Internal penetration testing

A controlled penetration test from inside the corporate network to identify realistic compromise paths to critical assets and Active Directory privileges.

Context

Internal penetration testing answers an operational question: what could an attacker do after gaining an initial foothold inside the organization’s network?

The mission goes beyond vulnerability scanning. It combines infrastructure discovery, internal service analysis, Wi-Fi review when in scope, and the search for realistic compromise paths across identities, workstations, servers and network zones.

The goal is to measure lateral movement and privilege escalation capabilities: exposed secrets, weak authentication, misconfigurations, relay or replay opportunities, Active Directory abuse and, when authorized and feasible, controlled Domain Admin compromise.

Designed for internal networks

SMEs, mid-sized organizations and structured teams

Assess resilience against scenarios such as a compromised workstation, guest access, rogue device or attacker presence on site.

Infrastructure and security teams

Identify segmentation, administration, authentication, hardening and monitoring weaknesses that enable internal progression.

Management and CISOs

Prioritize fixes that actually reduce major-compromise risk, especially around Active Directory and critical assets.

Framed testing to measure real internal progression

Scoping and access conditions

Network scope, sites, test windows, exploitation limits, rules of engagement, provided accounts if any and escalation contacts are agreed before testing starts.

Infrastructure discovery and scanning

Map reachable segments, hosts, ports, services, shares, directories, equipment, internal systems and initial exploitation opportunities.

Wi-Fi and local-access analysis

When included in the scope, wireless networks, authentication modes, guest isolation, captive portals and bridges to the internal network are reviewed.

Compromise-path exploitation

Controlled validation of weak passwords, sensitive shares, authentication relay or replay, delegation issues, exposed secrets, privilege escalation and pivoting scenarios.

Active Directory objective

Search for paths to elevated privileges up to Domain Admin when the rules of engagement allow it, in order to demonstrate impact and identify required break points.

Methodology focused on internal compromise

  • PTES to structure reconnaissance, exploitation and post-exploitation phases
  • MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise to map scenarios to observed adversary techniques
  • ANSSI guidance on secure administration, Active Directory, segmentation and hardening
  • CIS and Microsoft best practices for hardening endpoints, servers, identities and internal services

Deliverables designed to break attack paths

Actionable map

Readable view of network segments, services, sensitive zones, pivot paths and dependencies that increase internal risk.

Prioritized attack paths

Documented compromise chains with prerequisites, steps, impact, evidence and reproducibility conditions.

Technical findings

Vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, exposed secrets, excessive rights, Wi-Fi weaknesses and Active Directory risks explained in detail.

Break plan

Concrete recommendations to disrupt attack paths: segmentation, hardening, privilege management, identity hygiene, monitoring and procedures.

Turning findings into durable risk reduction

Critical path found

A focused retest can verify quickly that priority actions have effectively broken the compromise chain.

Active Directory exposure

A configuration or architecture audit can complement the test to address root causes such as delegation, administration, segmentation and hardening.

Continuous improvement

Recurring reviews and targeted exercises help detect regressions, new attack paths and monitoring gaps.