🏡Pentest 127.0.0.1

All-in-one guide for pentesters

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Penetration Testing Standards

Penetration tests should not be performed without any rules or guidelines. There must always be a specifically defined scope for a pentest, and the owner of a network must have a signed legal contract with pentesters outlining what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do. Pentesting should also be conducted in such a way that minimal harm is done to a company's computers and networks. Penetration testers should avoid making changes wherever possible (such as changing an account password) and limit the amount of data removed from a client's network. For example, instead of removing sensitive documents from a file share, a screenshot of the folder names should suffice to prove the risk.

In addition to scope and legalities, there are also various pentesting standards, depending on what kind of computer system is being assessed. Here are some of the more common standards you may use as a pentester.

PTES

The Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES) can be applied to all types of penetration tests. It outlines the phases of a penetration test and how they should be conducted. These are the sections in the PTES:

  • Pre-engagement Interactions

  • Intelligence Gathering

  • Threat Modeling

  • Vulnerability Analysis

  • Exploitation

  • Post Exploitation

  • Reporting

OSSTMM

OSSTMM is the Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual, another set of guidelines pentesters can use to ensure they're doing their jobs properly. It can be used alongside other pentest standards.

OSSTMM is divided into five different channels for five different areas of pentesting:

  1. Human Security (human beings are subject to social engineering exploits)

  2. Physical Security

  3. Wireless Communications (including but not limited to technologies like WiFi and Bluetooth)

  4. Telecommunications

  5. Data Networks

NIST

The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) is well known for their NIST Cybersecurity Framework, a system for designing incident response policies and procedures. NIST also has a Penetration Testing Framework. The phases of the NIST framework include:

  • Planning

  • Discovery

  • Attack

  • Reporting

OWASP

OWASP stands for the Open Web Application Security Project. They're typically the go-to organization for defining testing standards and classifying risks to web applications.

OWASP maintains a few different standards and helpful guides for assessment various technologies:

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