Penetration testing is an effective method of cybersecurity assessment that allows identifying any potential system vulnerabilities and preventing severe damage from digital threats. However, pentesting can also be detrimental to the company’s performance if performed inadequately (Packetlabs, 2021). From these considerations, the initial stage of planning and reconnaissance is essential to the process, and the experts need to choose the appropriate type of pentesting according to the organization’s needs.
The two primary methods are internal and external testers with unique objectives, advantages, and disadvantages. The former refers to a test cyberattack from within the organization’s security, imitating a threat from an employee (Moulder & Meers, 2021). Access to the company’s data might result in a significantly more destructive attack (Moulder & Meers, 2021). Therefore, it is essential to conduct internal tests to ensure that additional security levels protect all valuable information. The primary advantage of the method is the protection of data from both cyberattacks and occasional employee mistakes, such as irresponsible password management (Moulder & Meers, 2021). However, pentesting internal security is associated with high risks of information leakage (Moulder & Meers, 2021). Thus, the company needs to ensure that the tester is competent and can prevent potential data breaches during testing.
The second type is an external tester, which is used to determine system vulnerabilities from outside the organization’s security. It frequently refers to access from emails, websites, or other external assets (Moulder & Meers, 2021). While the potential damage from an external cyberattack is not crucial, hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in external security with greater ease. From these considerations, external pentesting is an effective method to prevent the majority of cyberattacks (Moulder & Meers, 2021). However, similar to internal testing, the tester’s competence is vital to success, and inadequate procedure might only increase the number of vulnerabilities and cause significant financial damage.
References
Moulder, J., & Meers, T. (2021). Internal penetration testing vs external penetration testing: Why you need both. Pratum. Web.
Packetlabs. (2021). Differences between internal and external penetration testing. Web.