As your organisation’s IT estate grows, the number of ways an attacker can get in grows with it. As such, so does the damage they can do once inside.
An infrastructure penetration test provides an independent, hands-on assessment of your security controls, both at the perimeter and within the network. It helps you understand whether weaknesses could lead to unauthorised access, data exposure, or further compromise. You get a clear picture of where the gaps are and how to close them.
Protecting Your Digital Perimeter
An attacker sees your public-facing servers and services first. Misconfigurations, outdated software, and exposed ports all provide a route into your network, so you need to know precisely what is visible from the outside and how it might be exploited.
Understanding What’s Reachable From Inside
While perimeter defences matter, they don’t give you all of the information you require. If an attacker gets past them (through phishing, or a compromised device), internal testing shows you how far a single point of compromise could spread, including which systems, data, and credentials would be exposed.
When you better understand the many different ways an attacker might approach your network, it becomes clear why infrastructure pen testing is so valuable.
Exploiting Public-Facing Servers and Services
Attackers scan the internet for outdated software, open ports and misconfigured services, looking for a foothold into your network.
Using Default or Weak Credentials
Devices and services left on default logins, or protected only by weak passwords, are among the fastest routes into a network for both external and internal attackers.
Lateral Movement and Privilege Escalation
Once inside, attackers look for ways to move between systems and escalate access, often exploiting the same misconfigurations and unpatched software found at the perimeter, just from a different vantage point.
Intercepting or Abusing Remote Access
VPNs and remote access tools are designed for convenience, but configuration weaknesses, weak authentication, or exposed credentials can turn them into an easy way in.
Infrastructure penetration testing is essential for organisations with a traditional network infrastructure.
External infrastructure testing assesses the security of your internet-facing systems by examining what an attacker could reach and exploit from outside your network.
Internal infrastructure testing assesses what an attacker, compromised device, or malicious insider could reach once they already have a foothold inside your network, and how far they could get.
Our experienced consultants can test your infrastructure security and provide a detailed report and remediation guidance. We’ll also provide a free retest for peace of mind.
Every engagement starts with detailed scoping. We define the systems in scope, any off-limits areas, and the testing approach that best suits your objectives. This shapes everything that follows, including cost, depth, and technique.
Your tester identifies vulnerabilities and security weaknesses using a combination of manual techniques and technical tools, going beyond what an automated scan alone would surface.
Where the rules of engagement allow, we perform manual testing to confirm that previously identified vulnerabilities can be exploited, so you receive confirmed findings, not just raw scanner output, prioritised by severity and likelihood.
Your results are available in SecureIQ, Evalian’s purpose-built penetration testing tool and vulnerability tracking platform giving you visibility across every stage of your security testing.
Whether you’re running internal or external infrastructure penetration tests, a web application penetration test, configuration reviews, red teaming or a mobile app pen test, SecureIQ simplifies the process and gives you a clearer picture of your organisation’s cyber risk posture.
Built for busy teams, the platform’s dashboard replaces fragmented email chains and static PDFs, so you can focus on reducing risk, not chasing information.
The exact activities performed during an engagement depend on the agreed scope, testing objectives, and whether the assessment is conducted externally, internally, or as a combination of both.
Activities are tailored to the agreed rules of engagement and may vary depending on the organisation’s network architecture, technologies, testing objectives and available access.
We assess your external attack surface and your internal network, so you understand risk from both an outside attacker's perspective and from the perspective of someone who's already got a foothold.
You get a detailed remediation plan that prioritises the issues most likely to be exploited, delivered through SecureIQ so you can track remediation without chasing email attachments or juggling spreadsheets.
Our testers are CREST, Cyberscheme and OSCP-certified, with experience testing infrastructure across a wide range of sectors, so you can trust the findings reflect current best practice.
A thorough infrastructure test requires upfront investment, but it reduces the risk of a severe breach and the financial and reputational damage that comes with it.
Infrastructure testing is commonly carried out annually, after significant changes to your network or internet-facing systems, and when a customer, insurer or framework requires independent assurance. It’s widely used to support requirements under laws and standards such as GDPR, ISO 27001, and Cyber Essentials Plus.
Even a thorough assessment is a point-in-time exercise and isn’t fail-safe, which is why regular retesting matters. SecureIQ stores your reports and vulnerability data by project and by test, giving you audit-ready evidence and a record of your testing over time.
Infrastructure penetration testing is a manual security assessment of the servers, network devices and systems that make up your IT environment. A CREST-accredited tester attempts to find and exploit weaknesses the way a real attacker would, covering both external (internet-facing) and internal (inside-the-network) systems.
External testing looks at what an attacker could reach and exploit from outside your network—internet-facing servers, firewalls, VPNs and remote access. Internal testing looks at what happens once an attacker, compromised device, or malicious insider already has a foothold inside your network, and how far they could get. Most organisations benefit from both.
Vulnerability scanning primarily uses automated tools to flag potential weaknesses. A penetration test goes further, combining automated scanning with manual testing by experienced testers, who investigate and validate whether a vulnerability can actually be exploited and what the real-world impact would be.
Duration depends on scope. A small-to-medium external test typically takes 1–3 days; internal testing usually runs 2–5 days depending on network size. We confirm exact timing and cost in writing after scoping.
Most compliance frameworks, and good practice generally, recommend testing at least annually and after any significant change to your network—new offices, major infrastructure changes, or mergers and acquisitions.
A detailed technical report covering every finding, its risk rating, supporting evidence and clear remediation steps, plus a business-level summary for non-technical stakeholders and a call to talk it through, all delivered through SecureIQ.
Yes. Once you’ve remediated the issues we identify, we’ll retest them free of charge to confirm the fixes are effective.
Yes. Our testers hold CREST, Cyberscheme and OSCP certifications, and testing follows CREST-approved methodology.
See our full list of CREST accreditations here.
An infrastructure penetration test provides a point-in-time assessment, but your network and attack surface change as you add systems and users over time. Regular testing helps you catch newly introduced vulnerabilities, validate past remediation, and maintain visibility of your security posture.
Infrastructure penetration testing focuses on how applications are hosted, configured and exposed at the network level. If a web application forms part of the agreed attack surface, we can assess it as part of the infrastructure test, including externally exposed services and underlying infrastructure.
However, infrastructure testing does not typically provide comprehensive coverage of application-specific vulnerabilities. If the objective is to assess areas such as application logic, authentication, authorisation, session management or input validation, a dedicated web application penetration test is more appropriate.
