What is penetration testing?

Answer

Penetration testing is an authorized, simulated attack on a system, network, or application performed by security professionals to find and safely exploit vulnerabilities before real attackers do. Unlike automated scanning, a pen test combines tooling with human creativity to chain weaknesses and demonstrate real business impact, then reports findings with remediation guidance. Engagements range from black-box (no prior knowledge) to white-box (full access), and many compliance frameworks require periodic testing.