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Decision guide · Penetration Testing

Choosing a pentest vendor: TLPT, red team, classical pentest

Pentests are not a homogeneous market. TLPT, red-team operations, web-app pentest, cloud pentest, hardware pentest, social engineering and adversary simulation are different disciplines.

TL;DR

Define the discipline first, then pick the vendor. TLPT needs TIBER-EU experience, red team needs an own C2 capability.

Who owns this decision

CISO is owner. Compliance and Audit in the steering group for TLPT.

Key criteria to weight

  • Discipline specialisation

    TLPT vendors are not necessarily good web-app testers and vice versa.

  • Tester qualification

    OSCP, OSEP, CRT, GIAC GXPN, GCFA. Minimum filters, not gold standard.

  • Methodology

    TIBER-EU, NIST 800-115, OWASP WSTG, MITRE ATT&CK.

  • EU sovereignty and data handling

    Findings must not flow to US platforms.

  • Escalation and confidentiality path

    On critical findings the communication path must be clear.

  • Report depth and reproducibility

    PoC per finding, reproduction steps, business-language risk rating.

Step-by-step decision flow

  1. 1

    Scope and discipline

    What exactly is to be tested? Web app, cloud, internal network, AD, red team, TLPT?

  2. 2

    Vendor longlist per discipline

    TLPT: NCC Group, WithSecure, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, Mandiant. Web app / cloud: Cure53, SySS, secunet, NVISO, Bishop Fox. DACH: cirosec, ERNW, Compass Security.

  3. 3

    Methodology review

    Which methodology does the vendor run? Which tools, reporting structure, re-test clauses?

  4. 4

    Contract clauses

    Confidentiality, data sovereignty, GDPR Art. 28 DPA, re-test inclusion, findings ownership.

  5. 5

    Memo, commission, test, report

    Decision memo with vendor pick plus engagement letter plus testing window.

Compliance note

DORA Art. 24-27 (TLPT every 3 years), NIS2 Art. 21 (f), ISO 27001 A.12.7 and A.18.2, BAIT BTO 5.

Common pitfalls

  • Web app pentest is commissioned but a red team use case is meant. Wrong methodology.
  • TLPT without TIBER-EU experience. BaFin does not accept that.
  • Findings land in US SaaS platforms without EU DPA.
  • Re-test not fixed in the contract. Later upcharge.

FAQ

What exactly is TLPT?

Threat-Led Penetration Testing under DORA Art. 26-27. Methodologically aligned with TIBER-EU. Threat-intel-driven scenarios, tests in production, strict tester/customer separation. Mandatory at least every 3 years for significant financial entities.

What does a pentest cost?

Web app pentest 8-25 k EUR. Cloud pentest 15-40 k EUR. Red team 60-200 k EUR. TLPT 200-700 k EUR plus internal effort.

How often must one pentest?

Web apps: every major release, at least yearly. Cloud: annually. AD / internal network: annually. Red team: every 1-2 years. TLPT: at least every 3 years.

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