VAPT Testing Report from Top Cyber Security Company

We are rated as one of the top cyber security companies, providing network, web and mobile security testing services. These services are typically called as VAPT testing, or Pentesting. We use a highly technical and methodical approach to form a checklist. We are one of the best network VAPT testing companies in India and aborad as recognized by our customers. Each customer has a different cybe security posture that we study and perform pentesting for them. Also each networks' security requirements are different. At a high level, we take into account the following items to perform a network vulnerability assessment followed by a detailed network penetration testing of IT infrastructure.

  • Information gathering
  • Network port scanning
  • Perform fingerprinting
  • Perform vulnerability scanning
  • Identify hosts and footprint
  • Perform OS detection
  • Enumerate services
  • Find insecure services
  • Find insecure databases and components
  • Exploit vulnerabilities
Network Vulnerability Pentesting Security Testing Services, Network VAPT Checklist

Network Security Testing Process:

Before Testing Starts

  • Sign NDA

  • Freeze on scope

  • Study Cloud App Architecture

  • Study Cloud User Roles

  • Decide attack vectors and prioritize

  • Allocate single point of contact

During Testing

  • Black box testing

  • Gray box testing

  • Automatic and Manual Testing

  • Testing Phases

  • Reconnaissance

Ethical Hacking

  • Scanning

  • Gaining Access

  • Maintaining Access

  • Covering Tracks

  • Gathering Logs

After Testing

  • Analyse logs

  • Confirm results

  • Apply Knowledge

  • Apply Experience

  • Repeat Test if required

Testing Outcome

  • Detailed technical report

  • Executive summary

  • High level fixation solutions

  • ISO27001:2013 Compliance


Network Pentesting Tools

Valency Networks uses highly technical industry standard tools to perform vulnerability scanning, vulnerability assessment and the network penetration testing. While the tools certainly add value in saving time and automating the process, primarily a manual testing approach is used.

A team of certified experts capture logs, analyze those and corroborate the vulnerabilities. This is done to mimic real life hackers, thus further increasing the accuracy of the results. Following a high level list of tools that we use in network pentesting.

  • Kali Linux tools
  • Nmap scanner
  • Retina scanner
  • Nessus scanner
  • Nexpose scanner
  • NSE scripts
  • Telnet and other TCPIP tools
  • Packet crafters and injectors

For a more elaborate list of network VAPT tools, feel free to refer to this page.


What to expect in a pentesting (VAPT) report?

Penetration Testing, Security Audit

Our report makes us one of the best network security pentesting companies. This is because it carries simplicity, avoids jargon and yet provides a highly technical material pertaining to solutions. Our VAPT report is different than others because it is not an outcome of a tool, but a combination of logs, tools output and manual pentesting efforts carried out. Below are some features of our network VAPT report.

  • Executive summary to narrate the report for senior management
  • Detailed technical vulnerability description for network experts to understand
  • Detailed network security fixation steps for network engineers to perform fixation
  • Vulnerabilities categorized into Critical, High and Low severities
  • Reference links and videos pointing to aid in the fixation process
  • Sent in a confidential manner to protect privacy

A Network VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing) report which is also called as a VAPT Testing Report, is a critical deliverable that provides a comprehensive overview of the findings, vulnerabilities, and recommended remediation actions resulting from the assessment. The report is typically shared with the client or stakeholders to help them understand the security posture of their network and take appropriate actions. Here's what should be included in a network VAPT report:

1. Executive Summary:

• A high-level summary of the assessment's objectives, methodology, key findings, and recommendations.
• An overview of the network's overall security posture and potential risks. The purpose of such test is to get a scan report, containing the vulnerability scan results. The vulnerability report contains all technical details, which lets the IT team decide on overall vulnerability management.

2. Scope and Objectives:

• Clear documentation of the assessment's scope, including the network segments, systems, and applications assessed.
• Specific objectives and goals of the VAPT.

3. Methodology:

• Explanation of the testing methodology employed, such as the tools and techniques used during the assessment.

4. Detailed Findings:

• Comprehensive information on each discovered vulnerability, including:
• Vulnerability name and identifier (e.g., CVE)
• Description of the vulnerability
• Severity level (e.g., CVSS score)
• Affected systems or services
• Proof of concept (PoC) or evidence of exploitation
• Recommendations for remediation

5. Risk Assessment:

• An assessment of the risk associated with each vulnerability, including potential impact and likelihood of exploitation.
• Prioritization of vulnerabilities based on their criticality.

