Vulnerability & Penetration Testing Services for Triangle Businesses
Know where your defenses fail before attackers do. Petronella Technology Group delivers comprehensive vulnerability assessments, network security audits, and advanced penetration testing for businesses across Raleigh, Durham, Research Triangle Park, and all of North Carolina. Our certified ethical hackers probe your infrastructure using the same techniques real threat actors employ—then hand you a prioritized roadmap to close every gap.
Speak directly with a penetration testing expert: 919-348-4912
You Cannot Defend What You Have Not Tested
Most organizations assume their firewalls, antivirus software, and security policies are enough. They are not. Without rigorous, independent testing, you are operating on assumptions while attackers operate on certainty.
Unknown vulnerabilities compound silently. Every unpatched server, misconfigured firewall rule, and outdated application creates an entry point that your IT team may not know about. Cybercriminals use automated scanning tools that catalog these weaknesses in minutes. Without proactive vulnerability testing, you are relying on luck rather than strategy to keep attackers out of your Raleigh, Durham, or RTP business network.
Compliance audits demand documented proof. Regulatory frameworks including HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CMMC, NIST 800-171, and SOX do not accept assurances—they require evidence. Without formal vulnerability assessments and penetration test reports, your organization faces audit failures, financial penalties, lost government contracts, and the reputational damage that follows regulatory non-compliance.
Internal IT lacks attacker perspective. Your IT team excels at building and maintaining systems, but defending infrastructure requires thinking like an attacker. Without specialized offensive security expertise, internal teams consistently overlook the same attack vectors that external threat actors target first: chained misconfigurations, privilege escalation paths, and trust relationship abuse that automated scanners alone cannot detect.
The cost of discovery after a breach is catastrophic. The average data breach costs small and mid-sized businesses between $120,000 and $1.24 million when you factor in incident response, legal fees, regulatory fines, customer notification, and long-term reputational harm. A professional penetration test that uncovers the same vulnerabilities before exploitation costs a fraction of a single breach event and provides the remediation intelligence needed to prevent it.
Offensive Security Testing That Leaves No Stone Unturned
Petronella Technology Group provides vulnerability and penetration testing services that go far beyond running an automated scanner and handing you a spreadsheet. Our approach combines industry-leading scanning technology with hands-on, manual testing performed by certified ethical hackers who think, plan, and execute like real-world adversaries. The result is a complete, actionable map of your organization's security weaknesses and a clear remediation pathway to close them.
Every engagement begins with collaborative scoping, where our team works closely with yours to define the testing boundaries, identify critical assets, establish rules of engagement, and align the assessment with your specific compliance requirements. Whether you need to satisfy HIPAA technical evaluation mandates for your Raleigh healthcare practice, meet CMMC penetration testing requirements for your RTP defense contract, or simply understand where your Durham-based company's network is most vulnerable, PTG designs each engagement to deliver precisely the intelligence you need.
Our testing methodology follows established frameworks including OWASP, PTES (Penetration Testing Execution Standard), and NIST SP 800-115, ensuring consistency, thoroughness, and reproducibility across every engagement. We employ a combination of black-box testing where our team has no prior knowledge of your systems, gray-box testing with limited information, and white-box testing with full architectural access, selecting the approach that best models the threat scenarios relevant to your organization.
Unlike testing firms that deliver a report and disappear, PTG stands behind every finding. Our engineers are available to explain vulnerabilities in business terms to your leadership team, provide hands-on guidance to your IT staff during remediation, and conduct verification retesting to confirm that every identified weakness has been properly resolved. With 22 years of experience and zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations across more than 2,500 organizations, PTG brings a depth of offensive security expertise that Triangle-area businesses rely on to validate and strengthen their defenses.
Five-Phase Testing Framework
- 1 Scope & Reconnaissance — Define engagement boundaries, gather intelligence on your infrastructure, and map the attack surface including external-facing assets, internal networks, web applications, and wireless access points.
- 2 Vulnerability Discovery — Automated and manual scanning to identify every known vulnerability, misconfiguration, default credential, and security weakness across your environment using enterprise-grade tools and proprietary techniques.
- 3 Exploitation & Validation — Controlled, hands-on exploitation of discovered vulnerabilities to prove real-world impact. Our testers attempt lateral movement, privilege escalation, and data access to demonstrate actual risk to your business.
