Learn about types of pen tests including web app, API, mobile, cloud, social engineering, physical, wireless, IoT, OT/ICS, container, supply chain and much more, through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) below. Please schedule a consultation if you are looking for Penetration Testing for compliance or regulatory requirements or to comply with a global security standard..
Table of Contents
What are the main types of penetration tests?
Penetration tests are categorized by target environment, and each type requires specialized tools, techniques, and expertise.
The main types of penetration tests are:
- External network penetration testing (targeting internet-facing systems)
- Internal network penetration testing (simulating an insider or attacker who has breached the perimeter)
- Web application penetration testing (targeting browser-based applications)
- API penetration testing (targeting application programming interfaces)
- Mobile application penetration testing (targeting iOS and Android apps)
- Cloud penetration testing (targeting AWS, Azure, and GCP environments)
- Social engineering penetration testing (targeting human behavior through phishing, vishing, and pretexting)
- Physical penetration testing (attempting unauthorized physical access to facilities)
- Wireless network penetration testing (targeting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth infrastructure)
- IoT penetration testing (targeting connected devices)
- OT/ICS penetration testing (targeting operational technology and industrial control systems)
- Container and Kubernetes penetration testing (targeting containerized infrastructure)
- Supply chain penetration testing (targeting third-party software and vendor integrations)
Most organizations require a combination of these types to achieve comprehensive coverage of their attack surface.
What is external network penetration testing?
External network penetration testing is a security assessment that simulates an attack launched from outside an organization’s network perimeter, the same perspective a real attacker would have before gaining any internal access. The tester begins with only publicly available information such as the organization’s domain names and IP ranges and attempts to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in internet-facing assets: firewalls, VPN gateways, web servers, email servers, DNS infrastructure, exposed APIs, and cloud-hosted services. External pen testing typically uncovers issues such as unpatched services, weak authentication on remote access portals, misconfigured firewall rules, exposed administrative interfaces, SSL/TLS vulnerabilities, and information leakage through DNS or web servers. Most compliance frameworks, including PCI DSS Requirement 11.4 and HIPAA guidance under 45 CFR 164.308(a)(8), require external penetration testing as a component of a complete security testing program.
What is internal network penetration testing?
Internal network penetration testing simulates an attack from inside an organization’s network, representing the threat from a malicious insider, a compromised employee workstation, or an attacker who has already breached the perimeter through phishing or another initial access vector. The tester is given a position on the internal network and attempts to escalate privileges, move laterally across systems, access sensitive data, and compromise critical infrastructure such as domain controllers, databases, and file servers. Internal network penetration tests commonly discover issues including weak Active Directory configurations, excessive user privileges, unpatched internal systems, insecure network shares, weak or reused credentials, and inadequate network segmentation. Given that the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found credential theft involved in 22 percent of breaches as the primary initial access vector, and that third-party involvement in breaches doubled to 30 percent in 2025, internal penetration testing is a critical component of any mature security program.
What is web application penetration testing?
Web application penetration testing is a security assessment focused on identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in browser-based applications, including customer portals, e-commerce platforms, SaaS applications, content management systems, and internal web tools. Testers use a combination of manual analysis and specialized tools such as Burp Suite to examine authentication mechanisms, authorization controls, input validation, session management, API endpoints, business logic, and data handling. The OWASP Top 10 2025, the current edition of the globally recognized list of the most critical web application security risks, released in November 2025, serves as the baseline checklist for any credible web application penetration test. Common findings include injection flaws, security misconfigurations, broken authentication, insecure direct object references (IDOR), and software supply chain failures. Web application penetration testing is required under PCI DSS Requirement 6.4.3 and is a core component of SOC 2 security assessments.
What is API penetration testing?
