What is penetration testing?

Penetration testing (also called ethical hacking or pen testing) is a controlled, authorised simulation of a cyberattack against your systems, networks, or applications. TSO's testers use real attacker techniques to find vulnerabilities before malicious actors do, then provide a detailed report with remediation guidance.

How often should I have a penetration test done?

Best practice is at least once per year, and after any major infrastructure change, new application release, or regulatory requirement (such as NIS2 or PCI-DSS). High-risk sectors may require quarterly assessments.

What does a TSO penetration test cover?

TSO offers external and internal network testing, web application security (OWASP-aligned), mobile application security, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), and API security testing. Scope is agreed upfront based on your environment.

Do you perform penetration tests in Belgium?

Yes. TSO is a Belgian cybersecurity company with offices in Belgium. We serve clients across Belgium, the Netherlands, and broader Europe, conducting on-site assessments where required.

What is the difference between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test?

A vulnerability scan is automated and identifies known weaknesses without exploiting them. A penetration test goes further — TSO testers manually exploit confirmed vulnerabilities to demonstrate real-world impact, chain attack paths, and show what data or systems an attacker could access.

Penetration Testing - Offensive Defense & Strategic Guidance

We go beyond automated scanning. Our penetration testers combine manual expertise with attacker methodology to find vulnerabilities that tools miss — and demonstrate what a real adversary could do with them.

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What We Deliver

External Network Testing

Assess your internet-facing perimeter from an attacker's perspective — services, ports, certificates, and exposed interfaces.

Internal Network Testing

Simulate a threat actor already inside your environment to map lateral movement paths and privilege escalation routes.

Web Application Security

OWASP-aligned testing of your web applications: authentication, authorisation, injection, business logic, and API surfaces.

Mobile Application Security

Static and dynamic analysis of iOS and Android applications — storage, transport security, and backend communication.

Cloud Infrastructure

Configuration review and exploitation testing of AWS, Azure, and GCP environments against cloud-specific attack vectors.

API Security Testing

Deep inspection of REST and GraphQL APIs for broken authorisation, data leakage, and injection vulnerabilities.

// Our Approach

Our Methodology

01

Scoping

We define objectives, scope boundaries, and rules of engagement to maximise coverage without disrupting operations.

02

Reconnaissance

Open-source intelligence gathering, passive scanning, and enumeration of your attack surface.

03

Exploitation

Manual exploitation of confirmed vulnerabilities to demonstrate real-world impact — not just theoretical risk.

04

Post-Exploitation

Lateral movement, privilege escalation, and data access to show the full attack chain.

05

Reporting

Clear findings with CVSS scores, proof-of-concept evidence, and prioritised remediation guidance for both technical and executive audiences.

06

Remediation Review

A complimentary re-test to verify that identified vulnerabilities have been resolved correctly.

Ready to get started?

Get in touch for a no-obligation conversation about your security needs.

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