Lion Cipher Lab
Scope a penetration test and write the statement of work
- Penetration Testing / Red Team
- Intermediate
- ~55 min
- Free · no account required
Why it matters
Most penetration tests that go wrong were scoped badly, not tested badly. The client wanted assurance for a payment flow and the scope listed only the marketing site. A third-party host was tested without its owner's permission. A production database fell over because nobody asked whether testing could happen out of hours. A fixed price assumed three user roles and the application had twelve. Scoping is the professional conversation that prevents this. It finds out what the client is really worried about, turns that into a precise list of what will and will not be tested and how, estimates…
What you'll learn
- running a scoping questionnaire with a client
- turning answers into an explicit in-scope and out-of-scope statement
- choosing black-, grey- or white-box testing for the goal
- estimating effort from scope drivers, with assumptions stated
- writing a statement of work both sides can sign
- spotting scope traps: third-party hosting, shared infrastructure, production risk
- what a pentest's planning phase covers under NIST SP 800-115
Steps in this lab
- What scoping decides, and the four documents you will produce
- The client and the scoping questionnaire
- Turn answers into an explicit scope statement
- Choose the approach to fit the question
- Estimate the effort and write down every assumption
- Write the statement of work
- Check the scope against the client's real concern