Progent's Enterprise Network Consulting

NodeZero from Horizon3.ai is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver continuous, concurrent, programmable testing of your internal and perimeter network to help you identify, rank, remediate, and verify security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Penetration tests permit you to operate preemptively to keep cybercriminals from stealing data, disturbing productivity, or inflicting monetary or reputational loss. (For an introduction to pentesting, visit Progent's penetration testing expertise.)

NodeZero's Breach and Attack Simulation tools are able to utilize modern hacking methods by steadily pivoting through your network and chaining together discovered weaknesses until an exploitable attack vector is uncovered. NodeZero then benignly exploits the vulnerability as evidence of the weakness, assesses and ranks the possible damage that might result from a true malicious attack, documents the findings, and generates AI-powered advice for a fix. NodeZero's reports point out systemic issues where implementing a single fix can block multiple attack chains. After you have removed the discovered security gaps, you can execute NodeZero's 1-click validation feature to confirm remediation actions were successful. NodeZero can automatically generate compliance reports required for SOC2, HIPAA, GDPR, and other important compliance standards.

Progent offers the services of a NodeZero Certified Operator to help you to design and perform comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to realistically determine your present security profile. Progent can assist you to set up and run NodeZero pentests tailored for your IT network, understand NodeZero reports, and remediate problems based on their potential impact on your network. Progent can also assist you to develop a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, and perimeter IT assets.

Internal and External Penetration Tests
Internal penetration tests with NodeZero proceed as though your network perimeter has been compromised and run a penetration test of your internal network infrastructure to determine what security vulnerabilities may be present that expose your network to serious compromise. To help you to organize your mitigation work, the NodeZero dashboard shows which internal vulnerabilities could inflict the most havoc to your information system and which ones enable the most attack vectors. External pentesting with NodeZero is cloud-based and uses the latest hacker tactics to break through your network perimeter.

Common Security Gaps that PEN Tests Can Help Detect and Remediate
Malicious actors tirelessly probe IT networks for vulnerabilities by using an expanding set of utilities and procedures. While there are many different types of security vulnerabilities, below are a few of the most frequently encountered attack vectors hackers try to exploit:

• Software applications missing the latest revisions and security patches applied
• Code injection problems that allow threat actors to insert code in a web application that fools the app into executing malicious instructions or allowing control of sensitive resources
• Zero-day security gaps in software that neither the intended victim nor the software vendor know about yet and so have not had a chance to create a fix
• Authentication issues that make it easier to break into a system or pretend to be a legitimate user
• Configuration vulnerabilities that cause gaps in security systems such as opening unsafe ports or leaving cloud storage buckets exposed to anyone with the right address
• Known but unpatched operating systems vulnerabilities
• EOL products for which security patches are no longer created
• SQL Injection
• Easy-to-guess account credentials
• Cross-Site Scripting
• Insecure Direct Object References
• Device misconfigurations
• Unpurged stale objects
• Open systems access
• Old methodology security implementations rather than modern leading practices
• Failure to deploy out-of-band 2FA secured communications (e.g. Man In The Middle Attacks)

• Phishing Damage Potential Testing: Estimate the amount of havoc that could be caused by a cybercriminal with phished credentials and recommend effective remediation.
• PCI-DSS Compliance: Perform in-depth testing and reporting to demonstrate compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard. Compliance reports can be submitted to auditors.
• Trip Wires: Set up honeypots so you can react rapidly to signs of active attacks in high-risk parts of your environment.
• Kubernetes Testing: Pentest Kubernetes clusters, uncovering issues such as container escapes, RBAC misconfigurations, and hidden exposures.
• Cloud Testing: Expose identity and access management (IAM) vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in Amazon Web Services, Azure/Entra, and Kubernetes.
• Rapid Response: Quickly react to emerging threats before they have time to inflict serious disruption.
• Insider Attacks: Anticipate the severity of harm a hostile insider could cause.
• Segmentation Pentesting: Reveal your internal threat surface such as IPs, ports, services and applications prior to launching test exploits.
• AD Password Audit: Uncover vulnerabilities in your AD password policy, streamline remediation, and produce a prioritized report of risky accounts.

Advantages of Progent's Pentesting Services
Progent can provide low-cost external penetration testing services on a single-time or ongoing basis. NodeZero's autonomous testing offers fast testing and provides a full evaluation of your outward facing cybersecurity posture. These "ethical hacking" services can provide a number of benefits.

• Meet Requirements of Cyber Insurance Companies: For a growing number of cyber insurance companies, periodic pentesting is needed to obtain or keep a policy.
• Identify Perimeter Vulnerabilities: External penetration tests help organizations discover vulnerabilities in their external-facing systems, such as websites, servers, and network devices.
• Realistic Threat Scenarios: Pentests play out real-world attack simulations, giving organizations a greater comprehension of their susceptibility to various cyber threats.
• Compliance Mandates: Many regulatory standards (e.g., PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) mandate periodic security assessments, including external penetration tests. Ignoring these requirements may result in legal and financial consequences.
• Risk Reduction: Identifying and remediating security gaps early can lower the risk of data breaches, economic losses, and damage to an organization's reputation.
• Vendor Assessment: Organizations can utilize external penetration tests to evaluate the security of third-party vendors, verifying that these stakeholders do not add weaknesses into your organization's supply chain.
• Improved Incident Response: A penetration test can help companies refine their incident response procedures by exposing shortcomings in their ability to discover and react to cybersecurity events.
• Security Awareness: Running pentests can raise understanding among employees about the urgency of cybersecurity. This can also help teach them on safe online practices.
• Build a Security Baseline Evaluation: A pentest can create a baseline for security, allowing organizations to compare the efficacy of cybersecurity improvements over time.
• Competitive Advantage: Demonstrating an emphasis on cybersecurity through periodic penetration testing can help you earn competitive advantage, assuring clients and partners that their information is protected.
• Security Budget Justification: Penetration test reports can provide substantive evidence of the necessity of expanded spending in cybersecurity initiatives and products.
• Internal Policy Assessment: Companies can validate whether their internal security policies are successful in thwarting external threats.
• Reducing Attack Surface: By identifying and fixing security gaps discovered during a penetration test, companies can minimize their target surface size and cause it to be more difficult for attackers to compromise their networks.
• Attack Simulation: Organizations can simulate targeted attacks, permitting their cybersecurity teams to practice responding to realistic threats in a safe environment.
• Continuous Improvement: Periodic external pentests help companies track their cybersecurity improvements in a fast-evolving threat landscape, ensuring that they stay prepared for the newest threats.
• Legal and Regulatory Cover: In the event of a security breach, possessing tangible evidence of periodic penetration testing efforts can provide a level of legal and regulatory protection by demonstrating reasonable care in security.

Contact Progent for Pentest Consulting
To find out more information about Progent's consulting services for NodeZero-based penetration testing, call Progent at 800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.

Ransomware 24x7 Hot Line: Call 800-462-8800
Progent's Ransomware 24x7 Hot Line is designed to guide you to take the crucial first steps in responding to a ransomware assault by putting out the fire. Progent's remote ransomware expert can help businesses to identify and isolate breached devices and guard clean resources from being compromised. If your network has been breached by any version of ransomware, don't panic. Get immediate help by calling Progent's Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800. For details, see Progent's Ransomware 24x7 Hot Line.