Network Penetration Testing Services

advantages

A professionally performed network penetration test gives your organization a top-down assessment of real-world security risks. It identifies how attackers could break into your network and how to stop them before they do.

With a network penetration test, you can:

• Identify attack paths a malicious actor might use to infiltrate your internal or external network.

• Reveal policy and procedural gaps, such as unpatched systems deployed to production or missing security baselines.

• Uncover hidden misconfigurations and vulnerabilities that leave your network exposed.

• Prevent insider threats by identifying weak access controls and gaps in detection or response.

• Justify cybersecurity budgets with executive-level risk reporting backed by technical evidence.

• Earn trust from stakeholders—including executives, partners, and customers—by demonstrating your commitment to proactive network security.

compare

Automated vulnerability scanners are helpful tools in any network defense strategy. They provide quick, repeatable scans for known vulnerabilities and are easy to use. However, relying solely on automation is a major security blind spot.

Automated tools cannot replicate the logic, decision-making, and creative thinking required to uncover complex or chained vulnerabilities. For example, scanners often miss:

• Weak or reused local administrator passwords across systems

• Misconfigured file or folder permissions on shared drives

• Hardcoded credentials in scripts

• Privilege escalation paths not mapped to known CVEs

• Business logic or access control flaws

Automated scanners are also notorious for false positives and false negatives. They might overstate harmless issues or completely miss serious risks.

At Artifice Security, we conduct manual network penetration testing that goes far beyond the surface. Our consultants use attack chains and adversarial thinking to identify hidden vulnerabilities, leveraging deep IT knowledge from years working as system administrators, developers, and network engineers. That real-world experience gives us insight into what scanners miss—and how attackers think.

test types

External Network Penetration Testing

Your Internet-facing systems are under constant threat from automated bots and human attackers scanning for vulnerabilities. An external penetration test from Artifice Security simulates these real-world threats by targeting your public infrastructure—firewalls, VPN gateways, exposed web servers, and more.

Our consultants attempt to breach these systems using manual techniques. If successful, we escalate the test by pivoting from the compromised system into your internal environment. We demonstrate real risk by simulating data exfiltration, which tests not only your defenses but also your detection and response capabilities.

Internal Network Penetration Testing

An internal penetration test simulates a breach from the inside—whether from a disgruntled employee or a successful phishing attack. Artifice Security will explore your internal network for overlooked vulnerabilities such as unpatched systems, weak credentials, misconfigured Active Directory environments, or excessive user privileges.

We capture password hashes, analyze password strength, and attempt privilege escalation techniques to access sensitive systems. As with our external tests, we can simulate data exfiltration to assess how your organization detects and responds to insider threats.

methodology

Artifice Security follows a proven, repeatable penetration testing methodology refined over years of conducting assessments for organizations of all sizes. Our approach is entirely manual, ensuring deeper coverage, zero false positives, and actionable insights tailored to your environment.

Each vulnerability in our final report is thoroughly validated and supported with detailed, repeatable proofs-of-concept, giving your team clarity and confidence in remediation. To ensure consistency and quality, we organize every network penetration test into the following key phases:

01

Define the Scope

Before testing begins, Artifice Security works with your team to define the exact scope of the engagement. This includes understanding your network architecture and determining the resources, timelines, and goals of the assessment.

• Identify internal and external IP ranges, subnets, or systems to be tested

• Define exclusions or sensitive assets (if any)

• Schedule testing dates and establish communication protocols

• Share emergency contacts for critical findings

02

Information Gathering / Reconnaissance

We conduct passive reconnaissance using Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools to uncover publicly available information that attackers could exploit. This phase provides early insights into your organization’s exposure.

• Identify external IP address ranges and hosting infrastructure

• Search for publicly exposed documents that may contain sensitive data

• Investigate leaked credentials in breach databases and the dark web

• Look for domain spoofing and phishing risks via lookalike domains

03

Enumeration & Vulnerability Scanning

Artifice Security performs comprehensive enumeration and active scanning to identify exposed services, configurations, and known vulnerabilities across your network.

• Scan all 65,535 TCP and UDP ports to identify active services

• Enumerate internal and external systems (e.g., web servers, cloud services)

• Identify misconfigurations and weak protocols

• Perform vulnerability scanning using both commercial and proprietary tools

• Correlate findings with known exploits from public and private sources

04

Attack & Exploitation

Using manual techniques, our consultants attempt to exploit vulnerabilities to demonstrate real-world risks. These are controlled, ethical attacks performed with extreme caution to avoid disruption.

• Exploit vulnerabilities to gain access to systems (e.g., workstations, servers, routers)

• Use breached or weak credentials from OSINT or brute-force attacks

• Chain multiple attack vectors to simulate complex breaches

• Move laterally, escalate privileges, and demonstrate access to sensitive data

• Deliver clear, documented proofs-of-concept (if approved)

05

Reporting

We provide a clear, prioritized report that speaks to both executives and technical teams. Every vulnerability is verified by hand, eliminating false positives.

Your report includes:

• A non-technical executive summary that highlights business impact

• Vulnerability list ranked by criticality and exploitability

• Step-by-step attack narratives with attack chain diagrams

• Screenshots and repeatable proofs-of-concept for each issue

• Clear, customized remediation steps aligned with your infrastructure

• Optional customer-facing report and attestation letter

06

Remediation Testing (Retesting)

Once you’ve addressed the findings, Artifice Security will re-test the previously identified vulnerabilities to confirm they’ve been properly remediated.

• Validate that all vulnerabilities have been resolved

• Issue an updated report with current security posture

• Provide evidence for compliance, audits, and stakeholder assurance

FAQ