Category: Education

Is Your Pen Test Provider Cutting Corners? What “Normal” Should Really Look Like

When organizations invest in penetration testing, they’re often unsure what to expect from the process. A recent online discussion raised an important question: “Is our pen test provider’s approach normal, or are we getting shortchanged?” It’s a fair concern. Unlike compliance audits, penetration tests don’t…

Breaking Into Pen Testing: When Hustle Meets Risk

There’s a post making rounds in the pen testing community that’s sparking strong reactions. Someone without an OSCP, in a country where it costs as much as a car, decided they weren’t going to wait for permission to start pen testing. They grabbed the certifications…

Should You Switch Penetration Testers Every Year?

You’re planning next year’s security budget, and a question comes up: should we stick with the same penetration testing provider we’ve been using, or switch to a new one? Some organizations rotate testers annually. Others work with the same provider for years. Both approaches have…

AI Pen Testing: Why Auditors Are Right to Ask Questions

AI is everywhere in cybersecurity right now. AI-powered threat detection, AI-driven security analytics, and AI-assisted vulnerability management. And increasingly, AI- or automated pen testing platforms are promising to replace human penetration testers. The pitch is compelling: continuous testing, faster results, lower costs, and no need…

Multi-Factor Authentication: The Difference Between Staying Secure and Getting Breached

Your password isn’t enough anymore. It doesn’t matter how strong it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s 16 characters with special symbols and numbers. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve never written it down or shared it with anyone. Passwords alone are no longer…

Security Through Obscurity: The Lock You Hope Nobody Finds

“We’re secure because nobody knows about our systems.” “We use non-standard ports so attackers can’t find our services.” “We don’t publish our architecture, so nobody knows how to attack us.” This is security through obscurity; the idea that hiding something makes it secure. And it’s…

Why Your Firewall Isn’t Enough: The Limits of Perimeter Security

Your firewall is important, but it’s just not enough. For years, the security model was simple: build a strong perimeter around your network. Put up a firewall, lock down the border, and keep the bad guys outside. Everything inside the perimeter was trusted, and everything…

The Pen Test Debrief That Changed a CFO’s Mind

Sarah walked into the conference room already skeptical. As CFO of a mid-sized manufacturing company, she’d approved the $6,000 penetration test because the CISO insisted it was necessary for their cyber insurance renewal. Fine. But now she was being pulled into a “findings debrief” that…

Small Business Cyber Risk: What to Do When a CISO Isn’t in the Budget

Most small and medium-sized businesses don’t have a Chief Information Security Officer. They can’t justify the $150K-$250K salary for a full-time security executive when they’re a 10 or 50-person company still figuring out basic growth. But cybersecurity risk doesn’t care about your company’s size. Ransomware…

The $5K Pen Test Myth: Why Enterprise-Focused Vendors Don’t Understand SMBs

A competitor recently claimed on a webinar that any penetration test under $5,000 is “half-assed.” Let’s unpack why that statement is completely wrong and reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the small and medium business market. The Enterprise Mindset Problem Here’s what’s actually happening: many…