Core Security Technologies has released an automated penetration testing product that leverages its flagship Core Impact Pro technology on an enterprise scale. Core Insight Enterprise enables enterprises to launch multiple automated pen tests (based on algorithms and user data developed from the company's experience with Core Impact) and generate high-level vulnerability/risk posture and trending reports for operational security personal, as well as for executives and auditors.
"For forward-leaning organizations, those that do internal penetration testing, this a great way to take advantage of technical analysis to improve their ability to use, and understand, pen testing data," says Paul Proctor, VP of security and risk management for Gartner.
Core Insight Enterprise is designed for conducting pen testing on a scale that has not been possible before. Internal enterprise penetration testing is generally limited by the lack of proficient personnel. Experts often characterize pen testing as an art form combining technical expertise with high-level detective work. Many companies turn to third-party consultants, but these services are very expensive and time-consuming. As a result, they are usually narrow in scope and provide only a snapshot of current vulnerability.
Enterprises can now conduct multiple, continuous and repeated pen tests against targets throughout their IT infrastructure without relying solely on expert pen testers. Tests are applied against target systems or groups of systems, organized in what Core calls "campaigns." In a particular test or campaign, the user identifies the asset he or she wants to protect, and Core Insight Enterprise calculates the likely attack paths and conducts pen tests to see which attacks might succeed.
The results are displayed in a network diagram that shows successful and failed attack paths, as well as the systems, the end target system and/or systems along the path that were compromised and require remediation. Even failed attacks may reveal systems that were compromised before the intruders were thwarted further along the path.
"I've run about 10 times more tests using Insight because I can automate," says the IT and security director for an e-commerce company specializing in user-designed products. He has been a Core Impact Pro user, and has been using Core Insight Enterprise as an alpha and beta tester for several months. "It will never take away the manual process [of pen testing] entirely, but it can negate a lot of it by automating the critical tests," he says.
