Penetration Testing: Re: Vulnerability Assessment vs. PenTest

["Gray Ghost" <gray_ghost () hotmail com>]

I believe this depends who your client is.  Gov or private, on the gov side 
you are not allowed "in most cases" to exploit anything during a va.  The 
inbrief will include boundries and expectations.  On average, I brief a pen 
test and a va as seperate entiites, they are two different beasts with two 
different expectations.  There appears to be expansion on va that is 
sounding a lot like an audit which can compose all of the above but are 
conducted seperatley, with different expectations to draw a final 
conclusion.  "a correlation of results"
PS.  If your client is gov, make SURE you have that get out of jail free 
card along with boundries in writing and carry it with you for pentesting.
My 2 cents..........


> From: "Alice Bryson <abryson () bytefocus com>" <abryson () bytefocus com>
> To: "Bob Radvanovsky" <rsradvan () unixworks net>
> CC: "James Harless" 
> <jharless () kidwellcompanies com>,pen-test () securityfocus com
> Subject: Re: Vulnerability Assessment vs. PenTest
> Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 21:22:41 +0800
>
> i'm sorry i don't agress with you. i think a pen test include VA. VA
> is just a step of pen test procedure. to do a pen test, firstly we
> scan some tcp and udp port to identify which ports are open, and then
> detect which service run on these ports and get their software
> version. if the version of software has vulnerability , then we
> exploit it.
>
> 2006/8/5, Bob Radvanovsky <rsradvan () unixworks net>:
> > A vulnerability assessment often *includes* the penetration testing and 
> > analysis.  For the most part, a VA includes elements such as policy 
> > management verification (does the company XYZ have the correct policy 
> > implemented for it), verification that a policy does what its supposed to 
> > do (procedural verification), and several often factors, all of which are 
> > "paper verifications".  Pen-testing is really one of the few aspects of a 
> > VA that *does* anything technical (per se).  The rest are operational in 
> > that they are verifications that the company is doing what it claims to be 
> > doing.
> > Does this help?  I hope I've explained it well enough.  If someone else 
> > has a better way of explaining, please do so.
> > -r
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: James Harless [mailto:jharless () kidwellcompanies com]
> > To: pen-test () securityfocus com
> > Subject: Vulnerability Assessment vs. PenTest
> >
> >
> > > Where is the line between a Vulnerability Assessment and a PenTest?  In
> > > other words, which tests do you run which identifies your assessment as
> > > a pentest rather than a VA?
> > >
> > > And, related, do VAs still have value?  Do you feel that a PenTest
> > > includes everything that a VA would (and more)?
> > >
> > > My thoughts are that a VA is just an effort to document all the
> > > identified and potential vulnerabilities on a network.  A PenTest is an
> > > attempt to identify those vulnerabilities and then exploit some of them
> > > to verify their weakness.
> > >
> > >
> > > James
> > >
> > > 
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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.
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