Penetration Testing Report: How to Interpret and Act on Penetration Test Results

Receiving a penetration test report can be a pivotal moment for organisations working to strengthen their security posture. Yet the sheer volume of technical detail, severity ratings, and recommended fixes often proves daunting—especially for those outside the core security team. This guide will walk you through understanding the report’s structure, prioritising issues, translating technical jargon, and planning effective remediation. By taking clear, organised steps, you can turn penetration test findings into tangible security gains rather than letting them gather dust.

Pen Test: Understanding the Structure of a Penetration Test Report

A well-organised penetration test report usually includes several standard sections:

Executive Summary

This non-technical overview is designed for management and senior stakeholders. It offers a high-level overview of your organisation’s security posture and often provides a broad risk rating—useful for planning budgets and communicating urgency across teams.

Findings/Vulnerabilities Detail

Each discovered vulnerability is described in detail. You’ll see the severity level, evidence of the exploit (like screenshots or data samples), and recommended remediation steps. Findings are typically sorted by severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low) or by category (e.g., Network vulnerabilities, Web application security flaws).

Testing Methodology

This section explains the scope and depth of the testing: which systems, applications, or networks were tested, what penetration testing tools were used, and what testing methodology guided the work. Reviewing this helps you assess how thorough the penetration test was, or whether any potential entry points were out of scope.

Appendices

Many reports include an appendix with raw tool outputs or deeply technical data. These details can help your technical teams recreate or further explore the vulnerabilities discovered.

Understanding each section—and knowing where to find vital remediation details—ensures that nothing critical goes unread or unaddressed.

Vulnerability Severity Levels and Risk Ranking

Penetration testing reports almost always attach severity labels to each finding:

• Critical: A serious flaw that attackers can exploit immediately, such as unauthenticated remote code execution. These demand immediate attention.
• High: Severe and likely exploitable with particular conditions. These could lead to significant damage if left unresolved.
• Medium: Moderate risks that, when combined with other issues, can allow malicious actors to escalate privileges or access sensitive data.
• Low: Generally minor issues or indicators of poor security practices. Useful for long-term improvements.

Multiple lower-severity issues can be chained together in exploitation attempts. Always evaluate the overall context of findings.

Prioritising Issues for Remediation

With limited time and resources, prioritisation is critical:

• Tackle Critical Immediately: Begin remediation as soon as critical issues are identified, even before the final report.
• Address High Next: High-severity findings should be resolved promptly to prevent cyber threats from escalating.
• Plan for Medium and Low: Incorporate these into a structured remediation plan, assigning clear ownership and timelines.

Tracking every issue—including severity, remediation steps, and responsible teams—helps ensure continuous progress. Regular penetration testing and clear documentation of fixes strengthen your security and information security management.

Translating Technical Jargon for Management

Penetration testing can involve complex terms like XSS, SQL injection, or insecure deserialisation. For stakeholders:

• Clarify the Impact: Explain what the vulnerability could mean for business operations or compliance.
• Ask Questions: Engage the pen tester or penetration testing team to help identify real-world implications.
• Use Analogies: Make technical flaws relatable—for instance, equating default passwords with leaving your doors unlocked.

This communication helps justify the allocation of your ongoing cyber security budget and drive action.

Developing a Remediation Plan

Cross-Functional Meeting

Include IT, developers, security professionals, and business stakeholders—plus someone from the penetration testing team if possible. Collaboration ensures alignment.

Decide on Fix Approaches

Determine whether each issue requires code changes, configuration updates, additional security controls, or new testing tools.

Assign Ownership

Use a tracking system to assign responsibility, deadlines, and track progress. Interim mitigations may be necessary for complex fixes.

Aim for Root Cause Solutions

If a flaw reveals weak coding standards, address this holistically through training or revised policies.

Validation and Retesting

Retest Critical and High Issues

Pen testing engagements often include retesting. If not, conduct internal penetration testing to validate fixes.

Document the Changes

Maintain records of patches and updates. This supports compliance and security practices and compliance reporting.

Continuous Improvement

Testing helps identify vulnerabilities, but regular penetration testing and security measures are essential to adapt to new cyber threats.

Integrating Lessons Learned

• Policy Updates: Address systemic weaknesses.
• Team Training: Focus on recurring flaws.
• Risk Register Updates: Essential for information security and compliance.
• Strengthen Internal Testing: Incorporate security testing in CI/CD pipelines.

Communicating Test Results to Stakeholders

• Management: Share the Executive Summary and remediation updates.
• Clients/Regulators: Provide a sanitised report to show action on security issues.
• Internal Teams: Communicate any changes that affect their workflows.

Maintaining Momentum and Continuous Security

Cyber attacks evolve—so must your defences:

• Regular Penetration Testing: Conducting regular penetration tests is essential for sustained cyber security.
• Ongoing Patching: Address security vulnerabilities proactively.
• Culture of Security: Embed awareness and reward vigilance.

Conclusion and Next Steps

A successful penetration test helps identify vulnerabilities, but its true value lies in action. Effective testing involves translating findings into clear remediation, reviewing the results of a penetration test, and strengthening your security.

Penetration testing is the process of simulating cyber attacks to uncover weaknesses. Performing penetration testing regularly ensures the effectiveness of current security controls and improves the security posture over time. A comprehensive penetration test includes a detailed penetration testing report that outlines security flaws, security issues, and how to improve the overall security of your systems.

The results of the penetration test should guide your testing activities and testing scope, ensuring testing allows for targeted improvements. Penetration testing can help highlight existing security gaps and recommend additional security investments.

Penetration test may vary in scope—covering internal penetration or web application security—and use different types of penetration tests. A penetration tester or pen tester uses testing tools and a defined testing method to conduct these assessments. The results of a penetration test should be analysed in line with the common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) to assess risk accurately.

Also important to note: A penetration test helps address the introduction of new vulnerabilities over time. A report should also include a clear plan for remediation. Use the results of the penetration test to review the results, refine security practices and compliance, and enhance security and information security management.

If you need expert support, Atoro’s security professionals are ready to assist. Download our free Pen Test Remediation Planning Template and take a proactive approach to cyber security today.

Let your penetration test be a strategic tool to improve the security of your organisation and guide your response to cyber threats and exploitation.

Disclosure of cyber security issues should always be handled responsibly. Investing in the cyber security industry is not just about compliance—it’s about resilience.

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