One of the key tenets of cybersecurity is identifying vulnerabilities before hackers do. Organizations use many different tools and strategies to accomplish this. A big part of being proactive is assessing networks and applications with penetration tests. These tests simulate attacks to understand the competence and resilience of the target’s cybersecurity practices. There are three main types of pen tests, and we will focus on Black Box Penetration Tests, reviewing the pros and cons of this method.
What Is Black Box Penetration Testing?
A Black Box Penetration Test, an unauthenticated test, is typically an external penetration test against a business’ internet-facing systems. Those can include:
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- Web servers
- VPN connectors
- Firewalls
- Routers
- Proxy servers
- DNS servers
- Email (SMTP servers)
- Custom application servers
- Cloud services
- Embedded systems and LRUs (Line Replaceable Units), including medical devices, commercial aircraft, vehicles, and offshore drilling platforms
Ethical hackers that you hire to conduct the penetration test emulate an attacker’s moves and use techniques to execute reconnaissance to gather sensitive information, find vulnerabilities, and breach a system. This process verifies the exploitable vulnerabilities and demonstrates how a cybercriminal would likely launch an attack.
The “box” reference in pen testing describes the level of knowledge and access testers have. In the black box, they have no previous knowledge of the internal structure of the target system. As a result, it’s the most realistic hacker simulation, typically conducted from outside your network.
What Threats Does Black Box Penetration Testing Cover?
The scope of a Black Box Penetration Test begins with a tester attempting to enter and gain access to the network via external means. If they get in, they’ll continue to test behind the firewall.
Typically, there are three threats ethical hackers imitate with Black Box Penetration Testing:
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- External attacker: In this scenario, the tester tries to find a way into your environment through your Internet-facing systems.
- Rogue devices: Testers may plant these in the environment to intercept traffic and send it through a cellular network or covert tunnel. Rogue devices can also often provide a “pivot point” to launch attacks from the outside.
- Internal intruder: In this scenario, the hacker accesses your internal environment and scans the network seeking to exploit a device connected to it. This can be done in person or through a rogue device implant.
Here are some example use cases:
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- Fuzzing: This tests web interfaces or “input fields” for missing input checks. The tester would inject random data called a noise injection. The objective is to find unusual program behavior and determine if proper checks are in the software.
- Syntax testing: This situation tests the data input format within a system. Ethical hackers would add input that’s missing elements or garbage to understand the outcome of input deviations.
- Exploratory testing: This test has no plan and looks to the outcomes of others to guide the process.
- Data analysis: This is the review of data generated by the target system and helps the tester learn more about its internal functions.
- Test scaffolding: This technique automates tests with tools to discern critical program behavior that may not be possible with manual attempts. Standard tools are debugging, performance monitoring, and test management.
Black Box Penetration Testing offers you a complete view of how hackers see your system and all the things they would try to breach it. It’s a popular cybersecurity strategy for many industries, including healthcare, banking, SaaS, manufacturing, and more.
Why Do Organizations Conduct Black Box Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is a hallmark of a stable and robust cybersecurity program. Most organizations have heightened their security posture in such a volatile cyber world where millions of attacks happen daily. Highly regulated industries like healthcare and banking perform pen testing to ensure compliance and audit requirements for HIPAA, FISMA, PCI DSS, and SOC 2.
Organizations also include Black Box Penetration Testing to evaluate their incident response, disaster recovery plans, and digital forensics capabilities.
Conducting these tests is urgent because knowing a system’s vulnerabilities before hackers do provides a unique view of your environment from the perspective of a threat actor. As a result, you can prioritize your strategies and efforts to reduce risk and the likelihood of a breach. You can derive many benefits from this testing to support a culture of security.
Penetration testing contributes to your organization’s cybersecurity posture and maturity. But is a black box the best method for your company? Let’s go through the pros and cons of Black Box Penetration Testing.
Pros and Cons of Black Box Penetration Testing
Before you decide if this type of pen test is the best option for your organization, you’ll want to review the pros and cons.
Pros of Black Box Penetration Testing
What can you expect from a Black Box Penetration Test? You can realize these benefits:
- Testers employ various techniques to break into applications, so the simulation mimics what would likely happen in the real world.
