Choosing a Penetration Testing Service Provider: Key Considerations

Choosing a penetration testing company is critical to protecting your digital infrastructure. Attackers are constantly getting better, your defences must be up to snuff. A good penetration testing service will help you locate issues before an attacker can use them. This in turn allows the defender to take action accordingly. Here, we detail a couple of the most important points you should consider when picking a penetration testing service. Make sure to read through each one so that you can most assuredly be confident about your decision, and by extension, your enterprise security.

Expertise and Experience

One of the first steps in selecting a penetration testing company is to review their experience and look for a company with expertise in what they do. Think of it as hiring a very experienced seasoned detective versus simply an enthusiastic rookie looking for some new action. You will want somebody aware of exactly what they’re doing and what they’re looking for.

Methodologies and Approaches

How a penetration testing provider conducts its testing is another major consideration. Ultimately, these testing methods will affect the accuracy of the results. Ensure you understand how they’ll attempt to gain access (e.g. the tools and strategies used) so that the testing aligns with real-world scenarios.

Certifications and Qualifications

Certifications and qualifications are the top priority for any penetration tester with value. Naturally, it should be a firm’s top priority while looking for a tester. Reputable providers will have certified professionals on staff — Certified Ethical Hackers (CEHs), Offensive Security Certified Professionals (OSCPs), and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), to name a few.

Customisation and Reporting

Every organisation and network is a little bit different and you want a penetration testing provider that can adapt to those nuances and respond with a customised approach. You want them to sit down with you, discuss your goals and limitations, and work together to develop a testing strategy that reflects your specific circumstances.

And don’t forget — you don’t need your report to be 100 pages of tech speak. What you need is a concise, actionable, and comprehensive breakdown of your results, threats and steps you can take to mitigate them.

Cost and Value

Although it shouldn’t be the only factor for consideration, you want to know you’re getting value for your money. To do that, make some calls and get quotes, then scope out what is provided for your money by comparing Rough-cost options. Keep in mind — the cheapest option is probably giving you the least. The most expensive option isn’t necessarily the best one either. You just need to weigh up what you are getting for what you’re spending and make the decision from there.

Reputation and Reviews

Here’s all you need to remember: a solid reputation equals solid results! Nobody wants to hear from a company no one else has heard from.

The right thing to do is to thoroughly research and check how users react to your chosen company. Every genuine company have happy customers. So, this is how you test their validity. You should take your time and know in detail what other customers are talking about the hosting provider through their reviews and feedback.