6. Recommendations:

• Specific, actionable recommendations for mitigating or remediating the identified vulnerabilities.
• Guidance on implementing security best practices to enhance network security.

7. Technical Details:

• Detailed technical information for IT and security teams to understand the vulnerabilities and how they were discovered.
• Network diagrams, system configurations, and any relevant logs or data.

8. Screenshots and Logs:

• Visual evidence of successful exploitation or configuration issues.
• Log files and captured data to support findings.

9. Compliance and Regulatory Considerations:

• Identification of vulnerabilities that may impact compliance with industry regulations, standards, or legal requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS).

10. Appendices:

• Any additional technical information, scripts, or tools used during the assessment.
• Glossary of terms, if necessary.

11. Conclusion:

• A summary of the overall security posture of the network.
• The impact of the vulnerabilities on the network's security.

12. Acknowledgments and Contacts:

• A list of individuals or teams involved in the assessment.
• Contact information for questions or clarifications.

13. Legal Disclaimer:

• A statement outlining the ethical and legal boundaries of the assessment.
• A reminder of the importance of obtaining proper authorization for the test.
The report should be clear, well-organized, and easy to understand for both technical and non-technical stakeholders. It's crucial to ensure that the findings and recommendations are actionable and that clients or organizations can use the report to improve their network's security. Additionally, follow-up meetings or discussions may be necessary to address any questions or concerns and provide guidance on implementing remediation measures.


What are the 5 reasons to network security problem?

Unknown Assets on the Network
Many businesses these days fail to keep a complete inventory of all the IT assets that they own and are tied into their network. This causes a massive problem.

Abuse of User Account Privileges
According to data cited by the Harvard Business Review, "60% of all attacks were carried out by insiders." Whether it's because of honest mistakes (accidentally sending information to the wrong recipients or losing a work device), intentional data breaches and privilege escalation, or any social engineering attacks that compromise the users account data, the people in the organization/ business represent one of the greatest security threats.

Since these threats are from trusted or known users and systems, they're also the hardest to identify and stop.

Unpatched Security Vulnerabilities
Many businesses are concerned with "zero day" exploits. These exploits include unknown issues with security in programs and systems that are not yet been used against anyone. However, zero-day vulnerabilities aren't the actual problem-unpatched known vulnerabilities are the problem.

Attackers usually implement known exploits. In fact, as noted in an online article, "The Verizon Data Breach Report 2016 revealed that out of all detected exploits, most came from vulnerabilities dating to 2007. Next was 2011." In fact, Vulnerabilities that are almost a decade old have been accounted for most of the breaches.

A Lack of Defense in Depth
In spite of all best security practices, there can still be a day where the hacker succeeds in breaching your network security. However, the damage the attacker will be capable of depends on how the network is structured. Businesses that have an open network structure are at great risk, because once an attacker is inside an open network, they have free access to all systems on the network.

Not Enough IT Security Management
Many companies now face this issue of not having enough people in place to properly manage the best cybersecurity solutions which are put in place. Due to this, critical cybersecurity alerts get missed, and successful attacks gets eliminated in time to reduce damage.

How is pentesting (VAPT) carried out?

Pentesting, short for penetration testing, is a cybersecurity practice used to identify and evaluate vulnerabilities in a computer system, network, or application. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is a broader approach that combines vulnerability scanning with penetration testing. Here is a general overview of how pentesting (VAPT) is carried out:

1. Preparation:

• Define the scope: Determine the scope of the pentest, including the systems, networks, or applications to be tested.
• Obtain proper authorization: Ensure that you have explicit permission from the system or network owner to conduct the test. Unauthorized pentesting can be illegal.

2. Information Gathering:

• Gather information about the target: Collect information about the target systems, such as IP addresses, domain names, network configurations, and application details.

3. Vulnerability Scanning:

• Use automated tools like vulnerability scanners to identify known weaknesses in the target. These tools can detect vulnerabilities like outdated software, missing patches, and misconfigurations.

4. Analysis and Planning:

• Review the results of the vulnerability scanning to understand the potential vulnerabilities in the target.
• Plan the penetration testing approach, considering both automated and manual testing methods.

5. Pentesting Execution:

• Conduct manual testing: Security experts simulate real-world attacks to exploit vulnerabilities found in the previous stages. This may involve attempting to gain unauthorized access, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and other malicious actions.
• Exploit vulnerabilities: If a vulnerability is discovered, the pentester will try to exploit it to assess the potential impact.
• Evaluate the risk: Assess the risk associated with each vulnerability, considering the likelihood of exploitation and the potential impact.

