INTEGRATION OF INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES ON THE EXECUTION OF PENETRATION TESTS (iPENTEST)

Penetration Tests (Pentests) identify potential vulnerabilities in the security of computer systems via security assessment. However, it should also benefit from widely recognized methodologies and recommendations within this field, as the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES). The objective of this research is to explore PTES, particularly the three initial phases: 1. Pre-Engagement Interactions; 2. Intelligence Gathering; 3. Threat Modeling; and ultimately to apply Intelligence techniques to the Threat Modeling phase. To achieve this, we will use open-source and/or commercial tools to structure a process to clarify how the results were reached using the research inductive methodology. The following steps were implemented: i) critical review of the “Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES)”; ii) critical review of Intelligence Production Process; iii) specification and classification of contexts in which Intelligence could be applied; iv) definition of a methodology to apply Intelligence Techniques to the specified contexts; v) application and evaluation of the proposed methodology to real case study as proof of concept. This research has the ambition to develop a model grounded on Intelligence techniques to be applied on PTES Threat Modeling phase