According To The Internet Security Threat Report 2019 By Symantec, There Was 56% Growth Observed In Web-Based Attacks In 2018: Cybersecurity Research Paper, NCI, Ireland
According to the Internet Security Threat Report 2019 by Symantec, there was 56% growth observed in web-based attacks in 2018, with an average of 30 to 40 million attacks detected per month. In recent years web application exploitation has been used excessively against internet-based applications. Penetration testing is a process of simulating cyber-attacks against the target system. The penetration test is a controlled process of penetrating the network or web application environment in order to identify vulnerabilities.
The difference between a hacker and a penetration tester is that the penetration test is carried out with permission, a signed contract,s and licenses. At the end of the penetration test, a report with all the observations and vulnerabilities is prepared and presented to the client. The penetration test can be performed manually by a professional penetration tester who assesses the network environment or the web application for known vulnerabilities.
The manual penetration test lacks repeatability and is largely dependent on the tester’s skills to identify the flaws in the application. The automated penetration test on the other hand is performed using software tools that analyze the application for vulnerabilities. Automated penetration testing tools have repeatability in their analysis, and they can produce consistent results for a target system or network. Penetration test has become an essential and critical activity not only in the information technology industry but all the industries which have an online presence.
The are many automated penetration testing tools available with different capabilities and qualities. The specifications which these automated penetration testing tools have a vast range which is from scanning a simple single-page web application to scanning a complex enterprise-level multi-layered application with multiple workflows.
