PKF O'Connor Davies Accountants and Advisors
PKF O'Connor Davies Accountants and Advisors
Services

Cybersecurity Penetration Testing Services

As cybersecurity threats continue to intensify, penetration testing and management of IT vulnerabilities have become essential for identifying and mitigating system weaknesses. Organizations in every industry face unrelenting challenges in securing intellectual property, data stores, personally identifiable information and other critical assets. A proactive penetration test, including IT vulnerability analysis, is crucial for detecting risks that could lead to devastating cyberattacks before they are exploited.

Penetration testing – commonly referred to as “pentesting” – includes techniques like white hat hacking and black box testing to simulate a cyberattack within an organization’s existing information systems and find security gaps. Utilizing advanced vulnerability assessment tools and exploitation tools, we get ahead of zero-day threats, reducing risks and protecting your most critical assets. With our team of ethical hackers, you can be confident that your systems are protected.

Only real-world tests of threat actor tactics, techniques and procedures can enable immediate cyber risk mitigation and peace of mind.

Our team specializes in penetration testing, employing a range of methodologies, including vulnerability analysis and ethical hacking techniques. Specifically designed to mitigate your risks, these assessments address the most critical cybersecurity concerns and consequences that organizations face today – data breaches, operational shutdowns, hijacked data, reputational damage, financial penalty and substantial fiscal loss.

Comprehensive, Customized Testing

With a nuanced understanding of each client’s operations, technology, constituency and objectives, we are ideally equipped to investigate the most relevant cyber gaps, flaws, misconfigurations and deviations from information security best practices. As thorough as they are tailored, our tests probe the full range of technology environments and cyberattack scenarios, including:

  • Internal Penetration Testing – Vulnerability analysis and exploitation executed from within an internal local area network, including network-level and host-based exploitation.

  • External Penetration Testing – Detailed vulnerability assessment of your internet-facing assets, using black box testing to simulate an external cyberattack.

  • Cloud Penetration Testing – Vulnerability analysis of cloud-native environments.

  • Social Engineering – The execution of sophisticated email, SMS and/or phone-based social engineering campaigns in an attempt to gather sensitive information, bypass multifactor authentication or execute malicious code on managed end points.

  • Physical Security Assessment – The execution of in-person social engineering attacks in an attempt to gain unauthorized access to facilities.

  • Wireless Penetration Testing – The identification and exploitation of IT vulnerabilities within an organization’s wireless network infrastructure.

  • Web Application Penetration Testing – The use of vulnerability assessment tools to test application code-level vulnerabilities and protect against unauthorized access to organizational information or back-end systems.

  • Source Code Analysis – A detailed review of application source code to identify vulnerabilities resulting from insecure application development practices.

  • Password Analysis – A test of password hygiene by systematically attempting to crack end-user, service account and administrator passwords using powerful hardware components.

  • Adversary Emulation – A collaborative purple team approach to test security monitoring and alerting strategies in response to the most common attacker tactics, techniques and procedures.

  • Red Teaming – An unannounced penetration test of the effectiveness of existing incident response capabilities.

Ethical Hackers and Penetration Testing

Our ethical hackers are certified to conduct an extensive range of cybersecurity assessments, including penetration tests, to identify existing IT vulnerabilities. Using white hat hacking techniques and detailed vulnerability analysis, these professionals provide insight and recommendations that can help you secure your system and prevent future threats.

    Recommendations that Drive Mitigation

    Once a penetration test is complete, our pentesters report the precise information required to prove the existence of each vulnerability and how it might be exploited by cybercriminals. Through ongoing vulnerability analysis, our ethical hackers provide long-term strategies to help prioritize remediation activities. Every finding is risk-rated. Our reports are comprehensive yet clear, presented in an easily understood narrative that describes the penetration test from beginning to end and details the overall attack chain.

    Hands-on Risk Evaluation

    Advancements in artificial intelligence and automation enable our team to tap commercial, open-source and custom software components to focus on specific environments and attack vectors. Every penetration test is led by experienced information security specialists and every decision is made in collaboration with the client. Using the latest vulnerability assessment tools to evaluate and mitigate IT vulnerabilities, we provide a hands-on approach to identify and address threats likely to be overlooked by those who rely on automated scripts only. It also limits any negative impact on production systems and end-users while yielding the most valuable results for clients.

    Talented Cyber Specialists, Actively Engaged

    In an arena that evolves faster than lightning speed, specialists must be directly and continuously engaged in industry research, interaction and innovation. Ours have identified previously unknown IT vulnerabilities in commercial software platforms, including cross-site scripting, SQL injection, privilege escalation and information disclosure. Working closely with vendors and external stakeholders, they identify remediation strategies and communicate these risks industry-wide by registering Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs).

    Highly credentialed, our team members hold the full range of certifications, including Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), Practical Network Penetration Tester (PNPT), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), among others. They present regularly at industry conferences to ensure the cybersecurity community is apprised of common gaps and misconfigurations. As new attack tactics and techniques appear, they publish articles describing these issues in clear, compelling language to help our clients, colleagues and peers remain fully equipped to spot and dismantle emerging threats.

    Effective Remediation Strategies and Solutions

    Following the identification of deficiencies, our penetration testing specialists are adept at leading the implementation of practical remediation solutions to IT vulnerabilities. The strategies we develop are informed by our extensive experience and the latest industry insights, such as those concerning Digital Assets: Cybersecurity Considerations in an Acquisition. Often, the client’s existing resources can be deployed. If not, our professionals customize solutions to protect multi-layered systems and those with large amounts of confidential data. A complete remediation program also includes internal training that educates employees on their vital role in safeguarding the organization and its data.

    Risk Exists. Proactive Cyber Protection Is Essential.

    Identifying and remediating technical cyber risk and IT vulnerabilities is a challenge for every organization, more so for those without a dedicated information security function. Working with knowledgeable advisors to continually harden networks, systems and applications against emerging threats is a cost-effective way to establish a mature information cybersecurity program. Proactively addressing material risks with effective vulnerability assessments before they are exploited is a must as cyberattacks become more costly – operationally, reputationally and financially.