Pentesting is one of the fastest growing cybersecurity fields, with experts suggesting a 14.9% compound annual growth rate. That makes sense, considering the shift towards online business, with organizations offering not only websites but entire services and products online. Software is Eating the World, and Pentesting, with its simulated and controlled cyber security evaluations is essential in ensuring organizations have the tools to protect online and IT environments.
At the same time, Pentesting remains much the same as a decade ago. We’ve automated tooling, introduced better scan tools, and reduced manual checks, but project management, pentest processes, and client management remain much the same. That is, until now.
Pentest as a Service, sometimes abbreviated to PTaaS, is an increasingly common trend. It means delivering pentest results in the cloud, with predictable, scheduled recurring pentests so clients receive pentesting “as a service”.
Moving Pentests to the Cloud
Cloud products and services are the norm. From online banking and bookkeeping tools to personal services like Spotify, most of us regularly use SaaS and PaaS products. Most organizations already leverage some cloud tooling, even if that tooling is Microsoft Office 365. But, most pentesting is still handled in local environments, shared via email, and requires manual updates and communication.
Cyver Core delivers next-generation cloud technology to the pentest process. Our platform brings clients and security teams onto a single encrypted platform for seamless collaboration, transparent communication, and actionable reporting. And, with cloud, everything is in real time.
Collaborative Processes
Cyver Core enables collaborative pentest processes by onboarding client dev teams directly onto the platform. The pentest becomes a collaborative process from day one, with seamless kickoffs integrating not just decision-makers but also stakeholders like dev teams and security experts.
Rather than launching an uninvolved kickoff, projects are kicked off through the platform, where developers can help set scopes and determine pentest points. Cyver Core utilizes frameworks for standard pentests like PCI, HIPAA, ISO2701, ISAE3402 and SOC-2 to automatically introduce checklists and task lists, create relevant information for client guidelines, and start projects more quickly. Plus, with custom definitions per client, it’s simple to quickly kickstart a project.
New Ways to Deliver
Emailing PDF reports creates security risks, potentially exposing sensitive information. Some pentest firms compromise by sharing the most sensitive information via phone calls with IT managers. Neither option offers true security, reliability, or actionable deliverables for the client’s dev team. Instead, they wait for information to be transferred, and receive either a lengthy and unactionable 30+ page report, or receive whatever the IT manager decides to give them.
Traditional pentest reporting requires time-consuming manual copy-pasting into reports, manual writeups, and exports into PDF files. Pentesters spend considerable time on repetitive and boring work, which frequently leads to mistakes. And, despite time investment, clients receive a sub-par result. The traditional Pentest report is a 30+ page PDF full of findings, screenshots, and notes in one dense file. This must be manually sorted and organized to create actionable tickets and work items.
With Cyver Core, that all changes. Pentest-as-a-Service means client teams are directly integrated onto the platform. Relevant people receive real-time notifications as findings are uploaded. Findings are shared as tickets, complete with encrypted developer notes and evidence material. Cyver Core links to project management tools like Jira to automatically create tickets, assigned to relevant persons. And, if you need a PDF report, you can automatically create one using existing work data.
Pentesters can quickly export findings, POC screenshots, and notes to a platform, create a ticket, alert relevant people, and then work with the developer to solve the problem. Clients receive faster, actionable findings as tickets, so sorting, tracking progress, and making updates is easy.
Ongoing Security
Modern organizations have continuous security needs. Offering pentests as a continuous process allows pentest firms to simultaneously offer value to the client, while driving revenue for themselves. Continuous testing and remediation is the only way to remain secure. Cyver Core plans the next pentest cycle as part of the current, so that new pentest cycles automatically begin after client approval.
Establishing a standard of regular checks and monitoring ensures the client stays protected, drives business for the pentest firm, and maintains the purpose of the assessment. And, with Pentest-as-a-Service, it’s automated.
Operational security continuously changes based on risks, new threats, and infrastructure changes. Pentesting-as-a-Service moves the single-point evaluation and remediation of the pentest to an ongoing process, with a continuous cycle of remediation. Pentest-as-a-Service brings real-time data sharing and ongoing processes to pentesting, enabling a system of automatic checks and monitoring to ensure companies stay safe. But, most pentest firms don’t have the resources, time, or focus to develop a platform on their own. Cyver Core provides that service, allowing firms to leverage a fully-developed pentest-as-a-service cloud platform, without stepping outside their core services and without investing in development to launch a platform.
Want to learn more? Visit our Features page to see what Cyver Corecan do.