- The test thoroughly checks out key elements with common vulnerabilities, such as XSS (cross-site scripting), SQL injection, and CSRF (cross-site request forgery).
- The simulation reviews server configurations to see if any are incorrect and creating risk.
- The test can detect implementation issues or incorrect product builds that may be missing files or have ones that need updating.
- Black Box Penetration Testing can also test the human component in cyber risk if ethical hackers use social engineering techniques to trick users into divulging sensitive information.
- The test can discover security problems resulting from interactions with the underlying environment (e.g., files with improper configurations and unhardened operating systems).
- Testing can identify input/output validation errors or information disclosures in error messages.
- Black Box Penetration Testing is often less expensive than White or Gray Box Penetration Testing.
Cons of Black Box Penetration Testing
Are there drawbacks to Black Box Penetration Testing? These are some cons to using this framework:
- Black Box typically doesn’t involve internal testing, so it may seem falsely secure if ethical hackers don’t identify any external vulnerabilities. However, this may not be the case so that it may deliver limited insights. For best results, both an External and Internal Black Box Penetration Test should be performed.
- This testing method may not provide a 360-degree view of the target system.
- Ethical hackers perform the tests through guesswork and trial and error.
- The time to complete a test can vary. It may be a short period if the testing environment isn’t too complex, or it could take much longer.
Along with these pros and cons, comparing Black Box Penetrating Testing with Gray and White Box cohorts is also a good idea.
Black Box vs. Gray Box vs. White Box
Gray Box and White Box are two other types of pen tests. With Gray Box, testers have some information about the systems and network. They may also have credentials to facilitate the simulation. White Box provides the most access to ethical hackers by allowing entrance into systems, artifacts, or servers. It’s an internal attack method.
Here is a comparison of all three methodologies:
Black Box
- Testers have little intel on the target system.
- It primarily tests the external environment.
- It may not test internally.
- Ethical hackers use automation and manual testing techniques.
- Timing can be unpredictable.
- This option is usually the most cost-efficient.
Gray Box
- Testers have partial intel on the target system.
- Testing exposes vulnerabilities in outer systems and those hidden in internal systems.
- It offers a broader picture of the system’s security.
- Ethical hackers rarely use guesswork in the approach.
- Most testing is manual, but some automation is possible for repetitive things like scanning.
- The timeframe is more predictable, from a few days to weeks.
- Cost-wise, it’s between a Black Box and a White Box.
White Box
- Testers have complete intelligence regarding the target system.
- It tests all assets—internal, external, and code.
- This test delivers the most comprehensive picture of the system’s security.
- Ethical hackers don’t need to use guesswork.
- Most of the testing is manual, but some automation is practical for repetitive tasks.
- It can take up to months to complete.
- This method is the costliest.
By reviewing and comparing all types of pen tests, you can make the best decision for your organization. No matter what pen test you decide on, you’ll want to evaluate all the options before choosing a partner.
Evaluating Black Box Penetration Testing Providers
Pen testing requires an outside firm to conduct it. Many cybersecurity firms offer these services, but not all are the same. Consider these things when assessing your options:
- Experience and credentials: Get the details on how long they’ve been doing pen tests and their acumen regarding cybersecurity. Inquire about the training and certifications the testers hold to validate their experience.
- Expertise: Some pen testers have specific qualifications for industries like healthcare, which are often more complex than testing for other verticals.
- Methodology: Find out their methods and how they refine and improve them.
- Reporting: A pen test’s outcomes are detailed in reports, which can be overwhelming and unclear. Request a sample to see how they present findings.
- Manual vs. automated: Some providers use only automated testing tactics, which aren’t suitable for pen testing. Automated tools often give out false positives, while manual is more accurate.
These points are critical to making the best choice of testers. At Blue Goat Cyber, we excel at all these and deliver effective Black Box Penetration Tests. If you’d like to learn more, contact us today.
Black Box Penetration Testing FAQs
Please schedule a 30-minute Discovery Session with us so we can best understand your objectives.
Penetration testing, also known as security testing, should be conducted on a regular basis to ensure the protection of organizations' digital assets. It is generally recommended that all organizations schedule security testing at least once a year. However, it is essential to conduct additional assessments in the event of significant infrastructure changes, prior to important events such as product launches, mergers, or acquisitions.
