Penetration Testing

Overview

Black Trace Labs conducts advanced penetration tests designed to identify and validate exploitable vulnerabilities before malicious actors can weaponize them. Every engagement is executed under a formal Rules of Engagement (RoE) agreement, ensuring legal compliance, business continuity, and protection of sensitive data.

Our operations combine manual exploitation techniques with carefully curated tooling — never “scan and dump” reports. Each finding is validated, risk-rated, and mapped to relevant compliance frameworks (PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001) to ensure remediation efforts are prioritized where they matter most.

Our Methodology

We follow a disciplined multi-phase approach that mirrors adversarial tactics while ensuring operational safety:

1. Planning & Scoping — Define objectives, attack surface, and safe-harbor conditions. Establish communication channels and escalation protocols.
2. Reconnaissance & OSINT — Passive and active information gathering using tools like Amass, Subfinder, theHarvester, and custom scripts to build an asset inventory.
3. Threat Modeling — Map potential attack paths against critical assets using STRIDE and MITRE ATT&CK frameworks.
4. Exploitation — Execute controlled exploitation of vulnerabilities (e.g., SQLi, RCE, SSRF, privilege escalation) using safe, non-destructive payloads.
5. Post-Exploitation — Validate the impact of access gained, enumerate data exposure potential, and test lateral movement scenarios — always within scope.
6. Reporting & Debrief — Deliver comprehensive documentation with PoCs, impact analysis, risk ratings, and actionable remediation steps.
7. Re-Testing — Upon remediation, we re-test affected systems to confirm vulnerability closure.

Every step is logged, timestamped, and tied to specific operators, ensuring traceability and audit readiness.

Data Handling & Transmission

We treat client data with the same safeguards applied in regulated government and defense environments. All testing data is encrypted in transit using TLS 1.3+ and stored at rest with AES-256 encryption on isolated, access-controlled systems.

Sensitive artifacts — including screenshots, packet captures, and PoC code — are transmitted only via encrypted channels (S/MIME-secured email, secure file transfer, or client-provided encrypted storage). Upon project completion and client acceptance, all non-required test data is securely wiped using NIST SP 800-88r1 compliant methods.

Why Trust Black Trace Labs?

• Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) with 8+ years of offensive security experience.
• 25+ years in web and application development — we understand both the code and the exploit.
• Strict adherence to safe-harbor and non-disclosure agreements.
• Custom tooling and advanced exploitation methods, not off-the-shelf “one click” scripts.
• U.S. owned & operated in Fort Worth, Texas — no offshoring.

When you engage us, you get a penetration testing partner capable of identifying the vulnerabilities that others miss — and communicating the findings in a way your team can act on immediately.