External Network Penetration Test
Trusted Cyber Security Experts
25+ Years Industry Experience
Ethical, Professional & Pragmatic
External penetration testing of your Internet-facing network services identifies vulnerabilities that may be exploited by an attacker or malware.
Ensuring your network perimeter is resilient to Internet-based threats is one of your first lines of defence against both attackers and malware, that may target the network services that your organisation exposes on the Internet. Vulnerabilities in your Internet-facing network services can present a significant risk to your organisation, as if they can be compromised by a malicious user, they may then attempt to pivot an attack onto your core internal network.
Conducting an external network penetration test against your Internet-facing network services helps you identify the vulnerabilities that may be exploited by an Internet-based attacker. Using a combination of automated tools and specialised manual testing, our CREST accredited penetration testers will inspect your externally-exposed network infrastructure to identify if vulnerabilities are present that could be exploited by a malicious user using the same exploitation techniques that would be used in a real-life cyber-attack.
What types of vulnerabilities can an External Network Penetration Test identify?
Conducting a targeted external penetration test of your Internet-facing infrastructure provides you with an insight into the vulnerabilities that may be discovered and exploited by an Internet-based attacker or malware. Some common vulnerabilities that we regularly find during external penetration testing include:
- Exposed management portals
- Sensitive information disclosure
- Weak encryption algorithms
- Firewall configuration issues
- Missing security updates & patches
- Badly configured services
- Default or weak passwords
- Domain Name Service (DNS) issues
Testing Process & Methodology
During the initial phase of an External Network Penetration Test, passive information gathering is carried so that a profile or ‘footprint’ of the target organisation and it’s infrastructure can be obtained. Public information sources (such as RIPE, WHOIS and Domain Name Servers) will be accessed to obtain further information for the assessment, in addition to public vulnerability databases.
Once a profile has been built up for your organisations infrastructure, a full TCP and UDP port scan of all 65,535 ports will be conducted over your in-scope IP range. An ICMP scan will also be conducted, to identify which hosts would disclose their presence to an attacker who performs a simple ‘ping’ scan.
Based on the results of the network enumeration phase, a vulnerability assessment and targeted penetration test will be conducted on all Internet-exposed services. All results of the vulnerability assessment will be manually verified to ensure that no ‘false positive’ results are present.
All exposed services will be manually inspected by connecting to them and attempting to gain access through known exploits. Where possible, we will attempt to gain full, administrative privileges to your network services and attempt to pivot the attack onto your core infrastructure.
All penetration testing that we conduct is carried out in line with globally-recognised standards, such as the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES) and the Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM). In addition to this, as a member of the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST), we conduct our testing and consultancy to the highest, industry-recognised standards and ethics.
Preparing for your External Penetration Test
- A signed & completed Testing Consent Form (TCF)
- List of IP addresses that are in scope of testing
- Ensure that any Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) have been disabled or that SecureTeam’s IP range is white-listed for the duration of the test
Reporting
Our clear & concise penetration test reports enable everyone in your organisation to understand the vulnerabilities that have been identified and the real-world risk that your systems and data are exposed to. Our reports include:
- A “board-level friendly” Executive Summary
- Comprehensive, evidence-based vulnerability reporting
- Risk-based vulnerability ranking with CVSS Scoring
- Technical references and links for further research by your technical team
Debrief Call
Once you have received our final report, you have the option of attending a conference call between the consultant(s) involved in delivering your project and individuals within your organisation who you feel would benefit from a more in-depth discussion of the report’s findings.
After Care
Once our consultancy engagement is complete and our final report has been delivered to you, our consultancy team remain available to you indefinitely for any questions you may have surrounding the report’s findings or our consultancy engagement with you.
Why Choose SecureTeam?
- UK-based Consultancy Team
- Customer Focused
- Security Vetted Consultants
- Ethical Scoping & Pricing
- 25+ Years Industry Experience
- ISO 9001 & 27001 Certified
- CREST Accredited
- Comprehensive Reporting
Ready to take your cyber security to the next level ?
Trusted Cyber Security Experts
As an organisation, SecureTeam has provided penetration testing and cyber security consultancy to public & private sector organisations both in the United Kingdom and worldwide. We pride ourselves in taking a professional, pragmatic and customer-centric approach, delivering expert cyber security consultancy – on time and within budget – regardless of the size of your organisation.
Our customer base ranges from small tech start-ups through to large multi-national organisations across nearly every sector – in nearly every continent. Some of the organisation’s who have trusted SecureTeam as their cyber security partner include:
Customer Testimonials
"Within a very tight timescale, SecureTeam managed to deliver a highly professional service efficiently. The team helped the process with regular updates and escalation where necessary. Would highly recommend"
IoT Solutions Group Limited
“First class service as ever. We learn something new each year! Thank you to all your team.”
Royal Haskoning DHV
“We’ve worked with SecureTeam for a few years to conduct our testing. The team make it easy to deal with them; they are attentive and explain detailed reports in a jargon-free way that allows the less technical people to understand. I wouldn’t work with anyone else for our cyber security.”
Capital Asset Management
“SecureTeam provided Derbyshire's Education Data Hub with an approachable and professional service to ensure our schools were able to successfully certify for Cyber Essentials. The team provided a smooth end-to-end service and were always on hand to offer advice when necessary.”
Derbyshire County Council
“A very efficient, professional, and friendly delivery of our testing and the results. You delivered exactly what we asked for in the timeframe we needed it, while maintaining quality and integrity. A great job, done well.”
AMX Solutions
“We were very pleased with the work and report provided. It was easy to translate the provided details into some actionable tasks on our end so that was great. We always appreciate the ongoing support.”
Innovez LtdGet in touch today
If you’d like to see how SecureTeam can take your cybersecurity posture to the next level, we’d love to hear from you, learn about your requirements and then send you a free quotation for our services.
Our customers love our fast-turnaround, “no-nonsense” quotations – not to mention that we hate high-pressure sales tactics as much as you do.
We know that every organisation is unique, so our detailed scoping process ensures that we provide you with an accurate quotation for our services, which we trust you’ll find highly competitive.
Get in touch with us today and a member of our team will be in touch to provide you with a quotation.
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“We were very impressed with the service, I will say, the vulnerability found was one our previous organisation had not picked up, which does make you wonder if anything else was missed.”
Aim Ltd Chief Technology Officer (CTO)