Penetration Testing mailing list archives
RE: What is being a pen tester really like?
From: "Paul Melson" <pmelson () gmail com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:28:15 -0400
-----Original Message----- Subject: What is being a pen tester really like? rahul.joshi2 () googlemail com wrote:
I am currently a Java developer but I'm seriously thinking of changing
paths to
a career in security and pen testing. What I would like to know is what is being a pen tester really like?
Despite what you may have heard, being a successful pen-tester (meaning, you get hired and make a living at it) is not very hard, nor does it require a lot of very deep technical skill. What it really requires is good verbal and written communication skills, the ability to work well with clients, and the ability to explain security (even inaccurately) in terms of business value. Do those things, and you can be successful. The dirty truth about pen testers is that most of them have a handful of tools and scripts (like Nessus and Retina) and run them with the same configs against every customer and have the same canned recommendations based on the results that their tools spit out. Hell, most vuln scanners spit out their own remediation recommendations for the pen tester to simply hand over to their customers. Additionally, for a pen test to have the appearance of being successful, it only needs to find some of the vulnerabilities present on a network or in an application. Unlike being a network engineer or an sysadmin where your work has to stand up to the 24/7 scrutiny of a live environment, being a pen tester means only needing to be right more often than you're wrong. Not to take away from the skills or experience of any individual pen testers out there. There are some Mario Andretti's out there driving school busses, if I may. 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:
- What is being a pen tester really like? rahul . joshi2 (Jul 27)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Chris Serafin (Jul 27)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? William Hancock (Jul 27)
- RE: What is being a pen tester really like? Paul Melson (Jul 29)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? crazy frog crazy frog (Jul 30)
- Re[2]: What is being a pen tester really like? Javier O. Augusto (Jul 31)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Maudite MLRL (Jul 31)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Chris Serafin (Jul 27)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Tim (Jul 29)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Rick Zhong (Jul 31)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Danny Fullerton (Jul 27)
- Re: Re: What is being a pen tester really like? bedi . abhishek (Jul 29)
- Re: What is being a pen tester really like? Mark Teicher (Jul 29)