What is CREST Penetration Testing?
Equilibrium Security are CREST accredited Penetration Testers.
What is CREST Penetration Testing?
CREST UK or ‘the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers’ is a not-for-profit accreditation body which provides advanced professional CREST certifications for organisations who offer penetration testing services.
CREST’s internationally recognised methodologies and certifications are used by credible companies who strive to offer the highest quality security testing. Being a CREST certified company demonstrates the competency of an organisation and the testers within them.
CREST was originally set up as there was an industry need for more regulated cyber security penetration testing. Worryingly many companies who offer pen testing services are often unregulated. Penetration tests can be potentially high risk if they are conducted by unqualified testers.
This is why it is important to engage with highly qualified CREST approved testers who follow best practice and methodologies.
CREST is the not-for-profit industry body representing the technical information security industry. CREST provides internationally recognised accreditation for cyber security service providers and professional certification for individuals providing penetration testing, cyber incident response, threat intelligence services and now Secure Operations Centre services.
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What is penetration testing?
A pen test is a simulated hack which aims to test how robust and effective your security controls are. A CREST penetration test is a simulated hack which follows the internationally recognised CREST pen testing framework which is carried out by certified testers.
Penetration tests are only carried out with the permission of an organisation.
- Our CREST information security engineers use pen test tools and manual interpretation to try to gain access to systems protected by security defences.
- Penetration testing services exploit software and hardware for vulnerabilities found in a safe controlled environment.
- Once the CREST pen test is complete, a detailed report is put together which identifies the vulnerabilities found (categorised by level of risk), gaps in your security armour, and strategic recommendations on how to strengthen your security.
We’re certified by CREST and Offensive Security, our qualified testers employ real-world hacking techniques to uncover profound insights.
What are the benefits of conducting CREST approved pen testing?
To achieve the CREST certification you must undertake a series of thorough examinations which are assessed and approved by GCHQ and NCSC.
CREST approved companies are required to follow a stringent framework to ensure tests follow pen testing best practice.
There are many benefits of carrying out CREST security pen testing, these include:
- The benefits of engaging with a CREST certified penetration testers like ourselves is that we have up to date knowledge of the latest vulnerabilities and methods used by real life cyber criminals.
- It allows you to evaluate how effective your security controls and policies are. This provides valuable insight into how you can improve your security posture and what areas you need to prioritise for remediation.
- CREST penetration testing also helps you gain visibility into vulnerabilities which could be exposing you to cyber breaches.
- The cyber threat landscape is constantly changing, which is why it is highly beneficial to carry out CREST penetration testing on a regular basis. Regularly testing your security controls gives you the confidence that you are staying one step ahead of the hackers.
Why is it important for businesses to carry out CREST Penetration Tests?
Do you want your business to have a robust security armour?
Our CREST approved penetration testing service can help you discover harmful gaps in your organisations security posture.
If these are left unpatched, your systems, applications and infrastructure could easily be compromised by bad actors. Our ethical ‘white hat’ hackers can attempt to access your critical data to test the strength of your security controls.
Businesses must also be able to reduce information security risk to comply with certain regulations such as GDPR.
CREST approved companies like Equilibrium Security can help identify security weaknesses, and ensure you have all the right processes and controls in place to prevent future attacks.
Our Penetration Testing Process
Before testing commences, our experts will take time to understand your pen testing requirement in more detail, define the testing scope and gather the necessary technical information and access required to carry out the test.
Using a variety of pen testing tools our qualified penetration testers will manually assess your systems to identify security weaknesses/vulnerabilities which require patching and remediation.
In this phase we will interpret the results, and (if permitted and approved) exploit any vulnerabilities discovered. This will determine whether a hacker could use the vulnerability as leverage to gain wider access to your systems. However, many customers prefer to patch and remediate, rather than risking the potential service disruption that exploitation could cause.
Our experts will analyse the results and present the finding in a comprehensive penetration testing report. This will detail and categorise the vulnerabilities discovered ranked as either ‘Critical, High, Medium, or Low’, as well as outline instructions of how to remediate, patch and strengthen your defences.
After remediation, we can retest your systems to check that all patches have been applied and security holes have been mitigated.
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Why accept basic checkbox penetration tests? At Equilibrium, we’re dedicated to helping you focus on your critical risks. Our approach delves deep into your digital landscape, exposing hidden vulnerabilities that commonly evade detection.
With this insight, you can strategically direct your security investments and remedies where they count the most, ensuring the safety of your brand.
Whilst most CREST certified pen testing services simply provide a report of the findings. Here at Equilibrium, we work alongside our customers to offer strategic security guidance, so that you can follow best practice and patch and remediate the vulnerabilities found.
To find out more about our Penetration Testing Services or request a quote please email enquiries@equilibrium-security.co.uk call 0121 663 0055 or book an expert call.