Internal Penetration Testing

You’ve locked every door and bolted every window. You feel secure. But what if the threat is already inside?

Internal penetration testing is like hiring a security expert to walk your office halls and see what they can get into. It’s a simulated cyberattack launched from inside the network. This kind of attack bypasses all your shiny perimeter defenses and finds the vulnerabilities that automated scanners almost always miss.

For MSPs and vCISOs, this isn't just another service to sell. It’s the one that shows what a malicious insider or an attacker who’s already past the firewall could actually do.

What Is An Internal Penetration Test?

An internal penetration test is a security check that starts from a place of assumed breach. It mimics what happens when an attacker has already gained a foothold, or when an unhappy employee decides to cause trouble.

Think of it like this: one of our ethical hackers plugs their laptop directly into your client’s office network. What can they see? What can they access? This is totally different from external testing, which is like rattling the locks on the outside doors. For a refresher on the basics, check out our guide on what is penetration testing.

The goal is to map out how an attacker could move across the network once they're inside. Our certified ethical hackers hunt for those common weaknesses that often lead to a full breach. This is a hands-on, manual pentesting effort because it takes a creative human mind to chain together small misconfigurations into a major security event, just like a real attacker.

Why Internal Pentesting Is Non-Negotiable

As an MSP, vCISO, or GRC company, offering internal penetration testing isn’t just about ticking a box. It's about protecting your clients from some of the most realistic and damaging threats out there.

Insider threats, whether from a malicious employee or someone who clicked a phishing link, are a huge risk. A single compromised account or an unhappy team member with legitimate credentials can unravel a company's security from the inside out.

This type of risk assessment is also a hard requirement for many compliance frameworks. Without it, your clients can't get certified.

• SOC 2: Proves to auditors that you have strong internal controls to protect client data.
• HIPAA: A must-have for protecting sensitive patient information from internal snooping or theft.
• PCI DSS: Essential for securing cardholder data from anyone who has access to the internal network.
• ISO 27001: Validates that an organization's entire information security management system is sound, inside and out.

How Internal vs External Pentesting Differs

To make a direct comparison, here’s a quick breakdown of how internal and external tests differ.

Understanding both is key, but the inside-out perspective is becoming more critical than ever.

Cyberattacks are no longer a matter of if, but when. Breaches are getting more frequent and the attackers are getting smarter. That’s why a penetration test has moved from a "nice-to-have" compliance item to a strategic necessity.

As a channel-only partner, we’re here to give you the expert, white-label pentesting services you need to meet this demand. We operate completely behind the scenes, providing an affordable and fast alternative to the slow, overpriced firms that dominate the market. Our pentesters hold top-tier certifications like OSCP, CEH, and CREST, so you can be confident your clients are getting a professional, thorough assessment every single time.

Why Your MSP Should Offer Pentesting Services

Offering internal penetration testing moves your MSP or vCISO practice from just another service provider to a core security partner. It’s a game-changer.

Your clients are constantly dealing with compliance standards like SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001. And what do many of these frameworks demand? A real, thorough, manual penetration test.

By offering this service, you're not just selling another line item—you're solving a huge headache for them. You're tackling their governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) needs head-on, building trust, and opening up a significant new revenue stream. It's a clear win-win.

The pentesting industry has a massive problem. Prices are often absurdly inflated, turnaround times are painfully slow, and some testing methodologies are questionable. We've all seen providers charge a fortune only to take weeks to deliver a report.

We exist to fix that. Our entire model is built to be fast, affordable, and focused on high-quality manual pentesting. No fluff.

As an MSP, vCISO, or GRC reseller, you never have to worry about us competing with you. We are a channel-only partner. We only work through partners like you.

Our promise is simple: We are an extension of your team, not your competition. We provide the certified expertise, and you maintain the client relationship and brand authority.

This partnership lets you roll out a sophisticated security offering without the nightmare of hiring an in-house pentesting team. Finding experts with top-tier certs like OSCP, CEH, and CREST is both difficult and incredibly expensive. We give you that talent on day one.

We arm you with comprehensive, white label pentesting reports that you can put your own brand on. These aren't just data dumps; they are clear, actionable roadmaps. We pinpoint the critical vulnerabilities and give you step-by-step guides to fix them.

This is how you deliver immediate, tangible value. You’re not just telling your client to "be more secure"—you're showing them exactly where the holes are and handing them the tools to patch them. Partnering with us means you can confidently sell a critical security service your clients are already looking for.

The True Cost of an Internal Pentest

Let’s talk money. The security industry has a reputation for sky-high prices, making a real internal penetration testing service feel out of reach for many businesses. You get a quote, and the numbers are all over the place.

Several factors drive the cost. The two biggest are always network size and scope complexity. It’s simple, really—a massive network with thousands of devices takes way more time to assess than a small office. A complicated scope that includes everything from old servers to new IoT devices requires more specialized expertise from certified pros.

Traditional pentesting firms often bake a ton of overhead into their pricing. They have huge sales teams, clunky project management, and long, drawn-out reporting processes. All of that adds up on your final bill. This bloated model is why so many businesses get stuck with basic scans when what they really need for compliance like SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI DSS is deep, manual pentesting.

Typically, you'll see quotes for an internal penetration test anywhere from $7,000 to $35,000. That huge range comes down to scope, company size, and how deep the testers go. These tests cost more than external ones because they simulate what a real attacker could do after they get inside—moving sideways through a network. That takes more time and skill.

