Overview#
Authorized attempts to exploit vulnerabilities to assess risk. Provides evidence of impact, validates defenses, and informs remediation priorities.
Core objectives#
- Establish shared definitions of Penetration Testing for security, engineering, and leadership teams.
- Connect Penetration Testing activities to measurable risk reduction and resilience goals.
- Provide onboarding notes so new team members can quickly understand how Penetration Testing works here.
Implementation notes#
- Identify the primary owner for Penetration Testing, the data sources involved, and the systems affected.
- Document the minimum viable process, tooling, and runbooks that keep Penetration Testing healthy.
- Map Penetration Testing practices to standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, or CIS Controls.
Operational signals#
- Leading indicators: early warnings that Penetration Testing might degrade (e.g., backlog growth, noisy alerts, or missed SLAs).
- Lagging indicators: realized impact that shows Penetration Testing failed or needs investment (e.g., incidents, audit findings).
- Feedback loops: retrospectives and metrics reviews that tune Penetration Testing continuously.
Related practices#
- Align Penetration Testing with defense-in-depth planning, threat modeling, and disaster recovery tests.
- Communicate updates to stakeholders through concise briefs, dashboards, and internal FAQs.
- Pair Penetration Testing improvements with tabletop exercises to validate expectations.