• Security & Compliance

Penetration Testing
& Vulnerability Management

A penetration test is a controlled attack on your applications, network or cloud that shows whether your security controls work in practice. We organise and coordinate tests carried out by certified ethical hackers, and between tests we run continuous vulnerability management. You get a report for the board and the IT team, plus a retest of the fixes you implement.

Executive summary: Firewalls, EDR and SIEM do not guarantee that an experienced attacker cannot get past them. A penetration test checks this, and continuous vulnerability management catches new weaknesses between tests. Under DORA, every financial entity must test the ICT systems and applications supporting its critical or important functions at least once a year (Article 24(6)), and entities your supervisor identifies as in scope must also undergo threat-led penetration testing (TLPT) based on a real attack scenario at least once every three years (Article 26). A missing or outdated test report counts against your ICT risk management framework itself, not only against the system it was supposed to cover. We start by agreeing the scope and objectives of the test against your DORA testing obligations

Hackers Test Your Defenses Without Your Knowledge

67% of companies that increased their security budget still experienced a breach within the last two years. Tools are not enough without regular verification that they actually work. We organize and coordinate penetration tests conducted by certified ethical hackers and implement a continuous vulnerability management process.

Challenges

Challenges in Proactive Security

Having security measures and knowing whether they work are two different things.

Untested Security Is No Security

You run firewalls, EDR and SIEM, and you report to your board and your supervisor that ICT risk is under control. But you do not know whether an experienced attacker can get past those controls until one actually tries. Without independent testing there is no way to verify this, and under DORA that blind spot is itself a gap in your ICT risk management framework, not just a technical risk.

Drowning in Vulnerability Alerts

Automated scanners identify known vulnerabilities but cannot assess which ones are actually exploitable in your environment. Your IT team drowns in alerts instead of fixing what is truly dangerous.

DORA Requires Regular Testing

DORA requires every financial entity to test the ICT systems and applications supporting critical or important functions at least once a year (Article 24(6)). Entities your supervisor identifies as in scope must additionally undergo threat-led penetration testing (TLPT), a test built around a realistic attack scenario, at least once every three years (Article 26). Missing or incomplete test documentation is a finding against your compliance, not only a technical gap.

Proof That Your Security Works

Boards, auditors, and insurers increasingly require independent confirmation of security control effectiveness. A penetration test report is exactly that proof.

Vulnerability scanner, penetration test or continuous vulnerability management?
CriterionVulnerability scannerPenetration testContinuous vulnerability management
Who performs itautomated toolcertified ethical hackertools and a team maintaining the vulnerability register
What it findsknown vulnerabilitiesvulnerabilities chained into a real attack scenarionew vulnerabilities after every change
Frequencyany timeat least yearly and after significant changescontinuous
Outputlist of findings to verifyboard and IT report with evidenceup-to-date register and fix priorities
Evidence for auditorslimitedtest and retest reporthistory of detected and closed vulnerabilities
Case study

See How It Works in Practice

Client:

An EU-regulated fintech institution preparing to document its DORA testing obligations

Challenge:

The organisation could show policies and controls on paper, but had never verified whether its public-facing payment application and supporting infrastructure would hold up against a real attacker, and needed evidence for its ICT risk management framework under DORA, not just another compliance checklist.

Solution:

We organised a Grey Box penetration test of the web application and network infrastructure, scoped against the annual testing requirement in Article 24(6) and delivered by testers independent of the systems under test (Article 24(4)).

Results:

Identification and closure of 3 critical vulnerabilities before their exploitation by attackers.

Detailed report with recommendations prioritized by business risk.

Successful completion of PCI DSS audit.

Your applications and infrastructure can also be professionally tested.

Our service

Find Weak Points Before Attackers Do

We act as coordinator and expert partner throughout the process. We select the testing team, define the scope, oversee delivery and help you implement the recommendations. Once the report arrives, you are not left alone with it.

