Penetration Testing mailing list archives
RE: What is being a pen tester really like?
From: "Paul Melson" <pmelson () gmail com>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 14:05:19 -0400
-----Original Message----- Subject: Re: What is being a pen tester really like?
Also to add my 2c. The people that Paul described are the ones we don't want around and they
are not "pen-testers". I don't want this to get turned into a flamewar, and I realize that many of the people on this list feel as though my "candid dialogue" on the subject is attacking them because they work as pen testers. I'm not. But I do think it would be disingenuous to talk about being a pen tester without talking about the nature of the market. Based on my experience, it's not an issue of the individual performing the test's skill level. It's an issue of where their employer has positioned their services. If you want to be mad at somebody, be mad at the customers that don't want to (or can't) shell out the dollars necessary to pay for a very thorough assessment.
In more aggressive organizations, they don't make it thought the
technical interview session for the
actual pen-test positions.
In my experience, companies that hire pen-testers for internal purposes are the exception. From an HR perspective, it doesn't make sense to hire top dollar talent that will only be productive on a part-time basis. It makes more sense to purchase a scanning tool or outsource the work entirely, which is what most companies do. Or did you mean that the companies that perform pen-test work for multiple customers have tough hiring processes? I'd like to think you're right about that one, but there is certainly a dearth of evidence to suggest that it is not happening everywhere nor is it necessary.
A 12 year -old can run a scanner, it takes a little more to discover an
unknown problem for a company
that has not released a product or a financial organization that is
developing applications that are not
public. Probably not going to get an out of the box scanner that will
find these. I agree with your statement 100%. However, web (or any) application assessment work is typically out of scope for most network pen-test services and comes with a higher price tag for the customer because of the time and skill necessary to perform those tests. I hate to be cynical about it, but even the big name security consulting companies out there use Nessus or Retina and charge thousands of dollars for each scan and pretty report. It's a matter of profitability. Trying to distinguish between genuinely skilled pen-testers and the script-kiddy scanners is like the old discussion about the meanings of the terms "hacker" and "cracker." Sorry folks, that horse has left the barn. They're all "hackers" and we're all just pen-testers to the rest of the IT industry at large. PaulM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This List Sponsored by: Cenzic Concerned about Web Application Security? Why not go with the #1 solution - Cenzic, the only one to win the Analyst's Choice Award from eWeek. As attacks through web applications continue to rise, you need to proactively protect your applications from hackers. Cenzic has the most comprehensive solutions to meet your application security penetration testing and vulnerability management needs. You have an option to go with a managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure) or an enterprise software (Cenzic Hailstorm). Download FREE whitepaper on how a managed service can help you: http://www.cenzic.com/news_events/wpappsec.php And, now for a limited time we can do a FREE audit for you to confirm your results from other product. Contact us at request () cenzic com for details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current thread:
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like?, (continued)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Dotzero (Aug 08)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Diarmaid McManus (Aug 09)
- RE: What is being a pen tester really like? Omar A. Herrera (Aug 09)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Diarmaid McManus (Aug 09)
- Starting Out Lyndon Barry (Aug 09)
- Re: Starting Out John Skinner (Aug 10)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Christine Kronberg (Aug 09)
- RE: What is being a pen tester really like? Richard Feist (Aug 02)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Tim (Aug 08)