Offensive security turns theory into proof. Our VAPT programme reveals where attackers can actually gain entry, and how to close the gaps with speed and certainty.
We help security and compliance leaders assess the real strength of their defences, demonstrate due diligence to stakeholders, and focus remediation efforts where they achieve measurable risk reduction.
Our team combines skilled testers, proven methodologies, and transparent reporting to validate controls, guide remediation, and build lasting assurance. From discovery and scoping through exploitation, evidence capture, and retesting, we make testing predictable, safe, and business-aligned.
Why Choose Us for Your Offensive Security Needs
CipherShield is proud to be a CREST International-accredited cybersecurity company, led by certified specialists, including CREST-registered practitioners who embody the highest standards of technical proficiency and professionalism. Our services are crafted around industry-leading frameworks such as the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES), NIST SP 800-115, and OWASP, ensuring assessments are rigorous, comprehensive, and actionable.
Each engagement delivers findings with real-world risk context, reproducible evidence, and clear remediation guidance, all tailored to your environment, whether it is cloud-native, containerised, or heavily API-driven.
As a CREST-accredited provider, we guarantee top-tier quality oversight by experienced professionals who customise rules of engagement to align with your risk appetite and optimise evidence collection for seamless audit reuse.
Explore Our Offensive Security Service Offerings
Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing
We deliver a comprehensive security validation by combining vulnerability assessments with exploitation-led penetration testing. Our approach spans authenticated internal and external scans, configuration reviews, patch baseline validation, and active penetration of networks, cloud assets, and identity controls.
Manual validation ensures false positives are removed and findings are accurately risk rated with CVSS v3.1. Our tailored remediation plans prioritise fixes by exploitability and business impact, empowering your teams to close gaps efficiently and confidently.
Web, Mobile & API Security Testing
Our specialists perform deep assessments of web applications, mobile platforms (iOS and Android), and API endpoints beyond common vulnerabilities. Using manual, code-aware testing paired with dynamic and runtime analysis, we identify complex issues such as business logic flaws, session mismanagement, and API abuse.
Detailed findings include clear reproduction steps, aligned with OWASP standards, accompanied by developer-ready fixes and custom test scripts—enabling rapid and effective remediation.
Operational Technology & Configuration Security
We blend ICS/SCADA security expertise based on IEC 62443 principles with hardening reviews of firewalls, routers, SIEMs, IAM, and endpoint defences. Passive asset discovery, protocol analysis, and defensible IT/OT segmentation strategies reduce operational risk while maintaining uptime.
Our configuration audits systematically uncover misconfigurations and fine-tune controls to enforce least privilege, validate logging fidelity, and establish rollback-safe baselines.
CIS Benchmark Compliance & Secure Baselines
Assessments against CIS Benchmarks cover servers, databases, cloud platforms, and Kubernetes clusters. We provide actionable gap analysis scored by risk, automate guardrails using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and implement policy enforcement via Terraform and OPA.
This ensures secure baseline configurations persist at scale and respond flexibly to evolving infrastructure.
Threat Hunting & Malware Forensics
Our threat hunting uncovers stealthy adversaries using recent telemetry and threat intelligence aligned to your sector. Malware analysis in controlled sandboxes reveals attack behaviors, persistence mechanisms, and evasion tactics. Forensic analysis delivers legal-grade evidence from volatile memory captures to timeline reconstruction. Insights feed directly into your detection rules and containment strategies, enhancing your security posture proactively.
Inside Our VAPT Process: Method to Impact
Before we touch a keyboard, we align goals, scope, and risk appetite so testing is safe, relevant, and business-aligned. Our work is executed by senior practitioners and driven by repeatable playbooks, quality controls, and properly licensed tooling for accuracy and audit defensibility.
All our key engagements follow a CREST-led lifecycle designed to turn findings into measurable risk reduction.
The Benefits of an effecient Vulnerability Management Program
Identify Risks before they become Breaches
Accelerate Remediation with high-signal Reporting
Strengthen Assurance and Compliance Evidence
Build a Culture of Secure Delivery
Workshops, developer guidance, and retesting translate test results into durable engineering patterns that improve with every release.
