Professional Internal Penetration Testing Services

What Is Internal Penetration Testing?

Internal penetration testing simulates attacks from within your organization's network perimeter. Our certified security professionals operate as insider threats or attackers who have already bypassed external defenses, attempting to compromise sensitive systems, escalate privileges, move laterally across your network, and access restricted data.

This assessment reveals vulnerabilities in your internal security controls, network segmentation, Active Directory configuration, and system hardening. Internal testing is critical because most successful attacks involve lateral movement within the network after initial compromise, and your internal security posture directly impacts breach severity and containment.

By discovering and remediating internal vulnerabilities proactively, you significantly reduce the damage potential from compromised systems and insider threats. Internal testing complements external testing and provides essential insights into your defense-in-depth capabilities.

Why Internal Testing Matters

Internal security is often weaker than perimeter security because organizations focus on external threats. However, studies show that once attackers bypass external defenses, they move freely through poorly segmented internal networks. Internal testing evaluates your ability to detect, contain, and stop internal threats and lateral movement.

Lateral Movement Detection

We test your network's ability to detect and prevent attackers from moving between systems, escalating privileges, and accessing sensitive data after initial compromise.

Active Directory Security

Most internal attacks target Active Directory for privilege escalation and lateral movement. We identify AD misconfigurations and attack paths before attackers exploit them.

Insider Threat Assessment

We evaluate your controls against insider threats by simulating what a malicious employee with legitimate network access could compromise and exfiltrate.

Network Segmentation Validation

We test whether your network segments are effectively isolated and whether systems are properly segregated by trust level and sensitivity.

What We Test

Our internal penetration testing covers comprehensive internal attack scenarios:

Active Directory Attacks

Test for Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, credential delegation, delegation flaws, group policy manipulation, and privilege escalation within AD.

Lateral Movement Paths

Identify techniques to move between systems including credential harvesting, pass-the-hash attacks, persistence mechanisms, and privilege escalation chains.

Privilege Escalation

Test for vulnerabilities allowing escalation from standard user to administrative privileges including kernel exploits, misconfigurations, and service weaknesses.

Credential Attacks

Assess credential security including password policies, credential storage, LSASS access, SAM database extraction, and credential forwarding vulnerabilities.

Data Access & Exfiltration

Test what sensitive data is accessible from standard user accounts, how it could be exfiltrated, and whether data loss prevention controls are effective.

Network Segmentation

Evaluate whether network segments are properly isolated, test inter-segment access controls, and identify bypasses in your segmentation strategy.

Our Internal Testing Methodology

Our approach follows industry-standard penetration testing methodologies for comprehensive internal coverage:

1. Initial Access Simulation

We establish initial access to your internal network using provided standard user credentials, simulating an insider threat or an attacker who has compromised external systems and gained network access.

2. Enumeration & Reconnaissance

We systematically enumerate your internal network, identify systems and services, map trust relationships, discover Active Directory structure, and identify potential attack paths.

3. Privilege Escalation & Lateral Movement

We attempt to escalate privileges, move between systems, compromise domain controllers, and access restricted resources. We document each successful attack step and privilege level achieved.

4. Sensitive Data Access

We evaluate what sensitive data is accessible, how it could be exfiltrated, and whether your data protection and loss prevention controls effectively prevent unauthorized access.

5. Comprehensive Reporting

You receive a detailed report documenting the attack chain, privilege escalation paths, compromised systems, accessed data, CVSS risk ratings, remediation recommendations, and implementation guidance.

Internal Penetration Testing Pricing

Our flexible pricing model accommodates organizations of all sizes and complexity levels:

AI-Assisted Testing

$500

Per assessment

Single subnet testing
Automated vulnerability scanning
AI-assisted analysis
Basic privilege escalation
Findings report

Get Started

Manual Testing

$3,000+

Per assessment

Multi-subnet testing
Active Directory testing
Full privilege escalation
Lateral movement chains
Data access evaluation
Comprehensive reporting

Schedule Call

Compliance & Standards Coverage

Our internal penetration testing helps you meet regulatory compliance requirements:

PCI DSS

Internal security assessments required to evaluate access controls and verify system security in payment processing environments.

HIPAA

Penetration testing of healthcare systems required to verify access controls and data protection measures for protected health information.

SOC 2 Type II

Internal security assessments demonstrate effective system access controls and monitoring for service organizations handling customer data.

ISO 27001

Information security assessments including internal penetration testing required for access control effectiveness validation.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

Comprehensive internal security assessments support protection and detection of unauthorized system access and lateral movement.

CMMC 2.0

Defense contractors must conduct internal network assessments to verify compliance with cybersecurity controls and access requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is internal penetration testing?

Internal penetration testing simulates attacks from inside your network perimeter. Our certified professionals test your internal network, systems, and applications as if they were an insider threat or attacker who has already bypassed external defenses.

How does internal testing differ from external testing?

External testing simulates attacks from the internet, while internal testing focuses on threats from within your network perimeter. Internal testing evaluates lateral movement, privilege escalation, Active Directory attacks, and what an insider could access given initial network access.

What is Active Directory testing?

Active Directory testing evaluates your domain infrastructure for misconfigurations, weak permissions, privilege escalation paths, and attacks. We test for Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, and other AD-specific vulnerabilities.

How do you establish initial access for internal testing?

We typically simulate initial access by starting with standard user credentials on your internal network. This realistically represents how an insider or an attacker who compromised external systems would have access to your internal infrastructure.

Is internal testing disruptive to business operations?

Internal testing can be designed to minimize business disruption. We coordinate with your team on scope, timing, and systems to test. Non-critical systems can be tested during business hours, while sensitive production systems can be tested during maintenance windows.

Related Services

Combine internal testing with our other security assessment services for comprehensive coverage:

Internal Penetration Testing