Gray box penetration testing: the essence
Gray box penetration testing, also known as translucent testing, imitates a hacker's actions to find and exploit potential vulnerabilities with partial knowledge of or access to an internal network or application.
There is no particular rule on what testers must know or have access to when they attempt their mock attacks. In most testing scenarios, gray box penetration tests require very little information. To hack a web application, it may be enough to know the target URL and certain credentials. If pentesters intend to simulate an attack executed after breaking security perimeter, they may need access to software code and system architectural diagrams.
Benefits of gray box penetration testing
The gray box approach offers a good balance between penetration testing costs and results. It is less expensive than white box testing and gains more valuable insights than the black box method. Here's why:
- It provides both the end-user’s and developer’s perspective.
- The knowledge of the target system helps the tester to design more comprehensive test scenarios than in the black box method, as well as uncover more significant vulnerabilities with less effort.
- Even with a partial understanding of an IT infrastructure or an application’s code, the tester acts like a real hacker. This places the testing process in a more true-to-life environment, as compared to the white box approach.
- In most cases, pentesters do not need to have extensive programming skills to efficiently perform gray box pentesting.