Application and Infrastructure Penetration Testing

Certified ethical hackers conduct controlled attacks on web applications, mobile applications, networks, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), simulating the methods of real cybercriminals.

Continuous Scanning and Vulnerability Management

We implement and manage a continuous vulnerability scanning process with a central registry of detected weaknesses, updated in real time as the environment changes.

Risk Prioritization and Action Planning

We analyse vulnerabilities in the context of your business and create a clear action plan. Instead of a list of several hundred items, you get a short list of priorities that drive your real risk.

Patch Verification and Retesting

After implementing recommended fixes, we conduct retests to ensure vulnerabilities have been effectively closed.

Board Reporting and Audit Support

We deliver reports in two versions: an executive summary in business language and a detailed technical section for the IT team. Ready for auditors and insurers.

Methodology

Our Methodologies and Standards

We operate based on globally recognized standards to ensure the highest quality of our tests.

Test types

Black Box, Grey Box, White Box

Areas

Web Applications, Mobile Applications, Internal/External Networks, Public Cloud

Standards

OWASP, NIST SP 800-115, PTES, MITRE ATT&CK

Our process

Your Proactive Defense Cycle

We execute every engagement according to a proven process that delivers predictable and measurable results.

1.

Scope and Objectives Definition

We jointly determine what will be tested and what the business objectives are. We select a methodology tailored to your environment.

2.

Reconnaissance and Attack Phase

Certified experts conduct tests simulating the actions of real cybercriminals, combining automated tools with manual analysis.

3.

Analysis, Prioritization, and Reporting

We assess risk in a business context and create a report with recommendations ranked by actual threat level.

4.

Remediation Support and Verification

We actively support your team in implementing fixes and verify their effectiveness through retesting.

Related services

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Interest You

Cloud & Infrastructure Security
DevSecOps
Risk Analysis & Security Audits
24/7 Security Operations Centre
Q&A

Frequently Asked Questions

A vulnerability scanner is an automated checklist that identifies known vulnerabilities. A penetration test is a simulation of a real attack conducted by an ethical hacker who chains vulnerabilities into an actual attack vector and verifies how far one can actually get. A scanner says “there may be a problem here,” a test says “there is a problem here and here is the proof.”

Yes. Before starting, we precisely define the scope and rules of engagement. Tests can be conducted on a dedicated test environment or in production during agreed maintenance windows, with minimal risk of disrupting system operations.

At least once a year and after every significant change to your architecture or applications. DORA requires testing of the ICT systems and applications supporting critical or important functions at least once a year (Article 24(6)), and entities your supervisor identifies as in scope must additionally undergo threat-led penetration testing (TLPT) at least once every three years (Article 26). Vulnerability management should run continuously between tests.

The cost depends on the scope and complexity of your environment. A typical scope costs PLN 10,000 to 30,000, and projects covering the full infrastructure and applications may cost more. For comparison, the global average cost of a data breach was USD 4.44 million in 2025 (IBM, Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025). We agree scope and pricing individually.

A report in two parts: an executive summary describing risks in business language and a detailed technical section for the IT team with precise remediation instructions. The report is ready to present to auditors and insurers.

A standard penetration test is one of the test types recognised under DORA’s testing programme (Article 25), and it satisfies the annual testing obligation under Article 24(6) for the systems it covers. It does not, on its own, satisfy the separate threat-led penetration testing (TLPT) requirement under Article 26, which applies only to entities your supervisor designates as in scope and follows a stricter methodology. A test report does not replace your full ICT risk management framework, but it documents a required part of it. We help translate test results into DORA-aligned compliance documentation.

Yes. Continuous scanning and vulnerability management is a separate service that can be implemented independently of penetration testing. Many companies start with this stage and supplement it with a penetration test once a year.

In a Black Box test, the tester has no knowledge of the system and acts like an outside attacker. In a Grey Box test, they have partial access, such as a standard user account. In a White Box test, they know the architecture and the code. Grey Box testing is a common balance between cost and depth, which is why we used this approach in the scenario above.