API penetration testing is a security assessment that focuses specifically on Application Programming Interfaces, the interfaces that allow software systems to communicate with each other, to identify vulnerabilities that standard web application testing may miss. Modern organizations expose APIs for mobile apps, third-party integrations, IoT devices, and microservices architectures, making APIs one of the largest and fastest-growing attack surfaces. API-specific vulnerabilities are catalogued in the OWASP API Security Top 10, most recently updated in 2023, which identifies risks including Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA), Broken Authentication, Broken Object Property Level Authorization, Unrestricted Resource Consumption, and Security Misconfiguration. API penetration testing requires specialized techniques for testing REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and WebSocket interfaces, and must account for authentication mechanisms such as OAuth 2.0, API keys, and JSON Web Tokens (JWTs). Gartner predicted that API attacks would become the most frequent attack vector by 2022, a prediction that has proven accurate based on subsequent breach data.
What is mobile application penetration testing?
Mobile application penetration testing is a security assessment of iOS and Android applications that examines how the app handles data storage, network communication, authentication, session management, and inter-process communication on the device. Testers analyze the application both statically (examining the code and binary without running it) and dynamically (running the application and monitoring its behavior in real time). Mobile pen testing commonly uncovers issues such as sensitive data stored in plaintext on the device, insecure API communications, weak or absent certificate pinning (which allows traffic interception), improper session token management, hardcoded credentials in the application binary, and excessive permissions requests. The OWASP Mobile Security Testing Guide (MSTG) provides the primary framework for mobile application security testing. Mobile penetration testing is particularly critical for healthcare apps handling ePHI under HIPAA, financial apps subject to FFIEC guidance, and any application processing payment card data under PCI DSS.
What is cloud penetration testing?
Cloud penetration testing is a security assessment of an organization’s cloud-hosted infrastructure, services, and configurations across platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It examines identity and access management (IAM) policies, storage configurations, network security groups, serverless functions, container environments, database exposures, logging and monitoring gaps, and the organization’s adherence to cloud security best practices. Cloud penetration testing differs from traditional network testing because cloud environments are API-driven, identity-centric, and governed by a shared responsibility model, meaning some security controls are the cloud provider’s responsibility and others belong to the customer. All three major cloud providers, AWS, Azure, and GCP, have acceptable use policies that customers must review before conducting penetration testing within their environments, and some activities require prior authorization.
What is social engineering penetration testing?
Social engineering penetration testing is a security assessment that targets human behavior rather than technical systems, simulating the psychological manipulation techniques real attackers use to trick employees into revealing credentials, clicking malicious links, bypassing security procedures, or granting unauthorized access. Social engineering tests can take multiple forms: phishing simulations (malicious emails), vishing (malicious phone calls), smishing (malicious SMS), pretexting (fabricating a false identity or scenario to extract information), and in-person impersonation. The goal is to measure an organization’s human security awareness and identify gaps in security training, policies, and procedures. Social engineering is a primary initial access vector for real attackers, the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report confirmed that the human element was involved in approximately 60 percent of breaches, making this type of testing directly relevant to actual threat conditions.
What is physical penetration testing?
Physical penetration testing is a security assessment that attempts to gain unauthorized physical access to an organization’s facilities, restricted areas, server rooms, data centers, or other physically controlled spaces. Testers use techniques such as tailgating (following authorized personnel through access-controlled doors), badge cloning, lock picking, social engineering of reception staff, and the planting of rogue network devices to assess the effectiveness of physical security controls. Physical penetration testing is often overlooked by organizations focused exclusively on digital security, but physical security failures can be as devastating as any cyber-attack, an attacker with physical access to a server room, network switch, or workstation can bypass most digital security controls entirely. Physical testing is a component of comprehensive red team engagements and is increasingly relevant under HIPAA’s proposed 2026 rule updates, which are expected to make physical safeguards more explicit requirements for covered entities.
What is wireless network penetration testing?
