White box penetration testing allows you to perform system testing with admin or root level access. This includes access to the architecture, documents, specifications, and source code. However, white box penetration testing is a little time-consuming because of its thorough approach.
Some of the scenarios where the white box penetration test is used include the following.
- When a company is developing their own product
- When a company is developing their own software application
- When a company is integrating several products and application
So, if you are planning to develop your application that can be accessed over a network, you must ensure that it is not hackable. Here, white box penetration testing can be helpful in thoroughly testing the application, especially the ones involving critical data and infrastructure like Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. This is also helpful in the healthcare sector where patient data privacy is very critical.
If you are planning for product integration of components, white box penetration testing is important too. Depending upon the requirement, white box penetration testing can be performed to judge the capability of client’s network infrastructure including network configuration and protocol specifications. This also helps in reducing the number of resources required and checking the system to ensure that it can withstand the security attack even if some of the information are leaked outside.
The objective of white box penetration testing is to check the robustness of the infrastructure in an environment where security information cannot be controlled strictly.
Methodology
In order to maximize the efficiency with minimized risk, there is a seven phase methodology.
- Preparation and Planning
- Discovery
- Vulnerability Analysis
- Exploitation
- Expanding Penetration
- Cleanup
- Report generation
Benefits
White box penetration testing provides information on exploitable flaws in a prioritized manner. Some of the advantages of the white box security test procedure include the following.
- Increase in the number of vulnerabilities
- Quicker penetration test alignment and procedure
- Network risk analyzing
- Include new attack vectors from the developer point of view
Why White Box Penetration Testing over Black Box Testing?
- White hat hacker has deep information and can perform comprehensive and rigorous testing
- Since everything is transparent, white box testing is less time consuming and cost-efficient than black box testing
- White box testing truly examines the system through code review.
360logica offers both global and localized solutions for integrated system testing and QA consulting that define, establish and validate functionality of a software product against system, business, and deliverable specifications. A premier software testing company recognized for its expertise, we have been providing extensive product functionality and performance testing to all business sectors fast adopting dynamic IT applications. Our proficiency in latest tools and technology and ability to provide the best automated system testing support across all platforms assure clients of foolproof verification of both functional and non-functional essentials of applications and complete compliance evaluation.
