{"id":27058,"date":"2022-04-21T15:28:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T15:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/easydmarc.com\/blog\/?p=27058"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:21:28","slug":"what-are-the-5-stages-of-penetration-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/easydmarc.com\/blog\/what-are-the-5-stages-of-penetration-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the 5 Stages of Penetration Testing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As per Cyberwarfare in the C-suite Report, global cybercrimes are anticipated to grow by 15% year-over-year until 2025. This expands to\u00a0 $10.5 trillion annually, up from $3 million in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, people working in small businesses are targeted by <\/span>350% more social engineering<\/span><\/a>\u00a0attacks than large firms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds scary, right? So, what’s the solution to this global issue? The answer is penetration testing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a technique to attack your own system and check vulnerable points. The insights gained from pen testing help businesses deploy the right cybersecurity protocols to bar entry of real threat actors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, there are five <\/span>stages of penetration testing<\/b>. Continue reading to learn about them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Planning and Scoping<\/b><\/h2>\n

This is the first among the <\/span>five <\/b>stages of penetration<\/b> testing<\/b>. <\/b>It involves planning to imitate a cyberattack. This helps gain information about entry points and loopholes in the security system.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s undoubtedly one of the most time-consuming <\/span>stages of penetration testing<\/b>.\u00a0 Experts must explore the elements of the IT structure, locate vulnerabilities, and see how the system responds to such <\/span>attacks<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They search for information related to clients, employees, finances, strategies, source coding, network topology, IP addresses, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This <\/span>phase of penetration testing<\/b> also includes researching open ports and apps that are prone to attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Testers use <\/span>penetration testing tools <\/span>depending on the depth and aim of the analysis. The type of elements targeted in the IT environment are also contributing factors. Common gathering approaches include <\/span>social engineering<\/span><\/a>, dumpster diving, and network scanning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dumpster diving is a way of attackers to obtain information which can be used for maintaining or establishing trust. This can even be a harmless document. On the other hand network scanning is used for finding all the active devices on a network. These are then mapped to their respective IP addresses to patch the exploiter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asset Discovery<\/b><\/h2>\n

Based on their findings in the primary stage, white-hat hackers scan the tools and plan on <\/span>how to do penetration testing step by step<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal of this second <\/span>stage of penetration testing<\/b> is to locate any weak points. They\u2019re potential access points for attackers. As such, all details must be noted properly as they\u2019ll support the next <\/span>penetration test stages<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attack Simulation and Exploitation<\/b><\/h2>\n

Followed by the first two <\/span>stages of a management penetration testing project<\/b>, this <\/span>stage of web penetration testing <\/b>aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the operational security controls by performing an actual attack on the structure.<\/span><\/p>\n

While exploiting the system, white-hat hackers try to go as deep into the system as possible to identify the intensity of vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is done in two ways:<\/span><\/p>\n