Offensive Security
What is Penetration Testing?
Also known as: Pen Testing
Penetration testing is an authorized, simulated attack against a system, network, or application to identify and safely exploit security weaknesses. It matters because it validates whether vulnerabilities are actually exploitable and demonstrates real business impact, going beyond a list of theoretical flaws.
Example
A tester chains a weak password policy and an exposed admin panel to gain access to an internal customer database, then reports the exact path used.
Reference: NIST ↗
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