Summary
Penetration testing is an important practice that allows cybersecurity professionals to assess the security of environments by adopting the hacker mind-set. By thinking like an attacker, testers are able to identify weaknesses in the organization’s security infrastructure and potential gaps that may lead to future security breaches.
The CompTIA penetration testing process includes four phases: Planning and Coping, Information Gathering and Vulnerability Identification, Attacking and Exploiting, and Reporting and Communicating Results. Penetration testers follow each of these phases to ensure that they have a well-designed test that operates using agreed-upon rules of engagement.
Penetration testers use a wide variety of tools to assist in their work. These are many of the same tools used by cybersecurity professionals, hackers, network engineers, system administrators, and software developers. Tools assist with all stages of the penetration testing process, especially information...