Network Service Penetration Testing or Infrastructure Testing is one of the most common types of penetration testing performed.

The main purpose is to identify the most exposed vulnerabilities and security weaknesses in the network infrastructure (servers, firewalls, switches, routers, printers, workstations, and more) of an organization before they can be exploited.

Why it is necessary?

Network penetration tests should be performed to protect your business from common network-based attacks including:

• Firewall wrong configuration and Firewall bypass
• IPS/IDS Evasion Attacks
• Router Attacks
• DNS Level Attacks:
  • Zone Transfer Attacks
  • Switching Or Routing Based Attacks
• SSH Attacks
• Proxy Server Attacks
• Unnecessary Open Ports Attacks
• Database Attacks
• Man In The Middle (MITM) Attacks
• FTP/SMTP Based Attacks

Given that a network provides mission-critical services to a business, it is recommended that both internal and external network penetration tests be performed at least annually. This will provide your business with adequate coverage to protect against these attack vectors.