"Hacking" has never been as easy as it is today - with this theory, our expert for technical security analysis Tim Wörner began his guest lecture on Practical Penetration Testing at Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences last week. This is not only due to the fact that advanced hacking skills are no longer required to launch attacks. The tools required are also easy to use and available online for almost everyone. Meanwhile, criminal hackers have no shortage of motivation to carry out cyber attacks on companies - the majority of attacks are financially motivated and extremely lucrative. No wonder, the number of successful attacks, some of which have serious consequences for the companies affected, has been growing steadily for years.
To ensure that the security community can grow to the same extent, our colleagues are always happy to visit German universities to report on their day-to-day work as penetration testers, security consultants or auditors and to encourage students' interest in IT security. As part of the IT security lecture series led by Prof. Dr. Peter Trapp, Tim Wörner introduced the students to penetration testing in practice: How does a pentest work? Which tools are typically used? What are the most common vulnerabilities? These and other questions were answered for the students and rounded off with a live demonstration of a typical penetration test procedure.
"There will never be absolute security," says Tim Wörner. "That's why the ultimate goal of IT security is to detect attacks, prevent them where possible and reduce the potential impact of a successful attack. This is not a task that can be accomplished by individuals. That's why I'm always delighted to have the opportunity to get students involved in penetration testing - or at least give them a better understanding of IT security."