Wireless network penetration testing is a security assessment that evaluates the security of an organization’s Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth infrastructure, and other wireless communication channels. Testers assess the strength of wireless encryption protocols (WPA2 vs. WPA3), the security of authentication mechanisms, the presence of rogue access points, the segmentation between guest and corporate wireless networks, and the resistance of the network to deauthentication attacks and evil twin attacks. Common findings include use of deprecated WEP or WPA encryption, weak pre-shared keys vulnerable to brute force, inadequate wireless network segmentation that allows a guest network visitor to reach internal systems, and undocumented rogue access points installed without IT approval. Wireless penetration testing is particularly relevant for organizations with large office footprints, manufacturing facilities, healthcare environments, and retail locations with distributed point-of-sale systems.
What is IoT (Internet of Things) penetration testing?
IoT (Internet of Things) penetration testing is a security assessment of internet-connected devices, including smart cameras, industrial sensors, medical devices, building management systems, smart TVs, printers, and other networked equipment, that often run embedded operating systems with limited security controls. IoT devices are a rapidly expanding and frequently under-secured attack surface: with over 35 billion connected IoT devices deployed globally as of 2025, attackers increasingly target these devices as entry points into corporate networks, exploiting default credentials, unpatched firmware, insecure communication protocols, and poor network segmentation. IoT penetration testing examines device firmware, communication channels, authentication mechanisms, update processes, and physical interfaces such as JTAG and UART debug ports. Healthcare IoT, including connected medical devices and building systems, faces additional regulatory scrutiny under FDA cybersecurity guidance for medical device manufacturers.
What is OT/ICS (Operational Technology / Industrial Control System) penetration testing?
OT/ICS penetration testing is a specialized security assessment of operational technology environments, the industrial control systems, SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and industrial network infrastructure that manage physical processes in manufacturing, energy, utilities, water treatment, and critical infrastructure. OT/ICS pen testing requires a fundamentally different approach than IT penetration testing because the primary concern is operational continuity and physical safety, disrupting an industrial control system can cause equipment failure, environmental damage, or physical harm to personnel. Testing is typically conducted with extreme caution, often using passive techniques, network traffic analysis, and limited active probing during scheduled maintenance windows. The NIST SP 800-82 framework provides guidance for securing industrial control systems, and IEC 62443 is the international standard for OT cybersecurity. CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) has identified OT security as a top national priority given the threat of state-sponsored attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure.
What is a supply chain penetration test?
A supply chain penetration test is a security assessment that evaluates the risks introduced into an organization’s environment through its third-party software vendors, technology partners, managed service providers, and open-source dependencies. Supply chain attacks, exemplified by the 2020 SolarWinds compromise, which affected over 18,000 organizations including multiple U.S. federal agencies, exploit trusted relationships between organizations and their technology suppliers. A supply chain penetration test examines the security of third-party integrations and APIs, the permissions granted to vendor accounts, the security of software build and update pipelines, the risks of open-source library dependencies, and the access that managed service providers have to the organization’s environment. Testing may include attempting to exploit overly permissive vendor access, testing the integrity of software update mechanisms, and assessing the organization’s ability to detect unauthorized third-party activity. Supply chain penetration testing is increasingly required under frameworks such as CMMC 2.0 and is referenced in SEC cybersecurity disclosure guidance.
What is container and Kubernetes penetration testing?
Container and Kubernetes penetration testing is a security assessment of containerized application environments, including Docker containers, Kubernetes clusters, and container orchestration infrastructure, to identify misconfigurations, privilege escalation paths, and security weaknesses specific to cloud-native architectures. Kubernetes has become the dominant container orchestration platform, running the majority of cloud-native workloads, and introduces a distinct set of security risks including misconfigured RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) policies that grant excessive permissions, exposed Kubernetes API servers, container escape vulnerabilities that allow an attacker to break out of a container and access the underlying host, insecure container images with known vulnerabilities, and inadequate secrets management. Penetration testers assess Kubernetes environments using tools such as kube-hunter and kube-bench, and evaluate findings against the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark. This type of testing is essential for any organization running microservices, serverless workloads, or DevOps pipelines on cloud-native infrastructure.
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