For organizations with large IT estates, high volumes of personal and financial data processing, or strict compliance requirements, more frequent pen tests are strongly encouraged. Such organizations should consider conducting penetration testing with a higher frequency to continually assess and strengthen their security measures.
To further enhance security practices, organizations can adopt agile pen testing or continuous pen testing. Unlike traditional pen testing, which occurs at specific intervals, agile pen testing integrates regular testing into the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This approach ensures that security assessments are conducted consistently throughout the development process, aligning with the release schedule of new features. By doing so, organizations can proactively address any vulnerabilities and mitigate risks to customers, without significantly impacting product release cycles.
Cloud penetration testing is a specialized and crucial process involving comprehensive security assessments on cloud and hybrid environments. It is crucial to address organizations' shared responsibility challenges while using cloud services. Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities ensures that critical assets are protected and not left exposed to potential threats.
Cloud penetration testing involves simulating real-world attacks to identify and exploit vulnerabilities within the cloud infrastructure, applications, or configurations. It goes beyond traditional security measures by specifically targeting cloud-specific risks and assessing the effectiveness of an organization's security controls in a cloud environment.
The importance of cloud penetration testing lies in its ability to uncover security weaknesses that might be overlooked during regular security audits. As organizations increasingly adopt cloud services, they share the responsibility of ensuring the security of their data and assets with the cloud service provider. This shared responsibility model often poses challenges regarding who is accountable for various security aspects.
Cloud penetration testing not only helps in understanding the level of security provided by the cloud service provider but also provides insights into potential weaknesses within an organization's configurations or applications. By proactively identifying these vulnerabilities, organizations can take necessary steps to mitigate risks and strengthen their security posture.
When choosing a pen test provider, you'll want to consider several important factors to ensure your organization's highest level of cybersecurity.
Selecting the right pen test provider is crucial for your organization's security. It's about identifying vulnerabilities and having a partner who can help you remediate them effectively. To make an informed decision, here's what you should look for:
Expertise and Certifications: One of the key factors to consider is the expertise of the pen testers. Look for providers with a team of experts holding certifications such as CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Life Cycle Professional), OSWE (Offensive Security Web Expert), OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional), CRTE (Certified Red Team Expert), CBBH (Certified Bug Bounty Hunter), CRTL (Certified Red Team Lead), and CARTP (Certified Azure Red Team Professional). These certifications demonstrate a high level of knowledge and competence in the field.
Comprehensive Testing Services: The cybersecurity landscape constantly evolves, and threats are becoming more sophisticated. To stay ahead, you need a provider with expertise and resources to test your systems comprehensively. Look for a pen test provider like Blue Goat Cyber that offers testing across various areas, including internal and external infrastructure, wireless networks, web applications, mobile applications, network builds, and configurations. This ensures a holistic evaluation of your organization's security posture.
Post-Test Care and Guidance: Identifying vulnerabilities is not enough; you need a partner who can help you address them effectively. Consider what happens after the testing phase. A reputable pen test provider should offer comprehensive post-test care, including actionable outputs, prioritized remediation guidance, and strategic security advice. This support is crucial for making long-term improvements to your cybersecurity posture.
Tangible Benefits: By choosing a pen test provider like Blue Goat Cyber, you ensure that you receive a comprehensive evaluation of your security posture. This extends to various areas, including internal and external infrastructure, wireless networks, web and mobile applications, network configurations, and more. The expertise and certifications of their team guarantee a thorough assessment.
An External Black-Box Penetration Test, also known as a Black Box Test, primarily focuses on identifying vulnerabilities in external IT systems that external attackers could exploit. This testing approach aims to simulate real-world attack scenarios, mimicking the actions of adversaries without actual threats or risks.
During an External Black-Box Pen Test, ethical hackers attempt to exploit weaknesses in network security from an external perspective. This form of testing does not involve internal assessments, which means it may provide a limited scope of insights. However, it is crucial to note that the absence of identified external vulnerabilities does not guarantee complete security.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the network's resilience, it is recommended to complement the External Black-Box Pen Test with an Internal Black-Box Penetration Test. By combining both approaches, organizations can evaluate the effectiveness of their security measures from both external and internal perspectives.
