What is Grey Box Penetration Testing?

What is Grey Box Penetration Testing

So you understand black box external penetration testing. Now it’s time to move on to grey box penetration testing. Grey box testing is for a presenter with only partial knowledge of the internal structure of a network. Grey box testing is the perfect hybrid of the straightforwardness of black box testing and the code targeting of white box testing.

Because grey box testing uses the assertion method to present all the conditions of a program, it is based on requirement test case generation. In order to verify its correctness and make it easy to understand a specification language is required. Required assumptions include Activation of Methods, State Reporting and Report Testing both in Class Under Test (CUT).

Grey Box vs Black Box

While grey box testing is more focused and efficient than black box testing the code coverage is only partial and it can be difficult to associate defect identification in distributed applications. And yet, it cannot be ignored that grey box testing has the advantages of being non-intrusive, handles the intelligence testing exceptionally and maintains unbiased testing conditions required for ethical hacking engagements.

Rather than squandering hours determining elusive information, presenters can use grey box testing to focus their assessment efforts on systems with the greatest risk and value. A sort of cyber triage, if you will. The security of the system is tested by simulating an attacker with long term access to the network.

What are the Best Pen Tests for Grey Box Security Testing?

Because web applications typically require user accounts to be provided (unless the pentester can self register for user accounts) grey box security testing is best suited to web app security testing, due to the test having some knowledge of the application and typically a user or a number of user accounts to conduct the pentest against the web application. Functional of business domain testing is also ideal for grey box penetration testing. This will confirm that the software meets the defined requirements.

Grey box penetration testing is the right way to go when the tester has no access to the souse code and a non-intrusive, unbiased test is desired.