping meeting.
In this scoping meeting, we’ll request a screenshare demonstration of the systems in scope, discuss any additional testing requirements and expected outcomes, giving both teams the opportunity to ask and answer questions on the scope and testing approach. Once the scoping has been completed, we conduct a final peer-review process and then share the finalised scope of testing with both parties in the form of a proposal.
02
Project Agreement
We will provide you with a formal proposal that will include the scope of works, methodology of testing, project timelines, client requirements and commercials.
In most cases, project timelines will have been agreed in the proposal. However, if timelines have not yet been agreed, Samurai will provide a number of available dates when testing can be conducted. The client will have an opportunity to agree with the proposed dates, or request different dates.
Based on the availability from both teams, we will then formally book in the project and share the final project timelines with all parties. Once the project timelines are agreed, best efforts must be made by both parties to ensure the timelines are adhered to.
Once the project timelines have been confirmed, both teams will work together to gather the technical requirements for penetration testing, these will be covered in the proposal and typically include:
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Availability of dedicated point of contact
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Written permission to conduct Penetration Testing
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Adding our IP address to allow lists on relevant systems
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Agree on the full technical scope of the assessment
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Ensure necessary backups have been made prior to testing
03
Conducting Penetration Testing
We approach penetration testing projects in line with the industry standards such as the OWASP testing methodology, and combine this with our own testing methodology which has been built up from years of experience conducting penetration tests.
We follow a high-level approach:
- Reconnaissance
- System Mapping
- Vulnerability discovery & potential exploitation
To ensure limited impact to operations and critical systems, we will communicate with the client before conducting any extensive scans or running a malicious exploit. We will not conduct any Denial of Service (DOS) attacks unless requested. All of the tools used by Samurai technical team are tested in the lab environment for accuracy and behaviour before they are used in client engagements.
Throughout the assessment, the client will need to be available in order to answer any technical questions and to enable access to the systems in scope. The technical consultants will contact the client immediately if any Critical or High level vulnerability is found.
At the end of each working day, a summary of the testing findings will be sent to the client. If required, meetings are offered to provide context around these findings on the day. Finally, a full email summary of all the findings from the penetration test is sent on the last day testing.
Outputs
01
Report
Our comprehensive report includes:
Scope of Assessment:
We provide a detailed list of the systems, applications, and network components that were tested during the engagement. This helps clients to understand the areas where potential security issues were identified.
Methodology of Penetration Testing:
We provide an overview of our high-level testing methodology and the specific tools and techniques used during the engagement. This helps clients to understand the approach we took and the testing techniques we employed.
Comprehensive risk findings:
This section presents a succinct and concise summary of the key findings, including those that require immediate action, persistent problems, and other general findings.
Findings and Vulnerabilities:
We provide a comprehensive list of all vulnerabilities discovered during the testing, including their severity rating and the likelihood of exploitation. This information helps clients to understand the potential impact of the vulnerabilities and the risks associated with them.
Remediation Actions:
We provide actionable recommendations for remediation of the discovered vulnerabilities, including prioritisation based on severity. This helps clients to understand the steps they need to take to address the identified security issues.
02
Technical Meeting
After every engagement, we offer a focused meeting to discuss the assessment and its outcomes. This allows the business and risk owners to ask specific questions and ensure that all parties understand the context of the risks, as well as their likelihood and impact of successful exploitation. The potential mitigation steps will be discussed, allowing for the implementation of robust measures and an understanding of the effort required.
03
Remediation Plan
A formal document outlining the agreed plan to remediate vulnerabilities, including deadlines and assigned responsibilities for tracking progress. This information presented in a GANTT view provides visibility to the management team and ensures that all necessary actions have been taken to safeguard the business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is internal network penetration testing?
Internal network penetration testing is the process of assessing the security of a company’s internal network infrastructure, systems, and applications to identify vulnerabilities and potential threats.
Why do I need internal network penetration testing?
Internal network penetration testing helps identify security weaknesses in your network that can be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorised access to sensitive data, disrupt operations, or steal valuable intellectual property.
How long does internal network penetration testing take?
The duration of the testing depends on the size and complexity of your network. Typically, internal network penetration testing can take between 2-6 Days.
Will internal network penetration testing affect the performance of my network?
Our testing methodology is designed to minimise the impact on the performance of your network. However, there may be a slight impact on performance during testing. We work closely with our clients to schedule testing during off-peak hours to minimise any impact on their business operations.
What happens if you find vulnerabilities during the testing?
If we find vulnerabilities during the testing, we will provide a comprehensive report detailing the findings and our recommendations for remediation. We can also work with our clients to develop and implement a remediation plan to address the identified vulnerabilities.
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