Types of penetration testing

Although there are different types of penetration testing, the three most general approaches accepted in the information security industry are black box, white box and grey box penetration tests. Each of these has distinct advantages and penetration testers should have a clear idea of each.

Black box testing

A black box penetration test mimics as closely as possible a real world attack. In this type of testing, the penetration tester has no knowledge of the system architecture, software, hardware, or any internal workings that are under assessment. In this way, the black box penetration test is conducted in much the same way that a threat actor would attack the system. This means that the penetration tester will ensure that all possible vulnerabilities are identified, that targets are properly enumerated, and all potential attack vectors are used to compromise the system.

Black box testing is very time consuming and expensive. There is also the potential to cause...