- 4 Reporting & Briefing — Deliver comprehensive reports with executive summaries, technical details, CVSS-scored findings, proof-of-concept evidence, compliance mapping, and prioritized remediation recommendations. Conduct live review sessions with your team.
- 5 Remediation & Retest — Support your team through remediation or implement fixes directly. Conduct verification retesting to confirm every vulnerability has been properly resolved and your security posture is measurably stronger.
Comprehensive Security Testing Services
PTG offers a complete portfolio of vulnerability assessment and penetration testing services, each tailored to address specific attack surfaces and compliance requirements for Triangle-area organizations.
IT Security Risk Assessment
A foundational evaluation of your entire IT environment that identifies security gaps, quantifies risk exposure, and benchmarks your posture against industry frameworks like NIST CSF, HIPAA, and CMMC. PTG's risk assessment examines your network architecture, access controls, data handling practices, endpoint configurations, and security policies to produce a comprehensive risk register with actionable remediation priorities. This service provides the strategic intelligence your leadership needs to make informed security investment decisions and satisfies compliance requirements for documented risk analysis across Raleigh, Durham, and Triangle-area organizations.
Network Security Audit
A thorough examination of your network infrastructure including firewalls, switches, routers, VPN configurations, segmentation policies, DNS settings, and wireless access points. PTG's network security audit maps traffic flows, validates access control lists, evaluates encryption implementations, and identifies misconfigurations that could allow unauthorized access or lateral movement. Our certified engineers test both your perimeter defenses and internal network controls, delivering a detailed technical report with specific configuration changes and architectural recommendations to harden your network against modern attack techniques.
Penetration Testing
Hands-on, adversarial security testing performed by certified ethical hackers who simulate real-world attack scenarios against your infrastructure. PTG's penetration testing engagements include external and internal network testing, web application testing following OWASP Top 10 methodology, social engineering assessments, wireless security testing, and physical security evaluations. Each test produces proof-of-concept evidence demonstrating the real-world impact of discovered vulnerabilities, along with detailed remediation guidance and compliance-ready documentation that satisfies PCI-DSS, HIPAA, CMMC, and other regulatory requirements.
Web Application Security Testing
Specialized testing of your web applications, customer portals, APIs, and cloud-based platforms against the full spectrum of application-layer vulnerabilities. PTG's application security testers evaluate for SQL injection, cross-site scripting, broken authentication, insecure direct object references, security misconfigurations, sensitive data exposure, and all OWASP Top 10 categories. We test both authenticated and unauthenticated attack vectors, examining business logic flaws that automated scanners miss. Our findings include detailed reproduction steps and specific code-level remediation recommendations.
Wireless Security Assessment
Comprehensive evaluation of your wireless network infrastructure including access point configurations, encryption standards, authentication mechanisms, rogue access point detection, and guest network segmentation. PTG's wireless security testers attempt to intercept wireless traffic, crack WPA2/WPA3 handshakes, exploit captive portal weaknesses, and identify evil twin attack opportunities. We assess both corporate and guest wireless segments across all of your physical locations, providing detailed findings on wireless-specific attack vectors that many traditional network assessments overlook entirely.
Social Engineering & Phishing Assessment
Controlled social engineering campaigns that test your organization's human security layer. PTG designs and executes realistic phishing simulations, pretexting calls, physical tailgating attempts, and baiting scenarios that mirror the techniques used by actual threat actors targeting Triangle-area businesses. Our assessments measure employee susceptibility, evaluate the effectiveness of your security awareness training program, and identify departments or roles that require additional attention. Results feed directly into targeted training recommendations that strengthen your human firewall without creating a punitive culture.
Trusted by Over 2,500 Organizations Across North Carolina
Ready to see what PTG can do for your business? Schedule a free consultation and join the businesses across the Triangle that trust us with their technology.
919-348-4912Security Testing for Every Sector
PTG delivers specialized vulnerability and penetration testing services calibrated to the regulatory demands, threat landscapes, and operational realities of each industry we serve across the Raleigh-Durham Triangle region and beyond.
IT Security Risk Assessment
Comprehensive risk evaluation for HIPAA, CMMC, NIST, and PCI-DSS compliance.
