Penetration testing means that a cyber security specialist aims to detect weaknesses in information and communication technologies. It is used with similar techniques and apparatus with hackers. In other words, Penetration tester acts as a hacker. Penetration test methods are of 3 types: Black-box, Grey-box, and White-box. Black-box testing involves zero knowledge or information about the organization’s digital infrastructure and assets. White-box testing includes sharing whole network and system information with the tester. Grey-box testing combines white and black box testing to simulate attacks from insiders and outsiders. I’ll analyze the difference between black-box penetration and gray box penetration testing in the article
What is Black Box Testing?
Black-box testing is software testing an application's functionality without knowing the internal code structure (Hamilton,2022). The testing is done from the customer's point of view, and the tester knows only about the input. A significant focus of black-box testing is the output with the given information set. For example, suppose we want to test this function according to its specification. What we will probably do to select a positive integer, a negative integer, and the zero as test inputs, and see how the program reacts to these inputs. Since in this method, the penetration does not use any internal information, it is the closest experience to that of hackers'.
Black-box testing has advantages and disadvantages. The benefits are that the cyber security specialist doesn't need the source code to be done by testers. A tester doesn't use non-technical devices, which is why It is both cheap and quick. The last reason is the test has a low chance of false positive. Disadvantages are the tester has limited knowledge of software, the testing is inefficient, and the coverage is blind as the tester can't target specific codes.
What are Gray Box and White Box Testing?
Gray-box testing is a software testing technique. Tester doesn’t have complete knowledge about the product, and they have limited information about internal functions and code. This testing is a combination of black-box testing and white-box testing. First, white-box testing involves looking at the structure of the code. For instance, if we want to click on a link, we need to understand that all happens within the code to see all the mistakes.
Gray-box testing is closer to black-box testing than White-box testing. However, gray-box testers have some knowledge of detailed documentation and requirements. This test has advantages and disadvantages. The benefits are that it procures the defined role for the tester. Access to the programming code is not required. It performs well for significant code segments. The disadvantages are that gray-box testing has limited coverage because there are only a few test cases.
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