Cybersecurity
External and internal network testing that shows what an attacker could actually reach.
Our penetration testing services show what an attacker could do with your network, not just which vulnerabilities exist. NorthStar runs external tests against your internet-facing systems and internal tests from inside your network, exploiting weaknesses the way an attacker would to see how far one compromise could spread. You get a prioritized list of what to fix, a retest to confirm the fixes worked, and documentation that regulators, auditors, and insurers recognize as testing evidence.
Testing follows the same phases a manual penetration tester works through: reconnaissance, discovery, enumeration, exploitation, and post-exploitation.
Testing from the public internet against your internet-facing systems, looking for the patching, configuration, and authentication weaknesses an outside attacker would try first.
Testing from a device inside your network, simulating an attacker who already has a foothold. It includes credential and password attacks, man-in-the-middle and relay attacks, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and a search for sensitive data.
On request, an internal test can start from an ordinary user's login to show what a single stolen or phished password could lead to, and where permissions are wider than they should be.
Tests show whether firewalls, multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, outbound filtering, and network segmentation actually stop an attack in progress. A timestamped activity log lets you check what your monitoring caught.
Findings are only useful if the right people can act on them.
A plain-language view of scope, overall risk, and a remediation roadmap for leadership.
A step-by-step narrative of the test, each finding with evidence and a recommended fix, and the full activity log.
A follow-up test that tries the same attacks again to confirm fixed findings stay fixed and that the changes did not open new gaps.
Tests can run on a recurring schedule, such as monthly or quarterly, or on demand after a major change, with trend reporting across tests.
Penetration testing is built for regulated organizations that need evidence their controls hold up, not just a list of scan results.
These published case studies show how tested, documented controls hold up with carriers and regulators.
Primary sources for the testing requirements mentioned on this page.
Your organization remains responsible for its own compliance program. We help you implement and document the technical and administrative work that program depends on. Nothing on this page is legal advice or a certification.
About the author
Ken Satkunam, CISM
President & Founder, NorthStar Technology Group
Ken has spent over 25 years in IT leadership, serving in roles from technical support to CIO for organizations as large as 23,000 employees. He founded NorthStar Technology Group in 2000 to help regulated organizations build secure, compliant, and operationally resilient technology environments. Ken holds the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) credential from ISACA and is the co-author of the Amazon best-seller "Cyber Attack Prevention." He has been quoted in industry publications including eWeek and DM News, and NorthStar has been recognized on the Inc. 5000 list in both 2024 and 2025.
Tell us about your environment and any testing requirements from regulators, customers, or your insurer. We can scope external and internal testing from there.
