Background

External Network
Penetration Testing

Your external attack surface is your organization's front door. Palo Alto Networks reports that 43% of cyberattacks target SMBs, with 60% going out of business within 6 months of a breach. Test your perimeter before attackers find the gaps.

43%
Attacks target SMBs
Palo Alto Networks 2023
60%
SMBs close post-breach
National Cyber Security Alliance

See also: Internal Network Testing

Your External Attack Surface

Every public-facing service is a potential entry point. According to SANS, the average organization has 10-15 internet-exposed services they don't know about.

High

Web Services

Public websites, web applications, admin panels, development sites, forgotten subdomains

High

Email Systems

Exchange, SMTP servers, webmail portals, email security gateways, DNS records

Critical

VPN & Remote Access

SSL VPN, IPSec endpoints, RDP gateways, remote desktop services, Citrix/VMware

Medium

Network Services

DNS servers, FTP/SFTP, file shares, database services, management interfaces

High

APIs & Integrations

REST APIs, webhooks, third-party integrations, microservices, partner portals

Critical

Security Appliances

Firewalls, WAF, load balancers, IDS/IPS with management interfaces exposed

External Testing Methodology

Simulating real-world attackers from the internet with zero prior knowledge of your infrastructure.

Phase 1: Reconnaissance

OSINT gathering from public sources
DNS enumeration and subdomain discovery
IP range identification
Technology fingerprinting
Employee email and social media harvesting
Third-party service identification

Phase 2: Service Discovery

Port scanning and service enumeration
SSL/TLS certificate analysis
HTTP header and banner grabbing
Cloud asset identification (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Shadow IT discovery
Misconfigured services detection

Phase 3: Vulnerability Assessment

Known CVE identification
Misconfigurations and weak settings
Authentication mechanism testing
Default credentials checking
Encryption and certificate validation
Patch level assessment

Phase 4: Exploitation

Exploit development and execution
Authentication bypass attempts
Initial access establishment
Proof-of-concept demonstration
Business impact assessment
Evidence collection and documentation

Common External Vulnerabilities

The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog lists over 1,000 actively exploited vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems.

Unpatched Systems

Critical

Outdated software with known CVEs being actively exploited in the wild

Weak Authentication

Critical

Default credentials, weak passwords, no MFA on external services

Exposed Admin Panels

High

Management interfaces, databases, or internal tools accessible from internet

SSL/TLS Misconfigurations

Medium

Expired certificates, weak ciphers, protocol vulnerabilities

Information Disclosure

Medium

Verbose error messages, directory listings, sensitive data in HTML/JS

Forgotten/Shadow IT

High

Development servers, testing environments, deprecated systems still online

Secure Your Perimeter
Before Attackers Do

External penetration testing from an internet attacker's perspective. Identify and fix vulnerabilities in your public-facing systems before they're exploited.

Schedule External Assessment