Penetration Testing Services
A compliance framework you are assessed under calls for a penetration test, or you want to improve your cybersecurity posture before anyone asks. CyberCrest offers cybersecurity penetration testing services that identify potential vulnerabilities and validate the effectiveness of your security controls. Its certified ethical hackers use advanced methodologies and techniques to simulate real-world attack scenarios and provide actionable recommendations for improvement.
TYPES OF TESTING
Penetration Test Services for Networks, Applications, and Cloud
CyberCrest's penetration testing services assess six areas of your attack surface. Which of these pentesting services you need, and how far each test goes, depends on your systems and your organization's needs.
METHODOLOGY
How Our Pentest Company Runs a Penetration Test
In CyberCrest's penetration testing consulting services, an engagement runs in four steps: planning, reconnaissance and scanning, exploitation, and post-exploitation analysis with the report.
Kickoff, Environment Overview, and Planning
A kickoff call aligns both sides on the objectives, the timeline, and the approach. An environment overview then walks through your IT and sensitive data environment, and your team sets the testing scope and authorizes the test.
Reconnaissance and Vulnerability Scanning
CyberCrest gathers information about the systems in scope, then scans them with automated tools for known weaknesses. The scan is the starting point of the test, not its result.
Exploitation
CyberCrest's testers then exploit the vulnerabilities and weaknesses they find in a controlled manner to simulate real-world attacks and show what an attacker could reach.
Post-Exploitation Analysis and Reporting
CyberCrest analyzes what the successful exploits exposed, then delivers a detailed report with recommendations for remediation. Your team decides on the fixes and carries them out.
DELIVERABLES
What You Receive from Your Penetration Testing Service Provider
A CyberCrest penetration test ends with a detailed report that carries remediation guidance. When you compare penetration testing providers, look at their reports first: a penetration testing firm's report is what you work from after the test.
WHY US
Why Choose CyberCrest as Your Penetration Testing Company
CyberCrest is a compliance firm and a cybersecurity penetration testing company. To choose the right penetration testing company, start with who will run the test.
Certified Ethical Hackers
Penetration testing should only be conducted by experienced and certified professionals. At CyberCrest, that is a team of certified ethical hackers, who use the latest techniques and tools and turn what they find into actionable recommendations for your team.
Compliance Credentials
CyberCrest is a PCI DSS Qualified Security Assessor Company (QSAC), an Authorized External Assessor Organization for HITRUST, and a CMMC Registered Practitioner Organization (RPO). Its compliance work covers PCI DSS, HITRUST, and CMMC alongside other frameworks.
Secure Tools and Communication Channels
The results of a penetration test describe where your systems are weak. CyberCrest uses secure tools and processes for the information it handles during an engagement, and secured communication channels to share it with your team.
Over 100 Client Engagements
CyberCrest has over 100 client engagements across its services and multiple industries. Its clients are in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific, and most of the work is recurring.
TESTIMONIALS
Hear from Our Clients
I have worked with CyberCrest on multiple compliance engagements over the past several years including HITRUST, NIS 2 and ISO 27001. Without exception, CyberCrest has consistently exceeded expectations for my clients through a combination of highly experienced consultants, and a practical approach to achieving compliance. They are willing to roll up their sleeves and help organizations fully understand and address their compliance challenges, not just function as external auditors.
“I have used the CyberCrest team for a variety of critical information security compliance engagements over the years including successfully attaining ISO 27001 and HITRUST certifications. All of our engagements have exceeded expectations!”
"We have worked with CyberCrest on multiple penetration testing and cybersecurity risk and maturity assessments. The CyberCrest team has consistently produced high quality deliverables at fair prices. We give their client prospects our strongest recommendation."
ABOUT PENETRATION TESTING
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing, also known as pen testing or ethical hacking, is an offensive security method that evaluates the security of an information system by simulating an attack from a malicious actor. Once authorized, testers use an attacker's tools and techniques to find security weaknesses that other measures, such as vulnerability scanning or security audits, may not catch. With IT penetration testing of your own systems, you can:
- Identify vulnerabilities in your systems, networks, and applications and address them before attackers exploit them, reducing the risk of a successful cyberattack.
- Test whether your security controls work as intended against a simulated real-world attack.
- Meet the penetration testing requirements of regulations, standards, and customer contracts, such as PCI DSS.
- Prepare your incident response team, with insight into how attackers may try to breach your systems and which tactics they may use.
RELATED SERVICES
Additional CyberCrest Services
Alongside the penetration testing solutions on this page, CyberCrest offers three related technical services.
Frequently asked questions
How much does penetration testing cost?
What a penetration test costs depends on its scope: how many systems, applications, and locations are tested, which types of test the engagement includes, and how much manual testing each target needs. Quotes from different penetration testing companies can be compared only when they price the same scope and the same types of test. A scoping call with CyberCrest is how you get a figure for yours.
What is the difference between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?
A vulnerability assessment identifies and ranks known vulnerabilities and weaknesses, often with specialized scanning tools. A penetration test goes further: testers exploit those weaknesses in a controlled manner and look for unknown ones that a scan may not detect. CyberCrest offers both, and its guide to vulnerability assessment vs penetration testing compares the two in depth.
How often should penetration testing be done?
As often as the framework you are assessed under requires, and again after the changes it names. Under PCI DSS v4.0.1 Requirement 11.4.6, service providers test their segmentation controls at least once every six months and after any changes to them. CMMC Level 3 requires a test at least annually or when significant security changes are made (CA.L3-3.12.1e).
What is black box penetration testing?
Black box penetration testing is testing with no prior knowledge of the system being tested, which puts the testers in the position of an outside attacker. In white box testing, the testers have full knowledge of the system's architecture and security controls; in gray box testing, they have partial knowledge. Which one fits depends on what you want the test to show, and it is agreed before testing starts.
Is pentesting illegal?
Not when it is authorized. The federal computer crime law, 18 U.S.C. 1030, makes it a crime to intentionally access a computer without authorization, or to exceed authorized access, and thereby obtain information from a protected computer. That authorization and an agreed scope separate a penetration test from an attack. Your organization approves the test and sets what may be tested, and the testers stay inside that scope.
How to choose a penetration testing company?
Check four things in any pentesting company. First, whether it works to a documented method you can review, since PCI DSS v4.0.1 Requirement 11.4.1 requires your organization to define, document, and implement a penetration testing methodology. Second, whether it tests manually beyond a scan. Third, report quality: the report should describe the vulnerabilities found, their potential impact, and recommendations for remediation. Fourth, if you are a PCI service provider, whether the testers of your segmentation controls are organizationally independent, as Requirement 11.4.6 asks.
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