Penetration test

How it is used

Almost always called a pentest, and the people who do it are pentesters. Companies commission and scope a pentest, often yearly or after major changes, and receive a report of findings. The work needs written permission and an agreed scope.

Example sentences

1. The annual penetration test is scheduled for the second week of March.

2. The penetration test report listed two high-severity findings in the login flow.

Common collocations

• run a penetration test
• external penetration test
• penetration test report
• scope a pentest
• web application pentest

Related terms

• ethical hackerA security professional who uses attackers' skills and methods, with the owner's written permission, to find and report weaknesses so that they can be fixed.
• rules of engagementThe agreed conditions of a security test: what may be tested, when, with which methods and whom to contact if something goes wrong.
• findingA security problem or weakness that is identified and documented during an audit, assessment or penetration test, usually with a severity rating.
• red teamA group of security specialists who act like real attackers, using any approved method, to test how well an organisation can detect and stop them.
• vulnerability scanAn automated check of systems, networks or applications that looks for known weaknesses, missing patches and insecure settings and lists them in a report.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• penetration test · Software Engineering

More terms: Penetration Testing

• reconnaissance
• proof of concept
• bug bounty