Service 2 of 6
Find out what an attacker could reach, and how far they would get.
Our testers attack applications, networks, cloud accounts, identities and people the way real adversaries do, within rules you approve in advance.
A list of vulnerabilities is only part of the answer. We show which ones can be exploited, what they lead to and whether your security team would notice.
Penetration Testing & Offensive Security
Controls that look fine on paper can still fail.
The firewall rules have been reviewed. EDR is on every laptop. MFA is turned on. The vulnerability scanner shows mostly green.
None of that proves an attacker can't get in. Breaches usually happen in the gaps between controls: a service account that was exempted from MFA, a flat network segment, an alert that fired into an inbox nobody watches. Testing finds those gaps on your schedule instead of an attacker's.
What this practice covers
7 areas of work. Choose one to see the detail.
Penetration testing
Manual testing that goes well past an automated scan.
Every engagement is led by experienced testers working by hand. Scanners help with coverage, but the findings that matter most, such as broken access control, business logic flaws and chained misconfigurations, are found by people.
Applications
- Web application penetration testing
- API testing for REST and GraphQL
- Mobile application testing for iOS and Android
- Authentication, session and authorization testing
- Business logic testing
Infrastructure
- External network penetration testing
- Internal network penetration testing
- Wireless network testing
- VPN and remote access testing
- Network device and firewall review
Identity
- Active Directory penetration testing
- Microsoft Entra ID testing
- Privilege escalation and credential attack paths
- Authentication bypass testing
Cloud
- AWS, Azure and Google Cloud penetration testing
- Cloud configuration and permission abuse
- Container and Kubernetes testing
Specialized
- IoT, embedded device and firmware testing
- OT and ICS testing, scoped carefully around safety
- Social engineering and phishing assessments
Reports can be structured to support PCI DSS Requirement 11.4, SOC 2 audits, HIPAA risk analysis and CMMC assessments.
Red team operations
Test the whole organization against a realistic objective.
A red team engagement asks a different question from a penetration test. Instead of finding as many weaknesses as possible, the team tries to reach a specific goal, such as access to payment systems or a sensitive file share, while staying out of sight. It tests people, process and technology together.
Depending on scope, an engagement can include
- External reconnaissance and open-source intelligence
- Phishing and social engineering
- Initial access through applications or exposed services
- Identity compromise and Active Directory attack paths
- Cloud exploitation
- Lateral movement and privilege escalation
- Persistence and command-and-control simulation
- Objective-based scenarios agreed with leadership
Purple teaming
Attackers and defenders working side by side to improve detection.
Our operators run specific attack techniques while your defenders watch their tools in real time. Together we record what was detected, what was missed, which alerts lacked context and where logs were missing. You leave with concrete changes to detection rules and response playbooks, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK.
Assumed breach testing
Start inside the network and spend the time where it counts.
For a determined attacker, getting in is often the easy part. Assumed breach testing begins with a foothold you provide, such as a standard user account, a domain-joined laptop or access to a cloud tenant, and measures how far an attacker could go from there.
We measure
- Privilege escalation
- Lateral movement
- Credential access
- Access to sensitive data
- Persistence
- Whether your team detects and contains the activity
Application and product security
Find weaknesses before your customers or attackers do.
- Secure code review
- Architecture and design review
- Threat modeling with STRIDE and attack trees
- Dependency and software supply chain review
- Binary and firmware analysis
- Reverse engineering
- Protocol security analysis
- Security evaluations for companies that build security-sensitive products
AI and LLM application security
New capabilities bring new ways to misuse them.
If you have built a chatbot, an AI agent or a retrieval system on a large language model, it needs the same scrutiny as any other application, plus tests for problems specific to AI. We test against the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications and keep the focus on one question: what can an attacker make the system do?
- Direct and indirect prompt injection
- Sensitive data disclosure
- Insecure tool and plugin use
- Excessive agent permissions
- Retrieval and vector store abuse
- Model and AI supply chain risk
Security control validation
Confirm the tools you paid for detect what they should.
- Breach and attack simulation
- EDR and XDR validation
- SIEM detection validation
- Email and web filtering validation
- Network segmentation testing
- Retesting after remediation
Our approach
How we work
- 01
Scope and rules of engagement
We agree on targets, timing, methods and emergency contacts in writing before any testing starts.
- 02
Reconnaissance
We map the target the way an attacker would and identify the most promising routes in.
- 03
Exploitation
Controlled exploitation within the agreed rules, with extra care around production systems.
- 04
Progression
We follow successful access as far as the scope allows, to show realistic business impact.
- 05
Reporting
Findings come with evidence, a plain-language impact statement and clear remediation steps.
- 06
Retesting
Once fixes are in place, we test again to confirm the issues are closed.
Deliverables
What you receive
- Executive summary that explains business impact without jargon
- Attack narrative showing how each path was found and followed
- Findings rated by severity and exploitability, with evidence
- Step-by-step remediation guidance for your engineers
- Detection notes showing what your tools saw and what they missed
- Retest results confirming which findings are closed
Common in these industries
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test?
A vulnerability scan is automated. It compares software versions and settings against a list of known issues and produces a long report, often with false positives. A penetration test is carried out by people who confirm which issues are real, chain them together and show what an attacker could do with them.
How often should we have a penetration test?
At least once a year, and again after significant changes such as a new application, a cloud migration or an acquisition. PCI DSS requires annual testing and testing after significant changes, and most SOC 2 auditors and cyber insurers expect at least an annual test.
Will testing disrupt our production systems?
We plan carefully to avoid it. The rules of engagement define what is in scope, when testing happens and which techniques are off limits. Testers stay in contact with your team throughout and stop right away if anything unexpected happens.
What do you need from us before testing starts?
Usually a signed authorization, a list of targets, test accounts for authenticated testing and a technical contact for the duration of the test. For cloud environments we also confirm that the provider's testing policy is followed.
Find out whether your controls hold up.
Tell us what you want tested. We will recommend the type of test, scope and timing that fit your goals and your budget.