We built our entire model to fix this problem. As a channel-only partner for MSPs, vCISOs, and GRC companies, we've stripped out all the unnecessary overhead. We focus on what actually matters: delivering top-tier, manual assessments from certified experts holding credentials like OSCP, CEH, and CREST.

Our goal is to make penetration testing both accessible and profitable for you, our reseller partner. By streamlining our operations and working exclusively through the channel, we deliver faster turnarounds and transparent, affordable pricing. The result? You get a superior risk assessment for your clients without the sticker shock.

This infographic shows exactly how we simplify the traditional cost factors into a straightforward model.

This flow isn't just a graphic; it's our promise to turn complex variables into a simple, affordable pricing structure for our partners.

The real value of a pentest isn’t just a list of vulnerabilities; it's getting deep, actionable insights without blowing your client's budget. Our approach ensures you deliver that value every single time.

You shouldn't have to choose between quality and affordability. A proper internal penetration testing engagement needs a creative human mind to find the critical flaws that automated tools always miss. We provide that human expertise in a model designed to help you grow.

Our Manual Penetration Testing Process Explained

A good internal penetration test isn't some black-box mystery. Our process is simple, transparent, and built to find what automated tools always miss. We ground our approach in expert manual pentesting, where our certified ethical hackers think and act just like real attackers. We break every engagement down into four distinct phases to guarantee we cover all the bases.

First, we start with a conversation. This is the most critical step. We jump on a call with you to clearly define the goals for the internal penetration testing. Is the main driver a specific compliance need, like SOC 2 or HIPAA? Or is there a specific part of the network keeping your client up at night? This is where we agree on the rules—what's in scope and what's off-limits.

Next, with a solid plan, our pentesters get to work. Their first move is to map out the internal network, like an explorer charting a new continent. The goal here is to get a complete picture of everything on the network: devices, servers, user accounts, and running services. Our team hunts for low-hanging fruit—the easy wins for an attacker. This could be an old, unpatched server or a shared network drive with permissions that are way too open.

Then, the real "testing" begins. With a detailed map of the network, our pentesters start simulating real-world attacks. They'll try to actively exploit the weaknesses they found to see how deep they can get. This is a 100% manual effort. It takes the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that only a human attacker has, which is how we find complex chained vulnerabilities that scanners can't comprehend.

Finally, the reporting phase. A penetration test is only as good as the report it generates. We deliver a comprehensive, white label pentesting report that you can put your own logo on and give directly to your client. To see exactly what makes our reports so effective, take a look at our guide on the perfect penetration testing report template.

We don't just dump a list of problems on you. We provide clear, actionable steps to fix every single vulnerability we uncover. This turns the report from a scary list of findings into a practical roadmap for hardening your client's security.

Common Vulnerabilities We Find Inside Networks

So, what are the real gremlins lurking on your clients' internal networks? The breaches that truly bring a company down often start with something simple and overlooked on the inside. Our certified pentesters unearth these hidden risks every day, which is why a deep, manual pentesting assessment is so valuable.

These are the kinds of severe security gaps that automated scanners just sail right past. They require the creative mindset of a human attacker to find and exploit. By showing you what we find in the real world, we can make the threat of an internal breach feel very real for your clients.

It sounds almost too basic to be true, but weak and reused passwords are still the number one way attackers pivot through a network. An employee uses "Summer2024!" for their network login, their email, and the admin account on a critical server. The moment an attacker cracks that one simple password, they suddenly hold the keys to multiple systems. Our manual approach goes beyond just checking for complexity; we actively test for these common credentials.

We’ve all seen it. That one forgotten server tucked away in a closet, still running an old operating system. It’s probably missing years of critical security patches, making it a ticking time bomb. The sheer volume of new vulnerabilities is staggering. Our OSCP and CEH-certified pentesters are masters at sniffing out these forgotten systems.

Misconfigurations are the silent killers of network security. They are setup mistakes that create enormous security holes. A few classics we find all the time are flat networks with no segmentation, systems with default credentials like "admin/admin", and open network shares with sensitive data accessible to everyone.

These aren't sophisticated, zero-day exploits. They are everyday configuration screw-ups. But when chained together by a skilled attacker, they can lead to a complete network takeover. This is exactly why a manual internal penetration testing service is non-negotiable.

Partner With Us for White Label Pentesting

Ready to add a serious security offering to your practice without the usual headaches? When you partner with us, your MSP, vCISO, or GRC firm gets an affordable, fast, and reliable solution for internal penetration testing.

We're strictly a channel-only company. That’s a promise. We will never compete with you for your clients.

We built our business to fix the industry's two biggest problems: ridiculously high costs and painfully slow turnarounds. Think of us as a seamless extension of your team, providing the deep expertise you need to win more deals and get your clients compliant with SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.

Our entire process is built for speed. You get comprehensive, actionable reports in your hands fast, letting you start those important remediation conversations with your clients right away. That kind of agility shows immediate value and solidifies your role as their go-to security advisor.

Our team is made up of ethical hackers holding top-tier certifications like OSCP, CEH, and CREST. This is your assurance that every risk assessment we conduct is professional and thorough. We deliver everything under your brand. You get detailed white label pentesting reports that you can confidently present to your clients as your own work.

Partnering with us gives you an elite pentesting team on-demand, without the six-figure price tag and hiring nightmare of building one yourself. We handle the heavy lifting so you can stay focused on the client relationship. You can see how we deliver manual white-labeled pentesting that truly sets our partners up to win.

Ready to stop turning away pentesting opportunities? Contact us today and find out how our channel-only services can help you protect your clients and grow your business.