Testing and defence led by a published security researcher with five CVEs, including a CVSS 9.1 Mirai botnet kill-switch.
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Read the blog →Penetration testing is an authorized, manual security assessment in which testers actively try to exploit weaknesses in an application, network, or system the way a real attacker would. Unlike an automated scan, a pen test chains vulnerabilities together and validates real impact. The output is a report of confirmed, exploitable findings ranked by risk.
A pen test answers "can someone actually break in, and how far can they get?" Skilled testers find logic flaws, broken access controls, and chained exploits that scanners miss entirely.
Pen tests are scoped engagements: web app, external network, internal network, cloud, or API. Enterprise customers, SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurers frequently require an annual pen test as evidence.
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A penetration test is usually triggered by somebody else asking for one. An enterprise buyer, an auditor, a cyber insurer or a framework requirement. That matters because the reason determines the scope: a test to satisfy PCI DSS looks different from a test to reassure a customer about a new feature.
The deliverable people undervalue is the retest. A report full of findings proves you looked. Evidence that the findings were fixed and verified is what an auditor and a buyer actually want to see.
Annually is the common baseline, and most frameworks expect at least that. Significant architecture changes or a major new feature usually justify an additional test rather than waiting for the yearly cycle.
A scan is automated and finds known issues at scale. A penetration test is human-led and chains issues together to show real impact. They answer different questions and most programmes need both.
Track record
Five published CVEs. CVE-2024-45163 (CVSS 9.1) is a flaw in the Mirai botnet itself, which gave defenders a way to shut down attacker infrastructure. CVE-2026-42626 takes HP ENVY 5000 printers offline from any unauthenticated device on the same network.
At Humera, a venture-backed US security company, Jacob built the compliance programme in-house from nothing: no report, no policies, no documented controls. It ended in a Type II attestation across 76 controls with zero exceptions, on a team of 15.
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