Pentesting, or penetration testing, is a specific skill used to perform ethical hacking to proactively identify potential security threats at an organization. When interviewing for a cybersecurity role with this responsibility, hiring managers like to know that you’re familiar with the common terms and processes they use. Learning about these common interview questions can help you prepare when interviewing for roles like penetration tester or penetration testing engineer. In this article, we discuss 35 common pentesting interview questions and share sample answers you can use when preparing for an interview.
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Additional pentesting interview questions
Here are some additional questions you might experience:
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What’s your process when pentesting?
This question tells interviewers how you apply the standards of pentesting with your own process. Consider explaining the steps you take to prepare for a new test, techniques you use, the tasks you perform and how you complete testing.
Example: “First, I evaluate the software that requires testing to decide which technique to use. In my previous role, I primarily performed web application testing, where I would spend a lot of time with reconnaissance and scanning to identify any vulnerabilities. Once complete, Id investigate what data was vulnerable and try to hack as much as possible. With this information, we could decide on the risk level and implement security measures.”
1 Have you worked on the different pentest teams?
Interviewers might ask about which areas of pentesting with which youre most familiar. This can include your experience on the red, blue or purple team when testing. Consider citing a specific project where you worked on one of these teams, what your role was and how you interacted with the others.
Example: “When migrating our systems to a cloud server, we performed penetration testing to evaluate security risks. I worked on the red team, so I had to act as the hacker. I created several scenarios where I thought we were most vulnerable. Working with the purple team, who had extensive knowledge of both threats and protection, they provided information about how the blue team planned to address attacks, so I thought of different injection methods where they might lack preparation.”
Interview questions 1. Describe the concept of information security. As the name implies, information security, or Infosec, is the process of protecting information by reducing the risks associated with it. Basically, it’s the process of preventing unauthorized access to or use of information.
Exploiting network services: An adversary can get access to information unavailable networks or sensitive information by exploiting unencrypted or insecure network services.
White-Box Testing: This type of pentest is also referred to as clear-box testing. In these cases, the pentester has some detailed knowledge of the Web service that they are about to attack and its fundamental source code.
22. Define Steganography? In Steganography, a message is hidden and then delivered to a recipient without the recipient being able to identify the message. However, the message is encrypted in cryptography and the presence of the message itself is disguised in steganography.
8. In what way is Pen testing different from attack surface management? In contrast to Vulnerability Management and Attack Surface Management, Penetration Testing really seeks to exploit the vulnerabilities that have been identified by Vulnerability and Attack Surface Management. Depending on the type of engagement, a Penetration Test will validate a variety of technological security safeguards. Look at things like multifactor authentication, and make sure it’s enforced, and maybe look at increased password security, network segmentation, and also make sure things like your endpoint detection system are on point in spotting some of the major risks that are out there.
RedTeam Security provides its cybersecurity expertise to organizations in a range of industries, including healthcare, finance, critical infrastructure, commerce and more. Our red team engagement isnt finished when we hand over the report. We stick around to offer expert support as you prioritize and remediate based on or findings, and remediation retesting is always free. Request a free security consultation with our team of experts today.
Additionally, while you dont want to tell everyone at your organization about the red teaming before it happens (that can undermine the reliability of results as your team may be more on guard than normal), there has to be someone on your team that is an always-available point of contact. Yes, that means 24/7, for the duration. Having someone on the inside, aware of the engagement, authorized to act can help ensure any issues are quickly resolved.
Just as red teaming is about being proactive in the face of cyber threats, take the necessary steps in advance to ensure the safety of everyone involved. If theres a fierce guard dog at a warehouse, its a good idea to let your partner know. Certainly, if there are armed guards the team might surprise when attempting to access the physical premises, thats need-to-know information too.
Knowing whether you have done this type of testing before helps red teamers anticipate what they might encounter. For instance, it helps to know if your employees have been through this type of engagement before. Past red team findings and remediation efforts would also be useful to share. Additionally, youre more likely to know your appetite for risk, which can help you and your red team partner make smart choices about level of testing, techniques, and procedures.
Aiming to identify and understand the motivations of the bad actors who might attack can help red teamers to determine what types of tactics, techniques, and procedures are most likely to be used and, in turn, determine the appropriate red team scenarios to employ. Anticipating the level of organization, depth of resources, and passion to succeed, can help determine the red teaming activities necessary. And if you dont know your threat actors? Thats something your red team partner can help you think through.
What is the difference between Bandwidth, Delay and Latency?
Here you’re looking for a quick comeback for any position that will involve system administration (see system security). If they don’t know how to change their DNS server in the two most popular operating systems in the world, then you’re likely working with someone very junior or otherwise highly abstracted from the real world. Source: Daniel Miessler
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