Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) is a modern evolution of traditional pen testing that leverages cloud platforms, automation, and crowdsourced talent to deliver faster, more scalable, and integrated network security, cloud security, and overall security testing for today’s complex IT environments.
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Learn the basics of penetration testing as a service (PTaaS)—what it is, how it works, and why it’s the new evolution of penetration testing.
Security professionals are familiar with penetration testing, or pen testing, a service where external consultants mimic real-world attacks to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Companies work with penetration testing service firms they know and trust, testers work to establish methodologies for a fixed period, and tests take place at wide intervals, often annually. Testers surface their results in a report and these weaknesses get fixed, so over time fewer results are exposed and the process becomes more routine.
Security used to be a top-down process, where a small number of experts would evaluate and test assets for vulnerabilities before they shipped. Traditional pen testing was a good fit in this environment—an external security expert simulates the worst of what your company could expect to encounter, and shares findings in a report that you could implement in your own time.
Why is traditional pen testing no longer suitable to keep software secured?
Today’s security landscape looks a lot different from the one that gave us traditional pen testing. Your organization’s technology stack has a multitude of tools, your perimeter stretches to coffee shops and home networks, and your data is of value to malicious actors in every time zone. That’s before we even get started on any products you might be building.
Pen testing as a service (PTaaS) is an upgrade to the testing playbook. It uses today’s technology and security best practices to secure the modern environment.
In its most basic form, PTaaS is a new wrapper and delivery method for an established service. This makes the process of ordering and implementing a test easier, by speeding up onboarding and implementation while saving money in the process.
By making pen tests digital-first, PTaaS unlocks remote-testing, widens the potential bench of testers, and allows for integration into the SDLC, streamlining delivery and making reporting and remediation far easier for the penetration tester.
Dealing with distributed, complex threats means relying on distributed, specialist talent. PTaaS done to the highest standards requires a new take on the pen testing consulting assignment that offers the benefits of a platform-based approach to the task while tapping into a worldwide supply of testing talent. This crowdsourced PTaaS allows you to quickly launch tests with specified requirements, getting to work within days and working according to your specific application security needs.
Moving from pen testing to crowdsourced PTaaS means allowing the breadth of security testing complexity to work as an asset rather than a liability. When working with a crowdsourced PTaaS provider there is the potential to tap into a bench of testers drawn from across the world, but only if they offer a deep bench and discerning methodology to match them. When done right, it gives you access to testers with narrow expertise in specific assets or methodologies, or particularly impressive track records, but beware of crowd washing.
PTaaS that properly deploys The Crowd taps into the bottom-up dynamics, surfacing the most relevant talent through Darwinian competition and sophisticated algorithms. Testers build a name from themselves through their work, and providers use this data to match the most appropriate testers for your needs in each assignment.
Threats are online and constantly evolving—offensive security tactics needs to do the same. Using crowdsourced PTaaS is like moving from relying on encyclopedias to drawing from Wikipedia, with the best performers rising to the top and readily available for assignments.
PTaaS offers three key strengths relative to the traditional method.
At the risk of stating the obvious, PTaaS providers should be able to deliver high-quality testing, and do so through a service that is convenient and minimizes friction. There are a few elements that make sure PTaaS adds the most value.
PTaaS harnesses the power of a diverse group of professional hackers to substantially improve on the traditional pen testing model. By increasing the pool of testers and providing the functionality of a platform, it offers better results, finding and remediating vulnerabilities more quickly while offering more data that can allow you to calculate ROI. In sum, PTaaS provides a comprehensive, adaptable, and efficient approach to system security.
Bugcrowd has been offering PTaaS since 2022 as part of the Bugcrowd Platform. This builds on our expertise as the first company to offer a managed bug bounty program, and includes a rich dashboard with real-time access to test status, analytics, findings, and methodology.
Our proprietary CrowdMatch AI technology finds precisely the right testers based on parameters such as skillset, track record, and security clearance. You can buy, configure, and launch a pen test delivered by global experts matched to your precise needs in hours rather than days and receive results instantaneously. You can also combine pen tests with bug bounties for further security coverage that taps into the Crowd for security expertise.