The History of Penetration Testing

Penetration testing (also known as "pen testing") is a type of security evaluation that involves attempting to gain unauthorized access to computer systems and networks. It is used to find weaknesses in security architecture, system configurations, and procedures to identify potential vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. Penetration testing is essential to any organization's security strategy and can help them detect and prevent attacks before they occur.

The history of penetration testing goes back nearly as far as the advent of computers themselves. Computer scientists and researchers used the earliest forms of pen testing to test the security of their systems, looking for ways that hackers may be able to bypass or exploit their systems' defenses. As computing technology evolved, so did the need for more sophisticated security measures. So, companies started hiring ethical hackers, also known as "white hats," who would try to break into their systems to find holes in their security protocols and architectures that could be fixed or made more challenging to break into.

At the beginning of the 2000s, when there were many more ways to connect to the Internet, companies realized they needed outside experts who could do full network vulnerability assessments. These assessments not only tested for weaknesses in technical systems but also for human-related issues such as weak user authentication policies or social engineering tactics employed by malicious attackers.

This ushered in a new era of penetration testing, where professionals were hired to analyze the physical and virtual properties of an organization's information infrastructure to identify potential vulnerabilities before they became exploited by malicious actors. This ushered in a new era of penetration testing, where professionals were hired to analyze the physical and virtual properties of an organization's information infrastructure to identify potential vulnerabilities before they became exploited by malicious actors.

Today, human driven pentesting has become a critical component of any effective cyber-security strategy. Organizations know that they can never be completely safe from attack, but they also know that if they can find potential weaknesses before they are used against them, they can fix them before any damage is done.