What is a penetration tester, and how is pen testing different from other types of hacking?

September 26, 2022

A penetration tester, or pen tester, takes an offensive lens to cyber security by simulating a cyber attack to identify weaknesses in the security infrastructure. Penetration testers are considered white hats, or ethical hackers, because they perform authorized probes into a network, system or web application to flag vulnerabilities, whereas malicious hackers break into IT infrastructure with the goal of disabling systems or stealing information.