6. Documentation:

• Record findings: Document all vulnerabilities, including their severity, potential impact, and steps to reproduce. Screenshots, logs, and other evidence may be included.VAPT Report needs to be elaborate and its an art to write a good report. This article explains What To Look For In A VAPT Report
• Provide recommendations: Offer suggestions on how to mitigate or remediate the discovered vulnerabilities.

7. Reporting:

• Generate a detailed report: Create a comprehensive report that includes an executive summary, technical details, risk assessment, and recommendations for remediation.
• Share the report with the stakeholders: Discuss the findings and recommendations with the system owners, IT teams, or other relevant parties.

8. Remediation and Retesting:

• Collaborate with the target organization to fix the identified vulnerabilities.
• After remediation, conduct another round of testing to confirm that the vulnerabilities have been effectively addressed.

9. Follow-up and Post-Testing Actions:

• Ensure all issues are resolved and verify that the systems are secure.
• Provide guidance and assistance for improving the overall security posture.

Pentesting is an iterative process, and it should be conducted regularly, especially after significant changes to the systems or applications. It helps organizations identify and address security weaknesses to enhance their overall cybersecurity posture.

How exactly is Network Penetration Testing (VAPT) conducted?

Network Penetration Testing (VAPT testing) is a proactive cybersecurity practice that involves simulating cyberattacks on a network to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses that malicious actors could exploit. The goal is to assess the network's security posture and provide recommendations for improving its resilience. Here's a step-by-step overview of how Network Penetration Testing is conducted:

1. Preparation:
• Scoping: Define the scope of the penetration test, including the IP ranges, systems, and network segments that are within the scope of the test. Be clear about what should and should not be tested.
• Authorization: Obtain proper authorization from the network owner or organization, as penetration testing without authorization can be illegal.
• Rules of Engagement: Establish rules of engagement that specify the limitations, constraints, and objectives of the test.

2. Information Gathering:
• Reconnaissance: Collect information about the network, such as IP addresses, domain names, network architecture, and publicly available information about the organization. This information can help testers identify potential attack vectors.

3. Vulnerability Scanning:
• Use automated scanning tools to identify known vulnerabilities in network services, devices, and applications. Vulnerability scanners can detect issues like outdated software, missing patches, and misconfigurations.

4. Analysis and Planning:
• Review the results of the vulnerability scans to understand the potential vulnerabilities. • Develop a testing plan that outlines the methods and techniques that will be used to test the network.

5. Penetration Testing Execution:
• Conduct manual testing: Skilled security experts simulate real-world attacks to exploit vulnerabilities discovered during the scanning phase. This may involve attempting to gain unauthorized access, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and other malicious actions. • Exploit vulnerabilities: If a vulnerability is discovered, the penetration tester will attempt to exploit it to understand the potential impact. • Capture and document successful exploits, including screenshots and logs.

6. Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement:
• If an initial compromise is achieved, testers may attempt to move laterally through the network, exploring additional vulnerabilities and gaining access to other systems or segments.

7. Privilege Escalation:
• Attempt to escalate privileges to gain higher-level access within the network.

8. Documentation:
• Record findings: Document all vulnerabilities, including their severity, potential impact, and steps to reproduce. Include screenshots, logs, and other evidence. • Note successful exploitation and any critical findings.

9. Reporting:
• Generate a comprehensive report that includes:
• A detailed summary of the testing process.
• A list of identified vulnerabilities, their severity, and potential impact.
• Recommendations for remediation.
• Proof of concept for successful exploits.
• Detailed technical information to support findings.

10. Remediation and Retesting:
• Work with the organization to fix the identified vulnerabilities.
• After remediation, conduct another round of testing to confirm that the vulnerabilities have been effectively addressed.

11. Follow-up and Post-Testing Actions:
• Ensure that all issues are resolved and that the network is secure.
• Provide guidance and assistance for improving the overall security posture.
Network Penetration Testing is an ongoing process, and regular testing is recommended, especially after significant changes to the network or its architecture. It helps organizations identify and address security weaknesses, ultimately strengthening their cybersecurity defenses.

What are the security issues in networking?

  1. DDoS
  2. Data Breaches
  3. Malicious Insider
  4. Malware Injection

What is the difference between external and internal network pentesting?

