PTaaS (Penetration Testing as a Service)
Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) is a cybersecurity solution that combines the benefits of traditional penetration testing with the flexibility and scalability of a cloud-based service model. It provides organizations with continuous and on-demand access to skilled security professionals who can assess and identify vulnerabilities in their systems, networks, and applications.
Key features and benefits of PTaaS:
Continuous Testing: Unlike traditional penetration testing, often conducted annually or biannually, PTaaS enables organizations to perform regular assessments, ensuring their security posture remains up-to-date and aligned with evolving threats.
Scalability: PTaaS can be easily scaled up or down based on the organization's specific needs and requirements. This flexibility allows for efficient resource allocation and cost optimization.
Expertise: PTaaS providers typically employ experienced and certified security professionals with in-depth knowledge of attack vectors and methodologies. This expertise ensures that assessments are thorough.
Cost-Effectiveness: By leveraging cloud-based infrastructure and shared resources, PTaaS offers a more cost-effective alternative to traditional penetration testing, which often involves significant upfront investments and ongoing maintenance costs.
Collaboration: PTaaS platforms often facilitate collaboration between security teams and testers, enabling real-time communication, knowledge sharing, and efficient remediation of identified vulnerabilities.
PTaaS is a valuable tool for organizations seeking to identify and address security risks proactively. Organizations can strengthen their defenses and reduce the likelihood of successful cyberattacks by continuously assessing their systems and applications.
ThreatNG and PTaaS (Penetration Testing as a Service) are complementary, forming a robust defense against cyber threats. Here's how they work together and a sample workflow:
How ThreatNG and PTaaS Complement Each Other:
ThreatNG's External Focus: ThreatNG specializes in external attack surface management. It continuously scans the Internet for vulnerabilities and risks related to your organization's public-facing assets (websites, social media, cloud services, etc.). It identifies potential entry points for attackers, brand damage risks, and data leaks.
PTaaS's Internal Focus: PTaaS delves deeper, simulating real-world attacks to test the defenses of your systems and applications actively. It identifies vulnerabilities that might not be visible outside, such as misconfigurations, weak passwords, or unpatched software.
Closing the Loop: ThreatNG provides the intelligence, and PTaaS validates the effectiveness of your security controls. Together, they offer a complete picture of your organization's risk posture, both externally and internally.
Example Workflow:
ThreatNG Discovery: ThreatNG continuously monitors the Internet for mentions of your organization, its employees, and its assets. It identifies exposed sensitive information, phishing scams, brand impersonations, and vulnerabilities in your external attack surface.
Prioritization and Triage: ThreatNG's risk ratings and intelligence repositories help you prioritize the most critical threats. For example, a high-risk subdomain takeover vulnerability or a data leak on the dark web would be flagged for immediate attention.
PTaaS Engagement: Based on ThreatNG's findings, you engage a PTaaS provider to conduct targeted penetration tests. For instance, if ThreatNG detects exposed credentials on the dark web, PTaaS could test if those credentials can be used to gain unauthorized access.
Vulnerability Validation and Remediation: PTaaS confirms the exploitability of the vulnerabilities identified by ThreatNG. It provides detailed reports with proof-of-concept attacks and recommendations for remediation. Your security team uses this information to fix the vulnerabilities and strengthen defenses.
Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG continues to monitor your external attack surface for new threats, while PTaaS performs regular assessments to ensure the effectiveness of your security controls. This continuous discovery, validation, and remediation cycle helps you stay ahead of evolving threats.
ThreatNG Investigation Modules and PTaaS:
Domain Intelligence: PTaaS can use ThreatNG's domain intelligence to identify potential attack vectors, such as subdomains with vulnerable software or misconfigured DNS settings.
Social Media: PTaaS can test the effectiveness of your social media policies and security controls by exploiting vulnerabilities that ThreatNG discovered, such as phishing links or impersonations.
Sensitive Code Exposure: PTaaS can use ThreatNG's findings to assess the impact of exposed code repositories and mobile apps.
Search Engine Exploitation: PTaaS can validate the exploitability of vulnerabilities found by ThreatNG's search engine exploitation module.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: PTaaS can test the security of your cloud and SaaS implementations, focusing on misconfigurations or vulnerabilities identified by ThreatNG.
Key Benefits:
Proactive Defense: By combining ThreatNG's proactive threat intelligence with PTaaS's active testing, you can identify and remediate vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Reduced Risk: This approach helps you significantly reduce the risk of data breaches, brand damage, and financial losses due to cyberattacks.
Improved Security Posture: You will better understand your organization's risk profile and be able to make informed decisions about your security investments.
