External Penetration Testing

Are you sure your external network is safe? How do you know if you might be attacked?

External penetration testing helps answer those questions by simulating a cyber-attack on your organization's outward-facing network and systems. Think of it as hiring ethical hackers to try and break into your digital perimeter from the outside—just like a real attacker would, but with your permission and full transparency.

Red Sentry's process for achieving this is structured into four key phases. Our methodology helps to identify and address any vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

PHaSE 1

External Network Reconnaissance

What we do:
‍Find as much public information as possible about the target without directly interacting with its systems.

How we do it:

Identify active hosts and ports

Attempt to evade security defenses
(like firewalls)

Enumerate related subdomains to identify domains and hosts
(if the client requires it)

Collect public information using WHOIS data and DNS records

PHaSE 2

External Service Fingerprinting

What we do:
‍We dig deeper to identify what software and services are running on your exposed assets.

How we do it:

Actively probe discovered hosts/ports

Catalog the tech stack

Identify possible weak points
based on what’s running

PHaSE 3

External Exploitation & Privilege Escalation

What we do:
‍We test real-world attack techniques to see which vulnerabilities can actually be exploited and how far an attacker could go if they got in.

How we do it:

Authentication Bypass: Test mechanisms for bypassing authentication

SQL Injections: Manipulate SQL queries to bypass authentication or extract sensitive information from databases

URL Manipulation: Attempt to access restricted areas by entering specific URLs

Service Exploitation: Try to find and use known weaknesses in services like FTP or SSH for websites (HTTP/HTTPS), following OWASP Top 10 guidelines

Brute Force Attacks: Use automated tools to test login pages for common or weak passwords

Sensitive Data Exposure: Search for confidential documents and sensitive information exposed during previous phases

Default Credentials: Check if default credentials are still in use

PHaSE 4

External Pentest Reporting

What we do:
‍At the end of your external penetration test, you’ll receive a detailed report of all findings and how they were discovered. We’ll also guide you on how to take action to prevent these attacks.

Our report includes the following information:

A clear and concise summary of all identified vulnerabilities and a score (depending on the criticality of the findings)

The specific methods used to exploit these vulnerabilities

Concrete and actionable recommendations for remediation

Why Red Sentry Is the Right Choice for External Pen Testing

Red Sentry delivers fast, thorough penetration testing with real answers you can use.We go beyond surface scans, simulating real-world attacks to uncover hidden risks.Our findings are clear, prioritized, and mapped to practical fixes.You get straightforward reporting and direct access to our team. No jargon. No black box.

Schedule your demo today