External and internal network penetration testing (VAPT testing) are two different approaches to evaluating the security of a network. They focus on different aspects of an organization's cybersecurity and have distinct goals and scopes. Here are the key differences between external and internal network penetration testing:

External Network Penetration Testing:
1. Scope: External network penetration testing focuses on assessing the security of the network from an external perspective, as if an attacker is trying to breach the network from the internet or an external network.
2. Objectives:
• Identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by external threat actors, such as hackers, who have no prior access to the internal network.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of perimeter security measures, like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and access controls.
• Detect and assess potential attack vectors, such as open ports, exposed services, and web applications accessible from the internet.
3. Typical Tests:
• Scanning for open ports and services.
• Assessing the security of external-facing web applications.
• Testing the effectiveness of firewalls and intrusion prevention systems.
• Identifying vulnerabilities in externally accessible systems.
4. Challenges:
• Limited knowledge about the internal network.
• May not reflect the security of internal systems or threats originating from within the organization.
Internal Network Penetration Testing:
1. Scope: Internal network penetration testing evaluates the security of the network from an insider's perspective, assuming an attacker has some level of access to the internal network.
2. Objectives:
• Identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by an insider, such as an employee or contractor.
• Assess the effectiveness of internal security controls, user access controls, and segmentation between network segments.
• Identify lateral movement opportunities for an attacker who has already breached the network.
3. Typical Tests:
• Testing for weak or default credentials.
• Assessing the security of internal applications and services.
• Examining network segmentation and access controls.
• Evaluating the ability to escalate privileges within the internal network.
4. Challenges:
• Requires a higher level of trust and access within the organization.
• Focuses on insider threats and may not detect external vulnerabilities or threats.
In practice, both external and internal network penetration testing are essential for a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. External testing helps protect against external threats, while internal testing addresses the potential risks posed by insiders, such as employees or contractors with malicious intent or inadvertently insecure behaviour. Organizations often use a combination of these testing methodologies to create a robust security posture that safeguards against a wide range of threats.

What is the best network security?

Listed below are security practices to be followed to achieve network security:

  • Performing security audit and mapping
  • Keeping the network patched.
  • Physically securing the network.
  • Implementing MAC address filtering.
  • Implementing VLANs to segregate traffic.
  • Using 802.1X for authentication.
  • Using VPNs to encrypt select PCs or servers.
  • Encrypting the entire network.

Why is network security needed?

Network security is essential to protect the personal data of clients existing on network and to facilitate protection of information that is shared between computers on the network. Having a secure network can prevent hacking attempts or virus / spyware attacks from the internet as the primary goal of network security is Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. To maintain secure platform for computers, users, and programs, network security is important to protect networking infrastructure from unauthorized access, misuse, malfunction, modification, destruction, or improper disclosure.

What are the 4 types of IT security ?

Every organization has some data to protect. The data, if stolen can cause huge damage to an organization both reputational and financial. Hence, it becomes vital to secure all the paths via which one can access data.

Here is when IT Security comes in play. It is nothing but deploying strategies that can guarantee end to end security to protect the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of data whether it is in transit or at rest.

  1. Application Security:
    With almost entire population being dependant on one or the other kind of application to get their job done, it has really become important to tighten the security around them. Applications can be of any kind such as Websites, Mobile apps, Cloud hosted apps so on and so forth.

    It is always better to introduce security way early into the development of application rather than doing it later. It is also important to do the timely evaluation of your application against vulnerabilities.

  2. Network Security:
    Once the attacker is in your network, there is no way to stop him from doing the damage. Hence, network security both internal and external becomes crucial to the well-being of an organization. It makes sure to restrict access to only those who are supposed to be accessing the network.

    A detail vulnerability scan of your network can help analyse the loose points one can exploit.

  3. Cloud Security:
    Cloud came as a blessing to many organizations who were investing in a great deal of resources just to maintain servers. It helped a lot organizations strengthen their Business Continuity Plans. With organizations moving their entire data to the cloud, it has become a favourite target of attackers.

    It is vital to configure cloud securely and in the best interest of the business. There have been recent cases where in AWS S3 buckets were leaked and lot of data was gone due to making them accessible to public. A cloud access security broker can be used tighten the cloud security.

  4. Internet Security:
    It involves protecting the data that is coming in and going out of your device, browser etc. It makes sure that the data is not altered or spoofed and thus maintains the integrity. This can be achieved by encrypting the data in transit out of many solutions. Firewalls can be used and deployed on the device to filter out the traffic that could pose a harm to the security of the data.

What are cyber security risks?

Cyber security risk is a risk that could potentially harm the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the data through an attack either on asset, network or an application.

