Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) Tools enable organizations to gain a deeper understanding of security posture vulnerabilities by automating testing of threat vectors such as external and insider, lateral movement, and data exfiltration. BAS complements red teaming and penetration testing but cannot completely replace them. BAS validates an organization's security posture by testing its ability to detect a portfolio of simulated attacks performed by SaaS platforms, software agents, and virtual machines. They generate detailed reports about security gaps and prioritize remediation efforts based on the risk level. The typical users of these technologies are financial institutions, insurance companies, and more.
Penetration Testing tools and services are designed to test vulnerabilities and weaknesses within computer systems and applications by simulating a cyber attack on a computer system, network, or web application. Companies conduct penetration tests to uncover new defects and test the security of communication channels and integrations. These tools and services either use vulnerability scanners or conduct manual/automated tests that scan networks and systems for open ports, and services and conduct vulnerability assessments to find any software lapse that may prove a route of attack on the system later. Further, the identified vulnerabilities are exploited to gain unauthorized access to systems or data and they try to escalate or pivot to key assets to have a better understanding about the impact of a specific attack. The process ends with generating a detailed and comprehensive testing report that describes, gives evidence for, assesses the risk, and recommends the solution to any vulnerability found. Typically, these are used by security professionals and ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities, evaluate risks or/and validate controls, understanding how the cyber-attacks work, and test the effectiveness of security measures.