Penetration Testing Examples: Real-World Scenarios & Insights

With cybersecurity concerns escalating and threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, businesses across all sectors are considering new ways to better protect themselves.

Penetration testing is highly effective – because it helps business owners see things from an attacker’s perspective. By emulating attacks, ethical hackers and testers can better prepare for potential threats that might arise. It’s also beneficial to ensure compliance and regulatory requirements are met.

Below, we’ve lined up some real-world case studies to demonstrate how beneficial penetration testing can be across different industries.

Common Penetration Testing Scenarios

Example penetration testing scenarios might include:

• Network penetration testing, which covers security weaknesses in networked devices, firewalls, and network configurations. We help businesses strengthen their network defenses, prevent unauthorized access, and reduce the risk of data breaches and cyber threats.
• Web application penetration testing identifies vulnerabilities in public-facing apps, plugins, and third-party source code, while also addressing weaknesses in app design. Additionally, secure product development testing focuses on detecting security flaws during the software development lifecycle. We help customers implement secure coding practices, conduct code reviews, and integrate automated security testing tools to proactively eliminate vulnerabilities before deployment.
• Wireless penetration testing, which, for example, refers to flaws in Wi-Fi connectivity where hackers could gain access to unencrypted data through router connections. We’ve helped customers improve their router security, upgrade firmware, and remove outdated wireless technology.
• Testing against social engineering attacks which include phishing, email compromise, and baiting – all in the name of tricking people into giving access to systems and sensitive data. We help organizations strengthen security awareness programs and implement safeguards to reduce the risk of social engineering attacks.

Crucially, penetration testing is never a one-size service. Depending on your needs (and those of your end users), you might need a blend of different types of tests, and a custom action plan to cover all bases.

Depending on your operation, you might need help identifying security vulnerabilities internally and externally. And, if you work predominantly in the cloud, you might need help assessing third-party risks from external vendors.

Real-World Penetration Testing Examples

We've compiled five quick case studies to show how effective penetration testing can be for different businesses. In each case, the business has adopted penetration testing techniques and has addressed pre-existing cybersecurity gaps.

Adobe

Adobe suffered a large security breach that leaked data belonging to 153 million of its users. This included IDs, names, and encrypted information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and expiries.

Following on from this attack, the company doubled down on its approach to securing app data and regularly running penetration testing. As such, the brand has not re-entered the news regarding further data theft on such a scale.

“Adobe internal security teams perform code-assisted penetration testing using a combination of automated and manual techniques that target areas of weakness highlighted during security reviews.”

Adobe

Adobe’s approach to blending automated and manual penetration testing has helped it to continually re-secure user data.

Google

Google has suffered a handful of data leaks, with a bug within Google+ in particular leading to more than half a million user records getting exposed.

Since this time, however, the company has re-committed itself to penetration testing and developing specific teams to find security vulnerabilities.

As part of its ongoing security assessments, the Cloud wing of the company runs penetration tests combining manual and automated approaches.

A company as large as Google will, unfortunately, continue to make headlines thanks to code flaws and vulnerabilities. However, its extensive Cloud security overview, which includes clear remits for penetration testing, put millions of minds at ease.

VikingCloud client – a payment solutions software provider

Time for one of our own real-world success stories! Our client, a payment solutions software developer, faced a significant series of risks as a result of evolving measures laid out by PCI DSS and PCI 3DS standards.

Under pressure to ensure compliance and to protect its customers against evolving threats, the company turned to VikingCloud for an auditing and testing solution to assess weaknesses and propose solutions.

With our quarterly penetration tests and vulnerability scans, we’ve helped the company achieve several PCI certifications and maintained its annual compliance requirements.

Sony (PlayStation Network)

Sony’s infamous PlayStation Network (PSN) breach saw the company struggle to bounce back from 100 million customers losing sensitive data.

The breach occurred, it transpired, due to attackers taking control of several servers, aggressively gaining access and leaking data from the inside.

In response to the attack and the reputational fallout, Sony recommitted itself to its customers, reassuring PSN players that extra penetration testing and data protection would help to enhance its infrastructure.

“We have taken aggressive action to give consumers peace of mind, protect them against the abuse of their data, and enhance our security systems moving forward.”

Rob Dyer

In the decade since this attack, PSN hasn’t suffered a further breach on this scale, remaining proactive on spotting and fixing up vulnerabilities.

National Health Service (NHS)

In 2017, the UK’s NHS suffered a major ransomware attack after falling foul of WannaCry malware, which found its way into several health providers’ networks through emails.

One of the most infamous examples of phishing in recent times, the NHS’ security credibility suffered as a result, leading experts to re-evaluate its posture.

Following WannaCry, further training and guidance was provided across the NHS network, with a renewed focus on reassessing security nationwide.

Millions of pounds were invested into vulnerability research and assessments months after the fallout. What’s more, the organization commits to at least annual penetration tests based on NCSC standards.

The NHS has not suffered a major incident on the scale of WannaCry since re-hardening its security, however, its third-party partner, Synnovis, suffered from a ransomware attack in 2024.

Lessons Learned from Penetration Testing

One of the key lessons from penetration testing here is that it can help companies turn their security postures around. In some of these cases, major breaches led to wake-up calls that resulted in more proactive, focused strengthening techniques.

In all cases, continuous penetration testing has helped real-world companies to understand potential flaws more clearly, and therefore take more efficient action and make more informed investments in security measures.

We help a range of companies bounce back from data breaches and set up new data management systems with thorough penetration testing. There is no better way to see what’s at stake than to observe your infrastructure through the eyes of a hacker.

How to Implement Penetration Testing in Your Organization

Implementing penetration testing in your organization starts with a consultation – by choosing experts in cybersecurity hardening and ethical hacking, you can be sure of a thorough investigation.

We recommend outsourcing penetration testing at least twice a year. We also recommend regular vulnerability scanning to our clients to ensure potential weaknesses are addressed across the year.

A reliable penetration testing company will help you:

• Determine the scope and objectives for testing
• Gather intelligence on where your sensitive data is held
• Map out potential routes for hacking and exploitation
• Run carefully-planned attacks and develop reports
• Discuss where you can make security improvements to prevent real-world attacks
• Help you plan for automation in penetration testing for future assessments

Conclusion

Proactive penetration testing is a vital measure in a threat landscape that’s always evolving. We always recommend our customers test their internal and external security postures to make sure they’re continuously protected against the latest attack vectors.

With our penetration testing services, our clients are more confident and more proactive in their cybersecurity – regardless of what threats emerge.

To find out more about how penetration testing could support your firm against evolving security threats, get in touch with our team as a priority.

Penetration Testing FAQ

What are the most common vulnerabilities found in penetration tests?

Some of the most common weaknesses found during penetration testing include misconfigured security controls, poor password strength, outdated protocols, lack of multi-factor authentication, and vulnerability against injected code.

What industries benefit the most from penetration testing?

Industries such as healthcare, finance, education, and government benefit the most from penetration testing, because they handle some of the most sensitive data. A wide variety of other industries also benefit from penetration testing such as retail and hospitality because they handle payment and other personal information.

What are the legal and ethical considerations in penetration testing?

Penetration testers must consider the privacy and confidentiality of the company that they are analyzing, avoid causing genuine disruption to the business, and ensure any data is handled with protection regulations in mind.

How much does a penetration test typically cost?

Penetration testing can cost companies between $5,000 and $100,000 or more, depending on the complexity and size of the tests involved. Testers’ expertise can also dictate how much companies pay.