Pentest | Manual vs. automated explained:

Penetration testing, often simply referred to as ‘pentesting’, is crucial for organizations that want to assess their resilience to potential cyber threats and are committed to identifying weaknesses in their network, application or platform.

At DeepBlue Security & Intelligence, our teams of highly experienced specialists simulate real-life attacks on your organization's digital infrastructure to discover security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. We do this in any desired form. And always in teams of at least 2 hackers to be able to verify quickly and minimize the burden on your organization.

When it comes to pentesting, organizations have, in addition to variants such as 'Black box' or 'White box', two different approaches to consider first: a manual or an automated penetration test. Each approach offers unique strengths and limitations that should align with the specific security objectives of your organization. Whether it’s to gain a comprehensive picture of the current cybersecurity level or to just meet regulatory requirements (the well-known ‘check mark’), selecting the right method is crucial to maximizing the value of your investment.

Penetration Testing According to OWASP

In the cybersecurity landscape, penetration testing refers to authorized simulated attacks designed to evaluate the security effectiveness of an organization’s defenses across systems, applications, and network components. At DeepBlue Security & Intelligence, we use a methodology that at least meets or exceeds the standards outlined in the various phases of OWASP, namely:

• Planning and Investigation

• Scanning

• Exploitation/Gaining Access

• Maintaining Access

• Reporting

• Retesting

This structured approach ensures a thorough investigation, allowing organizations to bridge security gaps, document vulnerabilities, and strengthen compliance efforts.

Manual Penetration Testing

Manual penetration testing is an intensive, specialist-driven process involving a team of security experts. By leveraging our expertise and vast experience, our expert hackers combine tools with creative attack strategies tailored to your organization’s unique context. This approach often takes place in phases, starting with reconnaissance and vulnerability scanning, followed by an in-depth analysis and exploitation phase where our hackers’ knowledge and experience are invaluable in identifying potential weaknesses. Unlike automated solutions, manual penetration testing provides insights that are far more sophisticated than automated scans, identifying logical flaws and revealing complex vulnerabilities that would otherwise remain hidden.

A manual penetration test includes:

Hacking with experience: A manual approach enables adaptive testing methodologies that are tailored to the infrastructure, application logic, and known threat profiles specific to your organization.

Comprehensive analysis and verification: Every discovered vulnerability undergoes real-time validation, reducing the risk of false positives and providing robust, actionable information for remediation.

Contextual Risk Analysis: Our hackers provide a risk perspective that goes beyond the technical description and provides nuanced guidance for mitigation.

Automated Penetration Testing

Automated penetration testing, on the other hand, relies on pre-configured software tools designed to scan and evaluate known vulnerabilities. This approach is popular for its speed and cost-effectiveness, especially for organizations with limited budgets or resources to invest in extensive testing.

Key features of automated testing include:

High Scalability: Our automated testing tools allow us to quickly cover large systems and deliver consistent results across large-scale infrastructures.

Efficiency: Automated penetration testing requires minimal setup time, allowing your organization to perform regular security assessments with relatively low overhead.

Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to manual testing, our automated tests are a more budget-friendly option, especially when continuous monitoring is required.

However, these benefits come with limitations. Automated tools may not detect logical errors, contextual security issues, or complex vulnerabilities that require human insight. In addition, automated scans frequently produce false positive results, which can overwhelm security teams with additional (validation) tasks and ultimately erode confidence in the results.

When should you choose which option?

To determine the best approach, you need to determine your organization’s unique needs, objectives, and risk appetite, and of course, budget.

Manual Penetration Testing: Ideal for organizations with complex digital environments, regulatory compliance requirements, or organizations that need to validate high-value applications, personal data, and sensitive data flows. Our manual testing provides a highly detailed and nuanced view of your organization’s security vulnerabilities, delivering actionable intelligence that is absolutely essential for a robust security strategy.

Automated Penetration Testing: Suitable for rapid, frequent testing of extensive digital footprints where budget is limited. Automated penetration testing provides a high-level, broad overview, keeping your organization continuously informed of known vulnerabilities in the network, especially for less complex assets.

So?

The choice between manual and automated penetration testing depends on understanding your organization’s security goals, risk exposure, budget, and compliance requirements. While automated testing can provide rapid, scalable assessments, our manual testing delivers deep insights and nuanced risk perspectives that are critical for organizations with complex, high-stakes environments.

‍

‍

DeepBlue combines

Our specialists prefer to use a combination of both forms according to our hybrid model, combining primarily manual but also automated testing methodologies during our penetration testing. This combination enables us to combine the speed and scalability of automation with the experience, expertise, and contextual depth of our hackers. We leverage AI-driven insights alongside human validation, providing comprehensive vulnerability assessments with context while maintaining the cost-effectiveness and rapid assessment capabilities of automated testing.

‍

Would you like to know more about our approach with regards to pentesting?

‍www.deepbluesecurity.nl || info@deepbluesecurity.nl || 070-800 2025

‍