Penetration Testing
Our ethical hackers are a team of highly skilled technical experts, dedicated to identifying vulnerabilities in your products, technologies and IT.
Our penetration testing services give you confidence that weaknesses that could be used in a cyber-attack are identified before they can be exploited by cyber attackers.
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What is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is a proactive service designed to identify and fix vulnerabilities within your IT infrastructure and products, safeguarding your business against potential threats. By simulating cyber attacks under controlled conditions, certified experts uncover weaknesses in networks, applications, and security controls that attackers might target, giving you clear insights into your security posture.
Our team brings a wealth of experience to offer detailed vulnerability assessments and tailored recommendations that prioritise security without compromising business operations. We deliver comprehensive, plain language reports and risk-based remediation strategies, helping you meet regulatory compliance with ease.
Our penetration testing service is designed to support you in strengthening your defences against internal and external threats, helping your business maintain security while not drawing your time and attention away from your operational goals.
What's Included?
Planning and Scoping
We work with you to define the engagement’s scope, ensuring that testing addresses the most critical assets and relevant threat scenarios.
Vulnerability Identification
Our experts use industry-leading tools and methodologies to identify entry points, flagging misconfigurations, coding issues or outdated software.
Controlled Exploitation
We simulate real-world attack techniques, verifying how vulnerabilities might be exploited and determining the potential impact on your business.
Human-Led Testing
We don’t just run tools. We have expert pen testers rigorously testing your infrastructure and applications.
Simple Reporting
We provide easy-to-understand, comprehensive and tailored reports for both technical teams and executives alike.
Remediation Advice
Our team offers practical recommendations, prioritising high-impact fixes and helping you balance security measures with business needs.
Challenges Addressed by Penetration Testing
Unknown Vulnerabilities
You run some basic security scanning tools on your applications or environments, but you’re unsure what more advanced vulnerabilities might exist in your products.
Increasing External Scrutiny
External stakeholders such as clients, prospective clients, regulators and suppliers are becoming increasingly interested in seeing evidence of your cyber security defences.
Evidencing Compliance
SMBs face increasing regulatory and industry scrutiny from frameworks such as UK Data Protection Act, SOC2, the EU’s GDPR, PCI-DSS, NIS2 Directive, ISO 27001, etc. which explicitly require penetration testing.
Evolving Attack Techniques
With the proliferation of artificial intelligence and machine learning, more than ever cyber criminals are able to pivot their attack techniques to create more sophisticated ways to breach your systems.
Unknown Vulnerabilities
You run some basic security scanning tools on your applications or environments, but you’re unsure what more advanced vulnerabilities might exist in your products.
Increasing External Scrutiny
External stakeholders such as clients, prospective clients, regulators and suppliers are becoming increasingly interested in seeing evidence of your cyber security defences.
Evidencing Compliance
SMBs face increasing regulatory and industry scrutiny from frameworks such as UK Data Protection Act, SOC2, the EU’s GDPR, PCI-DSS, NIS2 Directive, ISO 27001, etc. which explicitly require penetration testing.
Evolving Attack Techniques
With the proliferation of artificial intelligence and machine learning, more than ever cyber criminals are able to pivot their attack techniques to create more sophisticated ways to breach your systems.
What Our Clients Say
Benefits of Penetration Testing
Our penetration testing service provides a human-led approach to identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities across your products, applications and IT infrastructure.
Layman's Terms
Most penetration testing is provided by ‘techies’ and as a result, non-technical stakeholders (Head of Internal Audit, CIOs, etc.) misunderstand the significance or impact of test findings. Our penetration testing is designed by CISOs, delivered by technical experts, so you get both technical and business focused reports.
Advanced Discovery
In-depth insights into more advanced vulnerabilities across your applications, networks and systems will be gained through penetration testing. We identify exploitable weaknesses that may have been overlooked by security scanning tools.
Risk Based Prioritisation
We provide a transparent risk-based prioritisation of your findings to ensure you focus your remediation efforts in the right places. We provide technical scorings (e.g. CVSS score) but also our own proprietary prioritisation based off the specific business context.
Compliance Support
Our penetration tests align with compliance frameworks like SOC2, ISO27001, CIS18 and NIST and as such we are able to provide documented results to support compliance reporting.
Human-Led Testing
Most penetration testers will run a raft of automated tools and just send you the exported results. Our testing is human-led – only humans are able to truly simulate real-world cyber attacks. Our team of skilled ethical hackers bring expertise to ensure even the most advanced vulnerabilities are discovered.
Validation Testing
The most important element of any penetration test is to check that the remediation work has been effective. As long as you remediate within one month of receiving the test findings, you’ll get included a re-test to validate all fixes have been successfully applied.