It is important to acknowledge that external-facing devices and services, such as email, web, VPN, cloud authentication, and cloud storage, are constantly exposed to potential attacks. Therefore, conducting an External Black-Box Pen Test becomes imperative to identify any weaknesses that could compromise the network's confidentiality, availability, or integrity.
Organizations should consider performing External and Internal Black-Box Penetration Tests to ensure a robust security posture. This comprehensive approach allows for a thorough assessment of external vulnerabilities while uncovering potential internal risks. Organizations can strengthen their security defenses by leveraging these testing methodologies and proactively addressing identified weaknesses.
An external black-box penetration test aims to fortify your environment's perimeter, which encompasses critical components like firewalls, VPNs, and other external-facing services such as email or cloud infrastructure. It aims to identify and address vulnerabilities in these external services, bolstering their security against potential threats. However, it's important to note that black-box testing primarily focuses on external vulnerabilities and may not comprehensively assess internal security measures.
While an external black-box penetration test can provide a false sense of security if only external vulnerabilities are identified, it is crucial to understand that it may not encompass the full scope of potential risks. To ensure a more thorough evaluation, it is recommended to complement the external black-box test with an internal black-box (or gray-box) penetration test. This dual approach allows for a comprehensive assessment of external and internal vulnerabilities, providing a more complete understanding of the security posture. By conducting both external and internal black-box penetration tests, organizations can gain valuable insights into their network security, identify potential weaknesses in their perimeter defenses, and strengthen their overall security posture. This comprehensive approach ensures that all aspects of the environment are thoroughly evaluated, providing a more robust and reliable defense against potential cyber threats
Blue Goat Cyber's black box penetration test report is designed to offer clear and detailed insights into the pen test outcomes. The report is structured to present findings and dive deep into the specific testing methods used, reflecting the meticulous approach Blue Goat Cyber adopts. This includes an elaborate breakdown of various stages and tactics employed, helping clients understand the thoroughness of the testing process.
Each report from Blue Goat Cyber emphasizes the identification of vulnerabilities and potential risks, ensuring clients are fully aware of their security posture. What sets Blue Goat Cyber's reports apart is the inclusion of proof-of-concept code for successful exploits. This aspect is crucial as it provides concrete evidence of vulnerabilities, enhancing the client's understanding of the impact and severity of these issues. This feature also facilitates repeatable testing, enabling clients to conduct further analyses and assessments independently.
Beyond identifying vulnerabilities, Blue Goat Cyber's reports include detailed remediation steps and practical solutions. This guidance is tailored to assist organizations in effectively mitigating risks and strengthening their security posture. Moreover, Blue Goat Cyber includes remediation retesting to ensure the effectiveness of these remediation efforts. This retesting is crucial as it verifies the success of the remediation measures undertaken, providing clients with assurance and peace of mind that their vulnerabilities have been effectively addressed.
Blue Goat Cyber employs a comprehensive approach to gather intelligence for a penetration test. We begin by actively seeking out relevant information about the targets. This includes identifying the devices, services, and applications the targets utilize. In addition, Blue Goat Cyber meticulously explores potential valid user accounts and executes various actions to uncover valuable data. By conducting this meticulous information-gathering process, Blue Goat Cyber ensures we comprehensively understand the target's infrastructure and potential vulnerabilities for a successful penetration test.
Vulnerability analysis in a black box penetration test involves the comprehensive examination of systems and applications to identify any potential weaknesses or security gaps. In this process, Blue Goat Cyber carefully assesses the configuration settings, design flaws, and other misconfigurations present within the target network or application. By performing a thorough analysis, Blue Goat Cyber aims to uncover vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers, thus allowing the organization to address and mitigate these risks proactively.
The exploitation phase of a black-box penetration test refers to the specific stage where Blue Goat Cyber actively exploits the weaknesses or vulnerabilities discovered within the assets included in the scope of the test. During this phase, Blue Goat Cyber will employ manual techniques to target and exploit any identified weaknesses or vulnerabilities found within servers or web applications. The ultimate objective of this phase is to breach the system from a black box perspective, meaning the Blue Goat Cyber has no prior knowledge or credentials of the targeted systems.
The post-exploitation phase in a black box penetration test is a crucial step wherein the objective is to gain access to a compromised device or application and establish complete control over it. This phase serves multiple purposes, such as evaluating the compromised device's or application's potential for future attacks and potentially delving deeper into the network. In this phase, the tester focuses on fully controlling the compromised device or application, assessing its usefulness for subsequent attacks, and optionally expanding their reach within the network through lateral movement.