Most common cyber security risks are as below

  • Ransomware: The ransomware attack has been active for a while. It has a potential to do great volumes of damage to an organization. A lot of organizations have gone bankrupt and had to shut down their businesses.
    The attack involves encrypting data on the machine. The data is held hostage until some price demanded by an attacker is paid.
  • Phishing: It is a kind of a social engineering attack which involves persuading someone to click on a malicious link to steal credentials and data. This attacks are very well crafted and can be spread through email attachments, links.
    Awareness plays an important role here. It is important to verify the source of a message, email before downloading or clicking on anything.
  • Man in the middle attack: The attacks involves hijacking an active communication between two systems or two entities. Once hijacked, an attacker can either steal the information that is being shared or he can modify or alter the content affecting its integrity.
    Some of the ways to prevent would be to encrypt the data in transit by using stronger encryption algorithm, enforce https and making sure that only private network is used for communication and exchange of data.
  • SQL injection: Since database has its own language, this attacks makes use of carefully crafted SQL queries to interact with backend database and fetch data from it. It is crucial to filter the data that is being injected into input fields so as to make it avoid interact with the database.
  • DDOS attack: This attack attempts to overwhelm the target with constant flow of requests either from one or different sources. The end goal is to make target slow and unavailable to people using it.

What is network VAPT?

  • Network VAPT is a type of security testing that can be done either manually or by using tools to ensure that the network is not exhibiting any means of evasion.
  • Vulnerability Assessment involves finding security holes i.e. vulnerabilities by scanning the entire network.
  • Penetration Testing involves exploiting the found vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the network.
More info can be found here: Network Security VAPT

How do you perform a network VAPT test ?

Network VAPT can be done in two ways, manual and automatic by using tools. To ensure the security of a network, it should be scanned thoroughly both internally and externally.

Network includes of all the network devices such as firewalls, switches, routers and all the devices that are connected within a network or outside.

A detailed assessment can shed light on the unwanted ports that are open, unsupported firmware, unpatched systems, poorly configured firewall rules, outdated software version, weak password policy so on and so forth.

Once the vulnerabilities are found, they can be further exploited to see the extent of damage they can do to the organization. This step is to be done very carefully since wrongfully executed test can do more harm than good to the network.

More info can be found here: Network Security VAPT

Does VAPT increases ROI on IT security?

It is said that the value of an asset is determined by the value of data being hosted by it. More critical the data, more critical the asset.

To ensure safety of the data, it is important to secure the asset first. This can be done by calculating the risks and its impact if they were exploited. Vulnerability Assessment does just the same. It analyses the asset be it a network asset such as firewall or a simple asset such as desktop for underlying risks and fixes it before an attacker can reach to them.

Timely assessment of vulnerabilities can help an organization decide which vulnerabilities to prioritize first based on the harm they can cause to a system. A good amount of investment in quality tools and skilled manpower now can tremendously benefit an organization in a long run.

This can also benefit an organization in gaining new customers and clients. VAPT builds a certain level of confidence among the organization due to a good sense and understanding of how far an organization is when it comes to security.

How pentesting differs in various operating systems?

Different operating systems are based upon different ideologies. Linux based operating systems like Kali, Pentoo Linux, Backbox Linux are specifically made with certain inbuilt tools, which helps the pen testers to works easily and with better grasp. On the other hand, Operating systems like Windows or OS X were mainly developed on the basis of user-friendly Graphical User Interface(GUI) based features, which helps a normal user to a great extent but restricts the developers/pen testers to scan/ access their system. But with time, different scanning tools like Nessus have been developed in all possible environments but still, it becomes more help for the pen testers to work on the command line on Linux based environments.

On the other hand, unlike Windows or Mac, Linux is open source. That implies the source code of OS is open and available to everyone. Hence anyone can change and manipulate it to gain more access and more vulnerability to the system and also deploy controls to avoid the same. That leads to the point that environments like Linux are more transparent, the developers at Microsoft works hard to make it impossible for anyone outside to understand the inner workings of the operating system hence making it hard for the pen testers to work on it.

Above all, it becomes pretty clear that every environment has its own advantages, but for pen testing, Linux environments are more preferable over the other present OS in the market due to universalistic nature and opensource availability. But still, various tools are available in cross-platform basis providing similar experience making the work of pen testers easier.


Our Culture

Valency Networks is a very agile, friendly and fun loving atmosphere and yet we maintain a cutting edge technical vibrant work environment.