Gray box assessments are a hybrid of white and black box testing, and are typically used to provide a realistic testing scenario while also giving penetration testers enough information to reduce the time needed to conduct reconnaissance and other black box testing activities. In addition to this, it's important in any assessment to ensure you are testing all in-scope systems. In a true black box, it's possible to miss systems and, as a result, leave them out of the assessment. The gray box is often the best form of network penetration testing as it provides the most value to clients.

Each penetration test approach is different from the other, and it's vital that you know about all of them. Imagine a potential client calling us to request a black box test on their external network; as a penetration tester, we must be familiar with the terms and what is expected.

Now that we have covered the different approaches of testing, let's dive into the various types of penetration testing.