Penetration Testing | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

In cybersecurity, confidence is a double-edged sword. Organizations often operate under a false sense of security , believing that patched vulnerabilities, up-to-date tools, polished dashboards, and glowing risk scores guarantee safety. The reality is a bit of a different story. In the real world, checking the right boxes doesn't equal being secure. As Sun Tzu warned, "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." Two and a half millennia later, the concept still holds: your organization's cybersecurity defenses must be strategically validated under real-world conditions to ensure your business's very survival. Today, more than ever, you need Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV) , the essential strategy that's still missing from most security frameworks. The Danger of False Confidence Conventional wisdom suggests that if you've patched known bugs, deployed a stack of well-regarded security tools, and passed the nec...

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is an amazing technology developed by Microsoft that lets you access and control another computer over a network. It's like having your office computer with you wherever you go. For businesses, this means IT staff can manage systems remotely, and employees can work from home or anywhere, making RDP a true game-changer in today's work environment. But here's the catch: because RDP is accessible over the internet, it's also a prime target for unethical hackers. If someone gains unauthorized access, they could potentially take over your system. That's why it's so important to secure RDP properly. Why IT Teams Depend on RDP, Despite the Risks More than 50 percent of Kaseya's small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) customers use RDP for daily operations due to its efficiency and flexibility: Reduces Costs and Downtime – IT teams can resolve technical issues remotely, eliminating travel expenses and delays. Supports B...

Imagine receiving a penetration test report that leaves you with more questions than answers. Questions like, "Were all functionalities of the web app tested?" or " Were there any security issues that could have been identified during testing?" often go unresolved, raising concerns about the thoroughness of the security testing. This frustration is common among many security teams. Pentest reports, while crucial, frequently lack the depth and detail necessary to truly assess the success of the project. Even with years of experience working with cybersecurity teams and managing ethical hacking projects, we frequently encountered these same issues. Whether collaborating with external pentest providers or managing our own projects as founders of Hackrate , we often faced difficulties in ensuring that the testing was as comprehensive as it needed to be. This realization inspired us to create HackGATE , a managed gateway solution built to bring transparency and contro...

IT leaders know the drill—regulators and cyber insurers demand regular network penetration testing to keep the bad guys out. But here's the thing: hackers don't wait around for compliance schedules. Most companies approach network penetration testing on a set schedule, with the most common frequency being twice a year (29%), followed by three to four times per year (23%) and once per year (20%), according to the Kaseya Cybersecurity Survey Report 2024 . Compliance-focused testing can catch vulnerabilities that exist at the exact time of testing, but it's not enough to stay ahead of attackers in a meaningful way. Why More Frequent Testing Makes Sense When companies test more often, they're not just checking a box for compliance—they're actually protecting their networks. The Kaseya survey also points out that the top drivers for network penetration testing are: Cybersecurity Control and Validation (34%) – ensuring the security controls work and vulnerabilities are minimized. Re...

Pentest Checklists Are More Important Than Ever Given the expanding attack surface coupled with the increasing sophistication of attacker tactics and techniques, penetration testing checklists have become essential for ensuring thorough assessments across an organization's attack surface, both internal and external. By providing a structured approach, these checklists help testers systematically uncover vulnerabilities in various assets like networks, applications, APIs, and systems. They ensure no critical area is overlooked and guide the testing process, making it more efficient and effective at identifying security weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers. A pentest checklist essentially leaves no stone unturned and is a detailed and comprehensive list of every type of vulnerability in which to simulate an attack against. Each asset being tested, however, requires a different pentest checklist tailored to its specific characteristics and risks. For example, a checklist fo...

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a strategic framework that helps organizations continuously assess and manage cyber risk. It breaks down the complex task of managing security threats into five distinct stages: Scoping, Discovery, Prioritization, Validation, and Mobilization. Each of these stages plays a crucial role in identifying, addressing, and mitigating vulnerabilities - before they can be exploited by attackers.  On paper, CTEM sounds great . But where the rubber meets the road – especially for CTEM neophytes - implementing CTEM can seem overwhelming. The process of putting CTEM principles into practice can look prohibitively complex at first. However, with the right tools and a clear understanding of each stage, CTEM can be an effective method for strengthening your organization's security posture.  That's why I've put together a step-by-step guide on which tools to use for which stage. Want to learn more? Read on… Stage 1: Scoping  When you're...

As security technology and threat awareness among organizations improves so do the adversaries who are adopting and relying on new techniques to maximize speed and impact while evading detection. Ransomware and malware continue to be the method of choice by big game hunting (BGH) cyber criminals, and the increased use of hands-on or "interactive intrusion" techniques is especially alarming. Unlike malware attacks that rely on automated malicious tools and scripts, human-driven intrusions use the creativity and problem-solving abilities of attackers. These individuals can imitate normal user or administrative behaviors, making it challenging to distinguish between legitimate activities and cyber-attacks. The goal of most security practitioners today is to manage risk at scale. Gaining visibility, reducing the noise, and securing the attack surface across the enterprise requires the right people, processes, and security solutions. With the use of penetration testing services , organ...