Network penetration testing

A network penetration test attacks the infrastructure layer: the perimeter, remote access, network devices, exposed services, the segmentation between zones, and the directory that authenticates all of it. A good tester does not hand back a list of missing patches. They chain what they find into a path — exposed service, foothold, domain control — and show you exactly where that path can be broken.

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For the teams who own the infrastructure, not just the app

Infrastructure and IT teams who inherited a network built over a decade and need to know which of its old assumptions still hold.

Organizations with flat or partially segmented networks that want to know how far one compromised laptop actually gets.

Teams running an Active Directory estate that nobody has deliberately attacked since the day it was set up.

[ INFRASTRUCTURE LAYER ]

What a network test covers that a scan and an app test do not

The three get quoted against each other as if they were interchangeable. They answer different questions. A scan tells you what is known to be wrong right now. An application test tells you whether one product can be abused by the people allowed to use it. A network test tells you how far someone gets once they are inside your infrastructure — and it is the only one of the three that produces an attack path.

The question behind the purchase

Vulnerability scan

Web application pentest

Network penetration test

What it targets

Whatever it can reach, matched against known signatures

One application: its logic, its authorization model, its data handling

Hosts, services, network devices, remote access and the directory that authenticates them

The question it answers

Which known issues exist on these systems today?

Can this application be abused by someone allowed to use it?

How far can an attacker move once they are inside the network?

Chaining of findings

None. Every finding is reported on its own

Central, but bounded by the application

Central. Three medium findings can add up to domain-level control

Segmentation and lateral movement

Not evaluated at all

Out of scope

Explicitly tested, and usually where the real finding is

Credentials used

Usually unauthenticated, or a single service account

Accounts at two or more privilege levels, provided up front

Often none to start with, then whatever the tester captures along the way

What you get back

A ranked list of known issues to triage yourself

Findings per endpoint and per role, with reproduction steps

Attack paths, each with the single step that breaks it

The scan column is not a competitor. It is a control you should also be running — the point is that it answers a different question. Strike runs the network test continuously rather than in a yearly window, so a newly exposed service gets tested when it appears.

The five phases, and what each one produces

1. Reconnaissance

Mapping what exists: address ranges, hostnames, exposed services, remote access endpoints, and anything reachable that nobody meant to expose. The output of this phase is very often the first surprise — an inventory that does not match the one you were given.

2. Enumeration

Turning the map into detail: service versions, share permissions, authentication mechanisms, directory objects, trust relationships, and where default or weak configurations survive. Nothing is exploited yet, but this is where the plan is written.

3. Exploitation

Turning one of those details into a foothold, and proving it. The bar is a working, evidenced entry point, not a theoretical one. Findings that cannot be demonstrated get reported as observations, not as compromise.

4. Lateral movement

Moving from that foothold toward something that matters, and testing whether segmentation stops it. This is the phase that turns a mid-severity technical finding into a business statement: this host reaches that database.

5. Privilege escalation

Climbing from an ordinary account toward administrative or directory-level control, then documenting the full chain and the earliest point at which a single change would have broken it. That last part is what makes the report actionable.

Findings that come back most often, and why they matter

Unpatched or end-of-life services

Usually not the crown jewels: a forgotten management interface, an old appliance, a test box that stayed up. It matters because it is a foothold, and a foothold is the only thing an attacker needs to start the rest of the chain.

Weak SMB and SNMP configuration

Shares readable by everyone, message signing not enforced, community strings left at defaults. These rarely look severe on their own and are frequently the mechanism by which credentials or topology leak to a tester who already has a foothold.

Exposed remote access

RDP, SSH or a management portal reachable without multi-factor authentication, or a VPN concentrator running old firmware. Remote access is the most attractive target on any perimeter because success there requires no exploit at all — just a valid password.

Permissive firewall and ACL rules

Rules added for a migration that finished three years ago, any-to-any entries, and zones that are only nominally separate. The finding is not the rule, it is what the rule allows once someone is standing on the wrong side of it.

Flat networks and failed segmentation

A user workstation VLAN that can reach a database, a payment zone that a printer network can talk to, backup infrastructure sitting alongside production. Segmentation is the control that limits blast radius, and it is very often assumed rather than verified.

Directory misconfiguration

Over-privileged service accounts, credentials cached where they should not be, delegation set up years ago and never reviewed. The directory is what turns a single compromised machine into control over everything that trusts it, which is why it deserves its own attention in scope.

Frequently asked questions

What does a network penetration test include?

Discovery of what is actually reachable, enumeration of the services and directory objects behind it, exploitation of at least one path to a foothold, lateral movement to test segmentation, and privilege escalation toward administrative or directory-level control. The deliverable should describe the chain, not just the individual weaknesses, and should name the earliest step where one change breaks the whole path.

Should I run an internal or an external network test?

They answer different questions and mature programs run both. External testing asks what a stranger on the internet can reach and exploit. Internal testing starts from the assumption that someone is already inside — a phished user, a contractor laptop, a compromised device — and measures how far that gets. If you have never run either, start external, because that is where opportunistic attacks arrive.

How long does a network penetration test take?

In a traditional engagement the testing window is usually the smallest part of the calendar time; scheduling, report writing and the retest cycle take longer. Duration scales with the number of live hosts and the complexity of the directory, not with the size of the address range. In a continuous model there is no window: testing runs, and findings are delivered as each one is validated.

Do testers need credentials for a network test?

Not to start. A useful internal test usually begins unauthenticated to reproduce the position of an attacker who just landed on the network, then uses whatever it captures. Providing a standard user account as well is worth doing, because it lets the tester cover the authenticated attack surface in the time available instead of spending the engagement earning access you could have granted.

Can a network penetration test break something?

Any active testing carries some risk, which is why scope, timing and escalation contacts are agreed in advance. Denial-of-service testing is normally excluded by default. Fragile legacy systems should be flagged so they can be handled carefully or tested in a mirrored environment. The realistic risk is a service becoming briefly unresponsive, and it should be covered by an agreed contact who can act immediately.

How is this different from running a vulnerability scanner?

A scanner reports what is known to be wrong with each system in isolation. A network test reports what an attacker can do with those systems together. The difference shows up in the findings that matter most: a permissive firewall rule, an over-privileged service account and one unpatched host are three unremarkable entries on a scan report and one domain compromise on a pentest report.

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Sr AppSec Red Team, NaranjaX

“Working with Strike was an excellent experience for us. We were able to create our own pentests and change their scope each month. The Strikers are world-class professionals who provide us with relevant findings quickly and efficiently. Also, automated tools like Phishing Monitor are really interesting for our company, because they help us spot fake domains trying to impersonate PedidosYa.”

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“For us at pier, security is the most important aspect, not only on the surface but throughout our entire product. When we reached out to Strike, we were looking for someone that could test & find vulnerabilities across our entire stack. We are very happy that we have found the right partner to achieve that, and we are looking forward to continuing this important work together.”

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CEO & CTO, Pier

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Network penetration testing

For the teams who own the infrastructure, not just the app

What a network test covers that a scan and an app test do not

The five phases, and what each one produces