A vulnerability assessment shows breadth. A penetration test proves impact. IrisInfosec runs both as one engagement across 7 environments, validates every finding by hand, and writes it up so it maps straight onto your ISO 27001, SOC 2 and PCI DSS evidence. The remediation retest is included, so a closed finding is provably closed.
A scan tells you what might be wrong. An exploit tells you what an attacker can do with it. Run only the first and you drown in unranked alerts. Run only the second and you miss whole areas. VAPT gives you both, which is why mature teams stopped buying them separately.
You leave with validated, ranked findings, each with proof, business impact and a fix your engineers can ship. False positives are removed before the report reaches you.
VAPT
is the combined practice of vulnerability assessment, which lists weaknesses across an environment, and penetration testing, which exploits selected weaknesses to prove their real-world impact and chained attack paths.
Scope
Your attack surface is rarely just a website. We scope to where your real risk sits, then test it the way an attacker would reach it.
Injection, broken access control, authentication and session flaws, business-logic abuse, tested to OWASP Top 10 and ASVS depth.
REST, GraphQL and gRPC tested against the OWASP API Top 10: broken object-level authorisation, mass assignment, rate-limit abuse.
iOS and Android tested for insecure storage, weak transport, hardcoded secrets and platform misuse, aligned to OWASP MASVS.
External and internal testing: exposed services, weak segmentation, privilege escalation and lateral movement across your estate.
AWS, Azure and GCP reviewed for IAM misconfiguration, exposed storage, weak network controls and risky service defaults.
Desktop applications tested for insecure local storage, binary tampering and unsafe communication with back-end services.
Industrial and operational technology tested safety-first: Modbus, MQTT and OPC-UA exposure without disrupting live process.
IoT firmware, SCADA, automotive or medical device, build pipelines. If it has an attack surface, we can scope it.
Tell us your scopeCommon question
Often confused, sometimes sold as the same thing. They are not. Here is the difference, and
why you usually want both.
| Vulnerability assessment | Penetration test | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Find and list as many weaknesses as possible | Exploit selected weaknesses to prove real impact |
| Approach | Mostly automated scanning, broad coverage | Manual, attacker-led, depth over breadth |
| Answers | What might be wrong across the surface? | What can an attacker actually do, and how far? |
| Output | Ranked inventory of findings | Proof, attack paths and business impact |
| Best for | Continuous hygiene and patch prioritisation | Validating defences before a launch or audit |
| With us | Delivered together as VAPT, so you get coverage and proof without paying for two disconnected projects | |
Methodology
Built on PTES and NIST SP 800-115, tuned to your scope and risk tolerance. Predictable from kickoff to retest.
Targets, depth, test type, windows and emergency contacts agreed in writing. Full authorisation before a single packet is sent.
Map the live attack surface: hosts, endpoints, technologies and trust relationships an attacker would chain together.
Authenticated and unauthenticated scanning across the agreed scope to surface the full inventory of candidate weaknesses.
Manual exploitation of what matters, with safe proof of impact: data access, privilege escalation and lateral movement.
Strip false positives, score with CVSS plus business context, and order findings by what reduces risk fastest.
Executive and technical reports, a live readout, then a retest of your fixes with an updated attestation.
Engagement models
How much we know going in changes what we find. Most teams get the best value from grey box, which mirrors a realistic insider or post-phishing attacker.
Realistic by default. Grey box reflects how most breaches actually start, with a foothold rather than full blindness.
Depth on demand. White box adds source code and architecture for the highest coverage when you need assurance.
Honest about value. We will tell you when black box is the right call and when it just buys less coverage for the money.
| Model | Tester knowledge | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Black box | None, external attacker view | You want a true outsider simulation |
| Grey box | Limited, a low-privilege account | You want realistic value and coverage |
| White box | Full, including source and design | You need maximum assurance and depth |
Triggers
If one of these is on your desk this quarter, an assessment is usually overdue rather than early.
A new app, feature or major release is going live and you want exploitable issues found before your users or attackers do.
SOC 2, ISO 27001 or PCI DSS expects evidence of testing, and you need findings that map to controls, not a generic scan.
A security questionnaire or contract clause demands a recent penetration test and an attestation you can share.
An incident or close call exposed gaps and the board wants independent proof of where you actually stand.
Cyber insurance renewal or a new policy hinges on demonstrated testing and remediation.
A cloud migration, merger or significant re-architecture means your last test no longer reflects reality.
Fixed scope, fixed quote
Share your environment and what you are accountable for. We will recommend the right scope and test type, then send a fixed timeline and price with no obligation.
What you receive
A board summary plus a full technical write-up: every finding with reproduction steps, evidence, CVSS and a specific fix.
Findings ordered by exploitability and business impact, so remediation starts where it matters and effort is not wasted.
We re-test your fixes and reissue the report with a signed attestation for auditors, customers and your insurer.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERed
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