From: Michael Weber (mweber@alliednational.com)
Date: Wed Aug 02 2006 - 08:33:57 EDT
Greetings, all!
I don't want to wade into the issue of charlatans, but I do have a pretty easy to understand analogy I use to compare pen tests and VA's.
Let's say I am a security guard at a shopping mall. My job is to make sure all the doors are locked as I make my rounds. If I walk up to a door that is unlocked and turn the handle but I don't enter, that's a VA. If I walk in, make sure no other alarms go off, and leave a note on a desk that tells the owner that they left their door unlocked, that's a pen test.
My customers usually understand it when I move it to a physical security scenerio.
As always, YMMV!
-Michael
>>>> arian.evans@anachronic.com 8/1/2006 2:57:57 PM >>>
<snip>
>
>I struggle regularly to explain the difference between
>a "vulnerability assessment" and a pen test, due to the
>fact that too many folks pimp pen test offerings that
>are just automated VA with a personal touch, like Paul
>described. That, however, is the problem, not the answer.
>
>It is not pen-testing if there is no penetration.
>
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