Agile penetration testing is a proactive and continuous approach to security assessments that focuses on collaborating with developers to identify and resolve potential vulnerabilities throughout the entire software development cycle. Unlike traditional methods, which often involve testing at isolated points in time, agile penetration testing involves integrating regular testing into the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
By integrating security assessments throughout the development process, agile penetration testing helps ensure that every release, whether it involves minor bug fixes or major feature updates, undergoes thorough vetting from a security perspective. This ongoing assessment goes hand-in-hand with the release schedule, allowing for real-time identification and mitigation of vulnerabilities.
The key distinction of agile penetration testing lies in its developer-centric approach. With traditional testing methods, developers may only receive feedback from security assessments infrequently, potentially leaving room for vulnerabilities to go undetected or unresolved. Agile penetration testing, on the other hand, emphasizes close collaboration between security professionals and developers, ensuring that security vulnerabilities are proactively identified and addressed in a timely manner.
Through this collaborative approach, agile penetration testing helps foster a more secure development process by integrating security considerations as an integral part of the overall development cycle. It aligns with agile development principles, promoting iterative and continuous improvement while ensuring that security risks are minimized. By doing so, agile penetration testing aims to deliver products that are more resilient to potential threats and provide customers with a higher level of confidence.
Agile penetration testing, also known as continuous pen testing or agile pen testing, offers numerous advantages for organizations. Organizations can enhance security measures and mitigate risks by integrating regular testing into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) rather than conducting infrequent testing.
One key benefit of agile penetration testing is its alignment with the release schedule. Unlike traditional pen testing, which can disrupt product release cycles, agile pen testing ensures that new software features are thoroughly tested for vulnerabilities without causing delays. This approach enables organizations to balance security and efficiency, as it addresses potential risks in a timely manner and ensures that the final product is secure before it reaches customers.
Furthermore, agile penetration testing reduces the reliance on a potentially time-consuming reconnaissance phase. Instead, adversaries are simulated by conducting testing that mimics their actions. This gives organizations insights into the vulnerabilities that a persistent attacker might exploit, similar to the knowledge an insider might possess. By conducting such grey box testing, organizations can authentically assess their security stance while saving time and resources.
Another advantage of agile pen testing is its ability to identify and address vulnerabilities throughout the entire SDLC. Integrating testing into the development process can identify potential weaknesses early on, preventing them from becoming critical security gaps later. This proactive approach ensures that security measures are not an afterthought but an integral part of the software development process.
Full-scale black-box penetration testing, conducted by ethical hackers, generally falls within the price range of $5,000 to $50,000 per test. This cost can vary depending on the specific requirements of the testing, the complexity of the systems being assessed, and the expertise of the professionals carrying out the penetration testing.
Test scaffolding is a method used to automate intended tests by utilizing various tools for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the testing process. In black-box penetration testing, test scaffolding plays a crucial role in automating test scenarios that simulate a real-world attack on a system without prior knowledge of its internal structure or codebase. By leveraging tools such as debugging, performance monitoring, and test management tools, testers can quickly identify critical program behaviors that may be challenging to uncover through manual testing methods alone. This automation helps streamline the testing process and enables testers to uncover vulnerabilities and security weaknesses more effectively, thereby strengthening the overall security posture of the system under evaluation.
Exploratory testing is an approach where testing is carried out without a predefined test plan or specific expectations regarding the test outcomes. This method involves the tester exploring the software system, interacting with it, and making observations to guide further tests. The main aim of exploratory testing is to uncover issues, anomalies, or unexpected behaviors in the software that may not have been identified through traditional testing methods.
In the context of black-box penetration testing, exploratory testing is especially valuable. Black-box penetration testing involves testing the system from an external perspective, without knowledge of its internal workings. By applying exploratory testing techniques in black-box penetration testing, testers can uncover vulnerabilities, security loopholes, and potential entry points that could be exploited by malicious actors. The iterative nature of exploratory testing allows testers to adapt and pivot based on the findings of each test, potentially leading to significant discoveries that can shape the overall testing strategy and improve the security posture of the system.
