Penetration Testing
A scanner tells you what might be wrong. A tester tells you what an attacker would actually do with it. Astra's testing is manual-first, with automation used to cover ground rather than to produce the report — every finding is validated, false positives are removed before you see them, and impact is demonstrated against your business rather than described in the abstract.
What you get
Outcomes, not activity.
- External and internal perspectivesTesting from the internet-facing edge, and from the position of someone already inside — a contractor, a compromised laptop, a disgruntled employee.
- Application depthWeb and mobile applications tested across the OWASP Top 10 and beyond it: access control, session handling, business logic, back-end data access and configuration.
- API-first coverageModern estates fail at the API, not the UI. We test authorisation at the object and function level, not just whether the endpoint responds.
- Wireless and physical adjacencyAccess point discovery, encryption weaknesses, rogue and open networks, and management interface exposure across your premises.
- Findings your developers can act onReproduction steps, evidence, root cause and a fix — written for the person who has to close it, with a separate executive summary for the person who has to fund it.
How it runs
A defined sequence, agreed up front.
You know what happens in each stage, who is involved, and what lands at the end of it before the engagement starts.
- 01
Pre-engagement
Black, grey or white box is agreed along with scope, timing, rules of engagement, notification paths and the reporting format. Every target is verified as in-scope before a packet is sent.
- 02
Reconnaissance
Passive and active discovery, open-source intelligence on exposed infrastructure and people, and mapping of the reachable attack surface.
- 03
Vulnerability analysis
Automated coverage followed by manual validation. False positives are isolated and discarded; genuine issues are ranked by exploitability.
- 04
Exploitation
Controlled exploitation with agreed payloads and daily debriefs, including credential attacks against exposed authentication surfaces.
- 05
Post-exploitation
Lateral movement, privilege escalation and demonstration of business impact — what data could be reached, what could be disrupted — within the agreed limits.
- 06
Reporting and retest
Technical and executive reports, a walkthrough with your team, and a retest of remediated findings to confirm closure.
Deliverables
What lands on your desk.
Written for two audiences: the engineers who have to fix it and the executives who have to fund it.
- Technical report with reproduction steps, evidence and remediation guidance
- Executive summary written in business language
- Risk-ranked finding register suitable for your tracker
- Attack narrative showing the path from entry to impact
- Remediation walkthrough with the engineering team
- Retest and closure confirmation
Related
Often engaged alongside
Next step
Scope a penetration testing engagement.
Half an hour with a practitioner. You will leave knowing what the work involves, roughly how long it takes, and what it would find.