Project management and scheduling

Managing the penetration testing project requires a thorough understanding of all the individual parts of the scoping process. Once these scope objectives have been cleared, the project manager can coordinate with the penetration testers to develop a formal outline that defines the project plan and schedule. Usually, the penetration tester can carry out this task unaided, but the cooperation of a client could possibly bring positive attention to that part of the schedule. This is important because test execution requires careful allotment of the timescale that should not exceed the declared deadline. Once the proper resources have been identified and allocated to perform certain tasks during the assessment period, it becomes necessary to draw a timeline depicting those resources with their key parts in the penetration testing process.

Each task is defined as a piece of work undertaken by the penetration tester. The resource can be a person involved in the security assessment or an ordinary source such as lab equipment, which can be helpful in penetration testing. In order to manage these projects efficiently and cost effectively, there are a number of project management tools available that can be used to achieve our mission. We have listed some important project management tools in the following table. Selecting the best one depends on the environment and requirements of the testing criteria:

Using any of these powerful tools, the work of the penetration tester can be easily tracked and managed in accordance with their defined tasks and time period. Additionally, these tools provide the most advanced features, such as generating an alert for the project manager if the task has been finished or the deadline has been crossed. There are many other positive facts that encourage the use of project management tools during the penetration testing assignment. These include efficiency in delivering services on time, improved test productivity and customer satisfaction, increased quality and quantity of work, and flexibility to control the work progress.