Frequently Asked Questions about Offensive Security Services
What is the difference between a Vulnerability Assessment and a Penetration Test ?
A Vulnerability Assessment (VA) generally uses authenticated scanning and configuration review to surface weaknesses at scale, remove false positives, and prioritise fixes by exploitability and business impact. A Penetration Test (PT) is a hands-on attack simulation that chains vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and logic flaws to demonstrate real-world impact, lateral movement, and data access. VA gives breadth and hygiene; PT proves depth and consequence.
We run VA for coverage and PT for proof, following a CREST-aligned methodology (PTES/NIST/OWASP). You get de-duplicated findings, reproducible evidence, and a risk-prioritised remediation plan with targeted retesting.
Will testing disrupt production systems?
Testing can be invasive if unmanaged, so we design rules of engagement that protect availability: change windows for higher-risk actions, safe-mode techniques for fragile systems, and live coordination with ops/incident teams. We throttle traffic, avoid destructive payloads, and maintain real-time comms to pause or roll back if needed.
Our CREST-led playbooks embed pre-test health checks, blast-radius limits, and on-call escalation. We monitor during execution and provide a rollback plan—so you gain assurance without downtime surprises.
Do you test in the cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP) and containers/Kubernetes?
Yes. We assess identity boundaries (IAM/AAD), network policies (SGs/NSGs), data protection (KMS/CMK), and workload hardening (CIS benchmarks) across IaaS/PaaS/SaaS. In Kubernetes, we validate RBAC, admission controls, secrets handling, network policies, supply-chain risks, and container escape paths.
We map findings to cloud-native best practices and ISO 27001/Essential Eight controls, provide IaC guardrails (Terraform/OPA), and deliver fix patterns that your platform teams can operationalise.
Can you include social engineering or phishing?
Yes—when agreed in scope. We design spear-phishing and vishing campaigns with measurable objectives (reporting rate, click rate, credential capture blocked by MFA) and run controlled payloads that avoid data loss. Outcomes feed awareness programmes and hardening of email gateways and identity.
Our CREST practitioners craft realistic scenarios, coordinate with HR/legal, and deliver executive metrics plus targeted micro-training for teams and leaders.
Do you retest after we remediate?
Absolutely. Retesting is essential to verify fixes, ensure compensating controls are effective, and close audit loops. We repeat exploitation safely, confirm issues are resolved without regressions, and update risk ratings and evidence.
We can schedule focused retests, provide “before/after” proof, and furnish closure letters your auditors and customers accept.
How often should we run VAPT?
At minimum annually and after significant change (new apps, major releases, architecture shifts). Internet-facing assets and high-velocity products benefit from more frequent testing, complemented by continuous attack surface monitoring.
We design a cadence that matches your release cycles—combining periodic PT, quarterly VA, and always-on monitoring—with metrics that show risk trending down.
What if you detect an active compromise during testing?
If indicators of compromise appear, we immediately switch to a controlled incident-handling protocol. Our DFIR specialists capture volatile data, analyse malware behaviour in sandboxes, trace persistence, and identify exfiltration paths.
We deliver actionable artefacts—IOCs, YARA/Sigma rules, and containment steps—that integrate with your EDR and SIEM stack for faster recovery.
Can you support ISO 27001 and PCI DSS evidence needs?
Yes. Our deliverables include artefacts auditors expect methodology, scope, rules of engagement, raw and sanitised evidence, retest proof, and control mappings. This shortens assurance cycles and reduces duplicate effort across frameworks.
Reports reference ISO 27001 Annex A, ACSC Essential Eight, and PCI DSS requirements, giving you ready-to-file evidence for audits and customer questionnaires.
How do you ensure confidentiality of our data?
All testing is governed by strict NDAs and data segregation controls. Test data is encrypted, access is time‑bound, and retention follows agreed schedules.
We operate under a CREST‑aligned Quality and Security Management framework, conducting internal audits to preserve evidence integrity and client confidentiality.