The type of penetration test that is done will depend on what you would like to have tested and what works best for the hacker that you choose. There are a few different approaches that you can consider for your penetration testing needs and each one will take a look at a different aspect of the game as well. Some of the common approaches that your ethical hacker may choose to use include:

# Black box: This type of penetration testing is going to be where the ethical hacker comes in and has no information about the network or the IT of the organization. It is meant to be more like the simulation of a real attack on the system to see where the vulnerabilities are for someone who has no idea about the network. The ethical hacker will do their best to break onto the system through as many means as possible.

# White box: This is going to be more known as internal penetration testing. In this one, the ethical hacker is going to be given complete information on the source code, environment, and infrastructure of the network for the company. This one can be more detailed and in-depth because the ethical hacker knows more about the situation and knows where to check rather than coming from the outside. This one can take two to three weeks to get done, but will be more comprehensive and may provide more security to your network as well.

# Gray box: For this type of penetration testing, the pen tester is going to be given some information about the code and IT of the company, but not all of this. This one is going to be more focused since the ethical hacker will have some knowledge or access to the internal network of the company, but they won’t know it all, so they are still working blind on some of it. This is a good one to use to see more of how a hacker would be able to get into the network too.

You will need to discuss these options with the ethical hacker you hire to see what they offer and which one they recommend for the security of your business network and your customers.

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