Rapid Remediation
Traditionally, testers send excel spreadsheets of their findings that you then need to import manually into your ticketing tool such as JIRA. We automatically import all vulnerabilities directly into your JIRA instance (or equivalent) so that you can focus on fixes rather than the admin.
Network To Source Code
You can get all levels of your IT infrastructure tested via one single process. From testing whether someone can externally penetrate your network perimeter, through to a manual review of a mobile application source code, we provide the level of assurance you need.
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Case Study: UK Based Travel Firm
Client Challenge
A UK-based travel firm specialising in bespoke holiday packages faced growing cyber security concerns.
With handing large volumes of customer data, including payment information and travel itineraries, the company needed to secure its online booking system and customer portal.
The client wished to uncover and mitigate vulnerabilities that could lead to data breaches, especially as they were preparing for a major website update and mobile app launch.
Our Approach
In addressing these challenges, CyPro has deployed a specialised team with expertise in penetration testing. Key components to this approach included:
- Booking & Customer Portal Testing: Simulated realistic attacks on the booking platform and portal to identify weak points in access control and safeguard customer accounts and travel details.
- Payment Gateway Testing: Assessed vulnerabilities within payment processing to ensure security for each customer transaction, meeting industry PCI-DSS requirements and reducing
- Compliance Reporting & Next Steps: Delivered comprehensive reported with detailed findings, prioritised risks, and actionable recommendations.
Value Delivered
Regulatory Compliance
Achieved compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements, enhancing trust among clients and investors.
Cultural Shift
Empowered staff to recognise and report security vulnerabilities, creating a proactive security culture.
Enhanced Security Posture
Identified and remediated critical vulnerabilities, significantly reducing the risk of cyber attacks.
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Who Needs Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing is an essential service for businesses aiming to proactively secure their systems, identify potential vulnerabilities, and meet compliance requirements.
- Organisations Seeking Certification: Any organisation who seeks to achieve cyber certifications such as ISO27001, SOC2, PCI-DSS, NIS-2, etc. will need not only robust penetration testing but a regular cadence or testing that aligns to an annual or quarterly schedule.
- Product Led Businesses: Companies whose business model revolves around the design, development and sale of software based products will need to have a capable penetration testing process established. They will need to demonstrate to their market that not only do they take the security and privacy of the client data they hold in their products seriously, but that they can robustly and regularly evidence the effectiveness of their security controls.
- Sectors Facing Heightened Cyber Risks: Industries frequently targeted by cyber attacks, such as healthcare and finance require regular penetration testing to uncover and address potential entry points for attackers, e.g. a fintech company handling sensitive customer information that needs to secure its defences against advanced threats.
- Organisations Undergoing Digital Transformation: Change introduces risk. Companies subjected to a lot technological change should ensure they are regularly testing their IT infrastructure. adopting cloud platforms, IoT devices, or other digital technologies benefit from penetration testing to secure these transitions and identify vulnerabilities associated with new technology, e.g. a retail business moving its operations to the cloud, needing assurance that its data and applications are secure during and after migration.
- Regulated Businesses: Organisations that are subject to strict regulatory standards benefit from penetration testing to ensure compliance and demonstrate robust security practices during audits, e.g. a healthcare provider required to show GDPR compliance through routine vulnerability testing and remediation.
- Companies Integrating With Third-Party Vendors: Businesses that rely on vendor integrations benefit from penetration testing to evaluate potential gaps in security introduced by third-party applications and systems, e.g. a logistics provider using multiple third-party systems for supply chain management, requiring regular tests to secure data that is shared across these platforms.
Who Doesn’t Need Penetration Testing?
- Startups In Early Development Phases: Very early-stage startups without customer data, sensitive information, or critical infrastructure may not yet need penetration testing. These businesses may want to focus on foundational security measures such as firewalls and basic access controls before investing in advanced testing, e.g. a 3-person startup focused on product development without any external network connections or data storage needs.
- Businesses With Low Digital Presence: Organisations that operate almost entirely offline, with no significant customer-facing applications or online data, might not see an immediate need for penetration testing, e.g. a small local art gallery that only uses offline tools fir inventory and sales tracking.
- Organisations With Comprehensive In-House Security Teams: Companies that already have a mature, dedicated cyber security team that is conducting regular security assessments may not immediately need additional external penetration testing, e.g. a large, multinational corporation with a full-time cyber security team performing continuous security assessments and regularly auditing their own infrastructure.
- Businesses With Low Compliance & Security Requirements: Companies that handle minimal data and have few regulatory requirements might prioritise basic security practices rather than full penetration testing, e.g. a small local landscaping business that primarily operates offline, only storing minimal client contact information on a single office computer.
