Expert-led penetration testing

Regular penetration testing is a fundamental part of running a modern business. Cyberattacks keep increasing across all markets and sectors, and 96% of ransomware attacks strike SMBs.*

This makes pen tests a core component of your organization’s operations, so you can spot security gaps before the bad guys can exploit them.

Expert-led testing demonstrates that you take security seriously, telling customers, prospects, partners, and stakeholders that you can be trusted to protect data and keep business running smoothly.



*Source: Verizon DBIR 2026

Pen testing absolutely supports compliance, but it is not just a checkbox exercise. It's a key part of your larger security strategy.

Expert-led testing can uncover vulnerabilities that could keep you from meeting SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, cyber insurance, customer review, or other audit requirements. Skilled pen testing also can reduce real business risk that can cost you time, money, and reputation.

By uncovering how attackers could exploit gaps in your systems, testing helps you prioritize fixes, strengthen defenses, and lower the chances of a breach, disruption, or loss of customer trust.

Vulnerability scanning (or VA scanning) is sometimes called "automated penetration testing," as it uses scanning software to hunt for a list of known security gaps, then gives you a static PDF report.

Automated scans can be useful for spotting issues like out of date patches. But they can't piece together possible issues to find deeply hidden gaps in your security. A green light from a VA scan alone can also give you a false sense of confidence — and open you up to huge risks.

Expert-led penetration testing uncovers hidden risks, then gives you detailed reporting and remediation advice. WorkNest can combine automated VA scanning — to quickly spot known risks — with human-driven pen testing, to uncover, validate, and assess the unseen risks to your business. It's a crucial difference, essential for compliance, trust, and real security awareness.

OSCP certification is seen as a gold standard of the security testing industry. As a hands-on, performance-based certification, it validates an individual's skills in finding and exploiting security vulnerabilities. OSCP certification is an essential credential to look for in any penetration testing company. Checking for relevant certifications and expertise is a great way to make sure you’re contracting with a reputable penetration test provider.

Black Box

A black box penetration test is where almost nothing is known about the target environment ahead of the test, putting the pen tester in a similar position to a real-world hacker. This gives a more realistic attack scenario, but it means security testing time is wasted on simple discovery tasks and means fewer components will be tested thoroughly.

White Box

A white box penetration test is where everything is known about the environment before the test, sometimes right down to the source code. This gives the potential to provide an extremely thorough test, it’s often overkill for most organizations and objectives. White box testing is not reflective of a real-world hack, and can cause the scope to become diluted and less effective.

Gray Box

Grey box penetration testing is, as the name suggests, a mix of white and black box penetration testing. It’s where the pen tester has access to a strategically balanced amount of information about the target environment. This best of both worlds approach to penetration testing typically leads to the best, and most cost effective, outcomes. For this reason it’s grey box pen testing that’s recommended by WorkNest.