Types of pentesting and ethical hacking

There are three types of penetration tests: black-box, white-box, and grey-box.

Black-Box

No information on the test target prior to the testing.

White-Box

Full and complete details of the test target.

Grey-Box

Partial details of the target systems.

Based on Objectives

External testing

External testing refers to any attacks on the test target using procedures performed from outside the organisation that owns the test target.

The objective of external testing is to find out if an outside attacker can get in and how far he can get in once he has gained access.

Internal testing

Internal testing is performed from within the organisation that owns the test target. The strategy is useful for estimating how much damage an internal threat (a disgruntled employee, for example) could cause.

Internal testing is centred on understanding what could happen if the test target was successfully penetrated by an authorised user with access privileges.

Watch the video above discussing penetration testing/ethical hacking categories.