External Network Penetration Testing

What Is External Penetration Testing?

External penetration testing simulates the perspective of an attacker on the open internet — someone with no prior access who is probing your external attack surface for a way in. Our engineers conduct this test entirely from outside your network, targeting every internet-exposed asset associated with your organization.

What External Testing Covers

• All public IP addresses and associated services
• Web servers, web applications, and public portals
• VPN and remote access infrastructure
• Email and mail transfer infrastructure
• DNS configuration and zone security
• Firewall and edge device exposure
• SSL/TLS configuration and certificate validity
• OSINT — what publicly available information could assist an attacker?

Why External Testing Is a Critical Starting Point

Your external attack surface is the front door that every attacker on the internet can knock on. Most organizations that have never had a formal external test have at least one significant finding — often more.

How Often Should You Test Externally?

We recommend annual external testing at minimum, with additional testing after significant infrastructure changes — new services launched, acquisitions, cloud migrations, or changes in your IP space. Many compliance frameworks require annual external testing explicitly.