Penetration testing
in Toronto.
Web, mobile, infrastructure and red-team testing. We scope and manage the engagement, and a third-party testing firm we work with does the hands-on testing. You get findings with exploitable proof, remediation your engineers can act on, and a retest once you have fixed them.
Pen test or vulnerability scan?
A vulnerability assessment is mostly automated. Scanners like Nessus, Qualys or Tenable surface known CVEs, missing patches and weak configurations, and a person triages the results. A penetration test is human-driven. A tester chains weaknesses together, escalates privileges and shows what an attacker could reach. A scan tells you what is unpatched, and a pen test tells you what an attacker could do with it.
The glossary entry covers the difference in more depth.
What gets tested
- →Web applications.
- →Mobile applications.
- →Infrastructure, external and internal.
- →Red-team exercises.
Testing follows an OWASP ASVS-aligned methodology, done by hand and assisted by tooling.
What you get
- →Exploitable proof for every finding, so nobody has to argue about whether it is real.
- →A report your engineers will read and act on, with practical remediation guidance.
- →A retest once you have fixed the findings, included in the price.
How an engagement runs
- 1.Scope. We work out with you what is in and out of scope, and agree it with the testing firm before testing starts.
- 2.Test. The testing firm works by hand, assisted by tooling, against the agreed scope.
- 3.Report. Each finding with its proof, its impact and how to fix it.
- 4.Retest. Once you have fixed the findings, the testing firm tests them again so you have proof they are closed.
What to have ready for the scoping call
A scoping call goes faster if you bring four things.
- 1.What you want tested. The applications, environments and IP ranges, and anything that must stay out of scope.
- 2.Who is asking. A customer questionnaire, an auditor or your own board, and what they expect the report to show.
- 3.What changed recently. A new feature, a cloud migration or a new identity provider is where testing should focus.
- 4.Your timing. When you need the report, and any windows when testing should pause.
How often to test
For most organizations the right cadence is monthly or quarterly vulnerability scans, an annual external pen test, and a focused internal test after a major architecture change. Customers and auditors often ask for an annual test too, and a recent report is a common request in SOC 2 audits and enterprise security questionnaires.
Common questions
- How much does a penetration test cost?
- From $12K per engagement. The price depends on scope: how many applications and environments are in it, and whether you want a red-team exercise.
- Who does the testing?
- A third-party testing firm we work with does the hands-on testing. MALTO Cyber scopes the engagement, manages it and is your point of contact throughout.
- Is a retest included?
- Yes. Once you have fixed the findings, the testing firm tests them again so you have proof they are closed.
- How often should we run a pen test?
- At least once a year for your external surface, and again after any major architecture change. Run vulnerability scans monthly or quarterly in between.
- Do you work with companies outside Toronto?
- Yes. We are based in Toronto and work with clients across North America.
Let's scope your test.
A 30-minute call to understand what you need tested and confirm fit. No deck, no obligation.