CNETS · Melbourne & Australia
Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing
Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) combines identification of weaknesses with authorised testing of exploitability and impact. CNETS helps organisations assess applications, APIs, networks and cloud environments within an agreed scope, understand business risk and plan remediation.
The business case
Why VAPT matters
A scanner can identify many known weaknesses, but it cannot fully understand how your application handles authorisation, transactions or business logic. Manual testing adds context: whether an issue can be exploited, what access it enables and how weaknesses might be combined.
A useful engagement starts with the decisions you need to make. A pre-launch application review, customer assurance request and internal-network test have different targets and access needs. Clear scope and rules of engagement make results more relevant and keep testing authorised.
Built for your organisation
Businesses launching systems, handling sensitive data or answering customer testing requirements.
- Validate security exposure
- Understand business impact
- Prioritise remediation
- Verify agreed fixes
Scope & requirements
What does VAPT cover?
Scope comes first. The work should reflect your operations, risks and assurance requirements.
Web applications and APIs
Review authentication, authorisation, input handling, session management and business logic within the agreed application and API scope, informed by relevant OWASP guidance.
External and internal networks
Identify exposed services, configuration weaknesses and possible attack paths. Agree whether testing models an external attacker or a user with internal access.
Cloud environments
Assess agreed workloads and configuration exposures in the context of shared responsibility, permissions and cloud-provider testing policies.
Mobile and wireless targets
Mobile applications and wireless infrastructure can be included where agreed. Each requires its own access, test conditions and rules of engagement.
Risk and business impact
Validate findings where safe and explain affected assets, prerequisites and likely consequences. Severity should support prioritisation rather than substitute for business context.
Remediation and retesting
Provide actionable guidance and agree verification of fixes. Retesting scope and reporting must be specified, rather than assuming all future changes are covered.
Practical outputs
What we work on with you
The proposal confirms the deliverables and responsibilities for your engagement.
- Written scope, permissions and rules of engagement
- Executive summary of exposure and priorities
- Technical findings with affected assets and reproduction evidence
- Severity, business context and remediation guidance
- Testing limitations and areas not assessed
- Retest outcomes where included in the agreed engagement
Before we begin
What helps us scope the work
You do not need everything ready to start a conversation. Existing material helps us avoid duplicating work.
- Target URLs, APIs, IP ranges and environments
- Business-critical workflows and information types
- Test accounts and required access levels
- Asset-owner permission, testing windows and escalation contacts
Choose with clarity
A vulnerability scan is not a penetration test
- Objective
- Vulnerability assessment
Identify and prioritise potential weaknesses.
- Penetration testing
Assess whether weaknesses can be exploited and the resulting impact.
- Method
- Vulnerability assessment
Often uses scanning plus validation and configuration review.
- Penetration testing
Uses manual investigation and controlled attack techniques.
- Limitations
- Vulnerability assessment
May miss complex business logic or chained attack paths.
- Penetration testing
Is limited by agreed targets, access, time and safety constraints.
- Use together
- Vulnerability assessment
Supports broad and recurring vulnerability management.
- Penetration testing
Adds deeper validation at important assurance points.
From assessment to action
How CNETS approaches VAPT
- 01
Scope and authorise
Agree targets, access, exclusions, safety limits and escalation procedures.
- 02
Discover and assess
Identify attack surfaces and potential weaknesses within permission.
- 03
Validate impact
Use controlled manual testing to investigate exploitability where appropriate.
- 04
Report and prioritise
Explain risks and provide a practical technical remediation plan.
- 05
Verify fixes
Retest agreed findings and record residual issues or limitations.
Keep the work effective after delivery
A test is a point-in-time assessment, not a guarantee of security. Combine it with patching, secure development, vulnerability management and monitoring. Consider further testing after major application changes, new exposure or incidents, based on risk and contractual requirements.
Our proprietary platform
Checkmate
Connect the work. Keep the evidence.
Checkmate can connect testing findings to risk owners, remediation actions and evidence for relevant controls. Keeping scope, reports and retest outcomes together supports customer assurance and ISMS review without describing one test as proof of complete security.
Checkmate.
One connected view. From implementation to your next audit.
Policies & evidence
A single source of truth.
People & ownership
Clear responsibilities.
Risks & controls
A connected management system.
Straight answers
VAPT: your questions answered
- What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and penetration testing?
A scan identifies potential weaknesses using automated checks. A penetration test uses authorised, controlled investigation to assess exploitability and impact, including issues such as access-control flaws that automated scanning may miss.
- Do you test production or a test environment?
That is agreed during scoping. A representative test environment can reduce operational risk, while production testing may reveal different exposure. Permissions, data handling, exclusions and safety limits must be documented in either case.
- What are black-box, grey-box and white-box tests?
Black-box testing begins with limited inside information. Grey-box testing uses some knowledge or access, such as user accounts. White-box testing provides greater internal detail. The choice depends on the attack scenario and assurance objective.
- Does ISO 27001 require an annual penetration test?
There is no single annual penetration-testing rule for every organisation. Testing needs follow risk assessment, relevant controls and contractual requirements. Its scope and frequency should be justified within your vulnerability-management approach.
- How much does penetration testing cost?
Cost depends on targets, application complexity, user roles, access, depth and reporting or retest requirements. A target list and the intended assurance outcome allow a meaningful proposal; a price without scope is difficult to compare.
- Does a clean report mean there are no vulnerabilities?
No. Results are limited to the scope, conditions and time of assessment. A report should describe limitations and residual risks; new vulnerabilities or changes can introduce exposure later.
- What happens after findings are reported?
Assign remediation owners and deadlines based on severity and business risk. Verify the agreed fixes through retesting where included, document accepted residual risks and address root causes where possible.
Connected expertise
Firewall Audit
Identify excessive access, obsolete rules and configuration weaknesses.
ISO 27001
Protect sensitive information with a risk-based security management system.
SMB1001
Build practical cyber security foundations through a tiered standard.
Standards & further reading
General guidance, not legal advice. Requirements depend on your scope and the applicable standard edition. Confirm certification and assessment arrangements for your organisation.
Next step
Your next step starts
with a conversation.
Tell us where you want to go. We’ll help you understand what it takes to get there.