Our Approach
We follow a human-led and client-focused approach to deliver penetration testing as a service.
Initial Discovery
We begin with a consultation to understand your unique business objectives, security requirements and context. This allows us to define the scope precisely, covering your compliance needs, key assets and applications. By being able to understand your priorities, we ensure our testing will align with your goals from the start.
Test Planning
Once the scope is defined, we develop a detailed project plan, including timelines, testing protocols and access requirements. At this stage, we will finalise any necessary documentation and establish communication protocols for efficient collaboration.
Reconnaissance
Our expert team conduct both passive and active reconnaissance to gather valuable information about your environment, mapping network structures, identifying assets, and pinpointing potential vulnerabilities. This information gathering will guide us in developing tailored and targeted test scenarios.
Vulnerability Testing
Our team will conduct in-depth testing to uncover vulnerabilities across the defined scope. This involves testing against common and sophisticated threats, ensuring that any identified weaknesses reflect the real-world risks
Exploitation Analysis
We will simulate controlled attacks on identified vulnerabilities to assess the potential impact that they may have. This will determine the severity of each vulnerability, focusing on areas that could pose the greatest risk to your data integrity and operations.
Technical Reporting
We provide detailed reports detailing each finding, its severity, and recommend actions for remediation. We integrate directly with tools like JIRA to automatically import all the findings directly into your work management flow to quick and easy remediation.
Executive Reporting
In addition to the technical reports issued to your engineering or network teams, we will provide executive level summary reports you can share with non-technical senior stakeholders as well as redacted reports to evidence your testing to third parties.
Remediation Support
Our team will assist and advise on your prioritisation and implementation of remediation actions based on the actual risk facing the business. We will work with your team to provide technical guidance from the testers themselves and ensure that vulnerabilities are effectively addressed.
Validation Testing
One of the most important elements of a penetration test is checking that all your hard work in fixing the issues has paid off. We perform a re-test as part of your service one month following the original testing to validate that all remediation efforts have been effective.
Secure your business.
Elevate your security, accelerate your growth. We take care of cyber security for high-growth companies, at every stage of their journey.
Get in Touch
Secure your business.
Elevate your security, accelerate your growth. We take care of cyber security for high-growth companies, at every stage of their journey.
Get in TouchYour Team
Rob McBride
Rob is a Founding Partner at CyPro and a highly experienced CISO. Beginning his career with a successful tenure at Deloitte, Rob has since amassed a wealth of experience, notably serving as a cyber security advisor to the UK government and spearheading cloud security transformations for several global banks.
At CyPro, Rob leads the managed service business line, working extensively across multiple sectors including telecommunications, technology, higher education, travel, and retail. He is passionate about equipping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with robust cyber security strategies to fuel their growth.
Additional Consultants
Comparison: Vulnerability Scanning vs Penetration Testing
If you are deciding between vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, both services assess security weaknesses, but they suit different needs and risk management strategies:
Penetration Testing
- Overview: A simulated attack is conducted by security experts to identify then exploit potential vulnerabilities within systems, which mimic real-world threat tactics.
- Comprehensive Assessment: This service goes beyond detection, by testing actual security defences and highlighting weaknesses in ways that vulnerability scanning cannot do.
- Detailed Reporting: The reporting provides in-depth information on each vulnerability, which includes potential impact, risk levels and tailored remediation advice.
- Who Is This Best For? Organisations that want an in-depth assessment of their defences, especially those with regulatory requirements, or those that handle sensitive data. Valuable for organisations seeking to strengthen their security beyond vulnerability scans, enhancing risk management with actionable insights.
Vulnerability Scanning
- Overview: Automated process to identify and report on known vulnerabilities within systems, networks and applications.
- Efficient Detection: Quickly identifies a wide range of known issues, providing a broad snapshot of risks.
- Proactive Security Maintenance: When running frequent scans, organisations can track new vulnerabilities over a long period of time and respond to emerging threats before they escalate into issues.
- Limitations: Vulnerability scans provide a list of risks within systems; however, they do not assess real-world exploitability of them. This requires further analysis to understand the potential impacts.
- Who Is This Best For? Organisations who are looking for a baseline, automated check of their security, without the need for in-depth testing. It is ideal for teams with established security practices who need fast and regular vulnerability insights.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How often should penetration testing be conducted?
The frequency of penetration testing depends on several factors, including your industry, regulatory requirements, security policies, and the evolving cyber threat landscape.
At a minimum, network-level penetration tests should be conducted annually to assess your organisation’s external and internal security posture. However, if your IT environment undergoes significant changes—such as deploying new infrastructure, modifying network configurations, or responding to emerging cyber threats—more frequent testing is advisable.
