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Insights on continuous security validation—where AI expands coverage and humans prove real risk.

Autonomy Was Never the Goal
featured blog

Autonomy Was Never the Goal

Why we merged NetSPI and Synack to bet against the loudest idea in security.

JK
Jay Kaplan
Jay Kaplan
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Blogs

Offensive Security Is Becoming a Program, Not a Purchase Perspectives on Security

Offensive Security Is Becoming a Program, Not a Purchase

You know what you spent on penetration testing last year. But can you explain what that investment covered between engagements? For many organizations the honest answer is that it covered the weeks the testers were working against a scope agreed before they started. That was a reasonable arrangement when systems changed a few times a year. It is worth revisiting, now that many of them change weekly.

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Angela Heindl-Schober, CMO at Synack
Angela Heindl-Schober
8 min read
Penetration Testing for SOC 2 Compliance: What Auditors Expect Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing for SOC 2 Compliance: What Auditors Expect

SOC 2 does not prescribe a universal penetration testing requirement for every organization. A pentest is still commonly used as evidence supporting security, risk assessment, and monitoring controls, and auditor expectations depend on the organization's risks, system boundary, and testing policies. Type II examinations require evidence that controls operated over a defined period, not merely that they existed on one date. A vulnerability scan should not be presented as equivalent to a penetration test, and findings, remediation, and retesting evidence matter as much as the original report.

PM
Paul Mote
Paul Mote
15 min read
PCI DSS Penetration Testing Requirements: What Enterprises Actually Need for Compliance Penetration Testing

PCI DSS Penetration Testing Requirements: What Enterprises Actually Need for Compliance

Getting PCI DSS Requirement 11.4 Right From the Start Enterprises often know they need PCI compliance penetration testing but remain uncertain about what makes a test compliant. PCI DSS v4.0.1 Requirement 11.4 involves considerably more than scheduling an annual external assessment. Scope, internal and external testing, methodology, tester qualifications, segmentation validation, remediation, retesting, and evidence all influence whether the work will satisfy assessor scrutiny. This guide explains what enterprise security and compliance teams should have in place before their next PCI DSS assessment. Introduction PCI DSS v4.0.1 Requirement 11.4 requires documented internal and external penetration testing, generally at least annually and after significant changes. Segmentation controls need separate testing where segmentation reduces cardholder data environment scope, and service providers face a shorter six-month cycle. Vulnerability scanning does not replace penetration testing, and exploitable findings need correction and retesting. Confirm your exact obligations with your QSA before treating any single testing model as sufficient evidence.

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Melissa Wooten- Synack Solutions Architect
Melissa Wooten
12 min read
How to Evaluate a Penetration Testing Vendor: An Enterprise Buyer’s Checklist Penetration Testing

How to Evaluate a Penetration Testing Vendor: An Enterprise Buyer’s Checklist

Penetration testing proposals are rarely easy to compare. One vendor prices by application, another by testing days, another by credits, and another by AI test runs. Choosing the right penetration testing vendor therefore requires more than comparing report length, brand recognition, or the initial quote. This guide provides an enterprise checklist and weighted scorecard for evaluating scope, methodology, tester quality, finding validation, reporting, remediation, governance, and total program cost.

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Tim Nordvedt
Tim Nordvedt
14 min read
How Often Should Enterprises Run a Penetration Test? Penetration Testing

How Often Should Enterprises Run a Penetration Test?

Most enterprises should treat annual penetration testing as a baseline, not a complete answer. PCI DSS is the one framework with an explicit annual and change-triggered mandate. SOC 2, the current HIPAA Security Rule, and ISO 27001 all expect testing to follow the organization's own risk assessment and control design, not one fixed calendar date. HHS has proposed an annual HIPAA pentesting requirement, but that rule has not been finalized. Enterprises that combine a formal annual assessment with change-triggered and continuous validation stay ahead of frameworks that were never designed around a single testing frequency.

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Paul Mote
Paul Mote
13 min read
Managed Bug Bounty: Why Provable Coverage Beats Blind Spend Perspectives on Security

Managed Bug Bounty: Why Provable Coverage Beats Blind Spend

Most security leaders can report what they spent on bug bounty last year. Far fewer can understand the value being delivered by proving what it actually tested. Open programs show which bugs were reported, not which assets received real, skilled attention. Managed bug bounty closes that gap. Researcher-hour and traffic analytics turn testing depth into evidence you can measure, not an assumption you have to trust, giving you coverage you can hand to a board, an auditor, or a compliance team.

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Dave Henderson
6 min read
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