Penetration Testing | Pen Testing

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing (often called pen testing) is a proactive cybersecurity practice used to evaluate the security of systems, networks, applications, or devices by simulating real-world cyberattacks. Authorized security professionals attempt to exploit vulnerabilities—such as misconfigurations, software flaws, or weak access controls—to determine how an attacker could gain unauthorized access, disrupt operations, or steal data.

The goal of penetration testing is not just to find vulnerabilities, but to demonstrate real risk by showing what could actually be compromised and how. Results are documented in a detailed report that prioritizes risks, explains potential impact, and provides clear remediation recommendations. Penetration testing is commonly used to support regulatory compliance, strengthen security programs, and validate the effectiveness of existing security controls before attackers can exploit weaknesses.

Why is Penetration Testing Important?

Penetration testing is important because it helps organizations identify and address security weaknesses before they can be exploited by real attackers. By simulating real-world cyberattacks, penetration testing reveals how vulnerabilities could be used to gain unauthorized access, disrupt systems, or expose sensitive data—providing a clear picture of actual risk rather than theoretical threats.

In addition, penetration testing supports regulatory and compliance requirements, helps validate the effectiveness of existing security controls, and strengthens overall cybersecurity posture. The insights gained allow organizations to prioritize remediation efforts, reduce the likelihood of costly breaches, protect brand reputation, and maintain trust with customers, partners, and regulators.

What regulatory and compliance requirements are supported by Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing supports a wide range of regulatory and compliance requirements across industries by demonstrating that security controls are effective and vulnerabilities are actively managed. Some of the most widely recognized frameworks and regulations that commonly require or strongly recommend penetration testing include:

• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) – Requires regular penetration testing to protect cardholder data and validate network and application security controls.
• ISO/IEC 27001 – Supports information security risk management by validating controls within an Information Security Management System (ISMS).
• SOC 2 (Service Organization Controls) – Helps demonstrate the effectiveness of security controls aligned to the Trust Services Criteria, particularly Security and Availability.
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) – Supports safeguards for protecting electronic protected health information (ePHI) in healthcare systems.
• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – Helps organizations identify and reduce risks to personal data through proactive security testing.
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework & NIST SP 800-series – Supports risk assessments and continuous security improvement practices commonly used by U.S. organizations.
• ISO/SAE 21434 (Automotive Cybersecurity) – Supports cybersecurity risk validation for road vehicles through vulnerability and attack path testing.
• FDA Cybersecurity Guidance (Medical Devices) – Helps manufacturers demonstrate cybersecurity risk management and vulnerability assessment activities.
• CMMC / DFARS (Defense Supply Chain) – Supports security testing requirements for organizations handling controlled unclassified information (CUI).

By aligning penetration testing with these standards and regulations, organizations can demonstrate due diligence, reduce compliance risk, and provide documented evidence of their commitment to cybersecurity best practices.

Types of Penetration Testing

There are several types of penetration testing, each designed to evaluate security from a different perspective or attack surface. Organizations often use a combination of these approaches to gain comprehensive coverage.

By Target / Scope

• Network Penetration Testing – Assesses internal or external networks to identify vulnerabilities such as open ports, insecure services, misconfigurations, and weak segmentation.
• Application Penetration Testing – Evaluates web and mobile applications for vulnerabilities like injection attacks, authentication flaws, broken access controls, and insecure APIs.
• Cloud Penetration Testing – Focuses on cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP) to identify misconfigurations, identity and access issues, and insecure cloud services.
• Wireless Penetration Testing – Tests Wi-Fi and wireless networks for weaknesses such as weak encryption, rogue access points, and insecure authentication.
• IoT / Embedded Systems Penetration Testing – Examines connected devices, firmware, and hardware interfaces for vulnerabilities that could impact safety, reliability, or data security.
• OT / ICS Penetration Testing – Evaluates operational technology and industrial control systems while prioritizing safety and uptime.

By Attacker Knowledge

• Black Box Testing – Simulates an external attacker with no prior knowledge of the system.
• Gray Box Testing – Tester has limited knowledge or credentials, simulating an insider or compromised user.
• White Box Testing – Tester has full knowledge of systems, architecture, and source code for deep security assessment.

By Objective

• External Penetration Testing – Focuses on assets exposed to the internet to identify entry points for attackers.
• Internal Penetration Testing – Simulates threats from within the organization, such as malicious insiders or compromised endpoints.
• Red Team Exercises – Advanced, goal-oriented simulations that test detection and response capabilities over time.
• Social Engineering Testing – Assesses human vulnerabilities through phishing, pretexting, or other manipulation techniques.

By Compliance or Industry Focus

• Compliance-Driven Penetration Testing – Designed to meet requirements such as PCI DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISO/IEC 27001.
• Automotive Penetration Testing – Supports ISO/SAE 21434 by validating vehicle and component cybersecurity.
• Medical Device Penetration Testing – Supports FDA cybersecurity expectations for connected medical devices.

Each type of penetration testing serves a specific purpose, and selecting the right approach depends on your industry, regulatory requirements, system architecture, and risk profile.

Intertek’s approach to Penetration Testing

Intertek’s penetration tests are delivered by experienced and qualified testers following an agreed methodology and using safe and proven tools. Intertek will provide you with a prioritized list of security weaknesses alongside cost effective actions to improve security.

Network penetration testing can help you address both assurance and certification needs:

• Assurance - Enabling you to identify and mitigate the intrinsic risk in your networks, operations, supply chains and business processes
• Certification – Formally confirming that your products and services meet trusted external and internal standards (see dedicated section)

Tests can support you in securing a range of system types including:

• Web sites and applications
• Network and cloud infrastructure
• Workstations and mobile devices
• Connected devices (IoT)

Tests can be performed from an external perspective to target Internet facing systems, and from an internal perspective to assess servers and end user devices.

The objective of a penetration test assignment will be tailored to your requirements and may include:

• Network wide – targeting all systems to establish baseline security against your internet and internal footprint
• System focused – assessing the configuration of a new server build or web application release

Red Teaming

What is Red Teaming?

Red Teaming is an advanced form of penetration testing that simulates a real-world, goal-driven cyberattack against an organization. Instead of simply identifying vulnerabilities, a Red Team operates like an actual adversary—using a combination of technical attacks, social engineering, and physical or logical intrusion techniques—to achieve specific objectives, such as accessing sensitive data, compromising critical systems, or evading detection over an extended period.

Red Teaming is important because it tests not only technical defenses, but also an organization’s people, processes, and incident response capabilities. It helps validate whether security teams (the “Blue Team”) can detect, respond to, and contain sophisticated threats in real time. The insights gained reveal gaps in monitoring, communication, and response workflows that traditional penetration tests may miss. By exposing how attacks unfold across the entire environment, Red Teaming enables organizations to strengthen resilience, improve threat detection, and better prepare for advanced, persistent cyber threats.

Intertek's Red Teaming Solutions

As well as ‘traditional’ pen testing, Intertek also provides Red Teaming services. A Red Team project closely simulates a real-world hack, with Intertek’s experts assessing potential organizational weaknesses, gathering intelligence and then launching a mock cyber-attack in real time, using similar techniques to real hackers, such as phishing attacks. Because only the most senior members of the client are aware of the project, a Red Team project also exercises the client’s internal cybersecurity team, providing invaluable practice in responding to sophisticated severe cyber-attacks.