For software and applications, security testing should be integrated into the Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) to identify vulnerabilities early. While full penetration tests for applications may be conducted every 12 to 24 months, more frequent security assessments (such as code reviews and automated vulnerability scans) should be incorporated into regular development cycles.
If your organisation must comply with regulatory standards such as ISO 27001, GDPR, or Cyber Essentials Plus, penetration testing may be a mandatory requirement at specified intervals. We help businesses define a customised penetration testing schedule, ensuring compliance while prioritising risk-based security testing.
- How long does a penetration test take?
The duration of a penetration test varies depending on the scope, complexity, and depth of testing required. A small-scale assessment, such as testing a single web application or a specific network segment, may take one to two days. However, larger engagements—such as testing multiple network segments, enterprise environments, or cloud infrastructures—can take anywhere from one to four weeks.
Factors that influence the duration of a penetration test include:
• The size and complexity of the IT environment – A simple website test will take significantly less time than a full infrastructure assessment.
• The depth of testing required – Basic vulnerability assessments are faster, while full exploitation testing takes longer.
• Whether testing is black-box, grey-box, or white-box – A black-box test (with no prior knowledge of the system) often takes longer than a white-box test, where credentials and architecture details are provided in advance.To ensure minimal business disruption, we work with clients to define clear testing timelines, objectives, and post-test remediation plans. Our team also provides ongoing support to help organisations prioritise and remediate vulnerabilities efficiently.
- What should i expect in a penetration test report?
Penetration test reports are crucial for understanding security weaknesses and taking corrective actions. Many penetration testing providers simply export automated reports from scanning tools, leaving clients with long lists of vulnerabilities but little actionable insight.
At CyPro, we like to do things properly. We provide three types of reports, ensuring that findings are accessible and relevant to different stakeholder groups:
- Technical Reports – Designed for developers, engineers, and network architects, these reports provide detailed vulnerability findings, risk ratings, and remediation recommendations. We also integrate findings directly into JIRA or equivalent workflow management tools, enabling quick and efficient remediation.
- Non-Technical Executive Reports – Tailored for senior management and business stakeholders, this report translates security risks into business-impact terms. It provides a high-level overview of findings, risk exposure, and recommended next steps in an easy-to-understand format.
- Third Party Redacted Summary – Many organisations need to provide security assurances to clients, investors, or regulatory bodies without disclosing sensitive vulnerability details. We generate a high-level summary that includes the scope of testing and overall security posture, ensuring compliance while protecting critical security information.
By providing comprehensive and actionable penetration testing reports, we help businesses not only identify weaknesses but also effectively remediate them.
- Can penetration testing disrupt business operations?
Yes, penetration testing has the potential to disrupt business operations if not conducted carefully. Testing live production systems during business hours without proper planning can lead to network slowdowns, system outages, or data corruption.
At CyPro, we mitigate these risks by using only CREST-accredited testers, ensuring that all testing is carefully planned and executed to avoid operational disruptions. Our approach includes:
• Testing in non-production environments where possible to eliminate the risk of service interruptions.
• Coordinating with internal IT teams to ensure testing windows are aligned with business operations.
• Running tests outside of peak business hours to minimise any impact on productivity.
• Using controlled exploitation techniques that focus on identifying vulnerabilities without causing damage.We work closely with organisations to schedule and conduct penetration tests safely and efficiently, ensuring robust security assessments without unnecessary disruptions.
- What is another word for penetration testing?
Penetration testing is commonly referred to as ‘ethical hacking’ or simply ‘pen testing’. The term ethical hacking highlights that the testing is performed by security professionals (ethical hackers) under controlled conditions, simulating real-world cyberattacks to uncover weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them.
Other related terms include:
• Security testing – A broader term that includes vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.
• Red team exercises – A more advanced form of penetration testing where testers simulate real-world attack scenarios to test an organisation’s security response.
• Offensive security testing – A term used to describe active security assessments that go beyond traditional defensive security measures.Regardless of the terminology used, the goal of penetration testing remains the same: to proactively identify and remediate security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by real attackers.
- How does penetration testing help with regulatory compliance?
Many regulatory frameworks and industry standards require or strongly recommend penetration testing as part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. Organisations that must comply with GDPR, ISO 27001, NIST, Cyber Essentials Plus, and other security frameworks benefit from regular penetration testing to:
• Identify vulnerabilities before attackers do, reducing the risk of data breaches.
• Demonstrate compliance with security best practices, avoiding regulatory fines.
• Meet contractual security requirements for working with clients and third parties.
• Provide evidence of security due diligence during audits and vendor assessments.Our penetration testing services align with regulatory requirements, ensuring that your organisation remains compliant while improving its overall security posture.
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