Network Security Audit
Deep-dive infrastructure analysis of firewalls, switches, routers, and segmentation.
Penetration Testing
Ethical hacking engagements simulating real-world attacks against your systems.
Data Breach Forensics
Incident response and digital forensic investigation for security events.
PTG's vulnerability and penetration testing services protect healthcare organizations requiring HIPAA technical evaluations, defense contractors mandated to perform CMMC and DFARS security assessments, financial institutions subject to PCI-DSS quarterly scanning and annual penetration testing, legal firms safeguarding privileged client data, SaaS and technology companies securing customer platforms, and government agencies throughout the Research Triangle Park corridor and across North Carolina. Each engagement is engineered to address the unique threat models, regulatory obligations, and operational constraints of your specific industry sector.
The Difference Between Running a Scan and Testing Your Defenses
Dozens of companies will run an automated vulnerability scanner against your network and hand you a generic report. PTG delivers intelligence. Here is what separates our vulnerability and penetration testing from the rest of the market:
- 22+ years and zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations—Our unbroken track record across more than two decades serving Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and North Carolina businesses demonstrates that our testing methodology and remediation guidance actually prevent breaches in the real world.
- Certified offensive security professionals—Through our partner network, our penetration testing engagements have access to professionals holding OSCP, CEH, GPEN, GWAPT, and CompTIA PenTest+ certifications. They bring years of hands-on experience conducting engagements across healthcare, defense, finance, and technology sectors.
- Manual testing beyond automated scanning—While competitors rely solely on scanner output, PTG's ethical hackers perform manual exploitation, chain vulnerabilities together, test business logic flaws, and validate real-world attack paths that no automated tool can replicate.
- End-to-end remediation support—We do not just identify problems and walk away. PTG's engineering team provides hands-on remediation assistance, implements fixes when needed, and conducts verification retesting to confirm every vulnerability is properly resolved.
- Compliance-ready documentation—Every report is structured to satisfy specific regulatory requirements including HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CMMC, NIST 800-171, SOX, and DFARS. Our documentation has passed scrutiny from auditors, federal contracting officers, and regulatory agencies.
- Local Triangle presence with national capability—Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, PTG provides the responsiveness and personal attention of a local firm with the depth, tooling, and expertise of a national security practice. On-site testing is available for all Triangle-area businesses.
From Failed Audit to Full Compliance in 60 Days
A Raleigh-based healthcare organization with 12 practice locations contacted PTG after receiving a corrective action notice from an OCR HIPAA audit. Their previous IT vendor had been running quarterly vulnerability scans but had never conducted a formal penetration test or comprehensive risk assessment as required by the HIPAA Security Rule.
PTG conducted a full IT security risk assessment, internal and external penetration testing, and wireless security assessment across all 12 locations. We discovered 47 critical and high-severity vulnerabilities including unencrypted ePHI transmission, default credentials on network devices, and a publicly accessible administrative portal. Our team remediated every finding and produced audit-ready documentation that satisfied the OCR corrective action requirements.
Vulnerability & Penetration Testing Questions Answered
Get answers to the most common questions about PTG's vulnerability assessment and penetration testing services for Raleigh, Durham, and Triangle-area businesses.
Vulnerability and penetration testing is a proactive cybersecurity practice that identifies weaknesses in your IT infrastructure before malicious actors can exploit them. Vulnerability assessment uses automated scanning tools to catalog known security flaws across your network, applications, and systems, while penetration testing goes further by simulating real-world attack scenarios to determine whether those vulnerabilities can actually be exploited. Together, these services provide a complete picture of your security posture and a prioritized roadmap for remediation. Every business that handles sensitive data, operates networked systems, or must comply with regulatory frameworks like HIPAA, CMMC, PCI-DSS, or NIST should conduct regular vulnerability and penetration testing.
A vulnerability assessment is a broad, automated scan of your infrastructure that identifies known security weaknesses, misconfigurations, and missing patches across your network, servers, endpoints, and applications. It produces a comprehensive inventory of vulnerabilities ranked by severity. A penetration test is a targeted, hands-on engagement where certified ethical hackers actively attempt to exploit vulnerabilities using the same techniques, tools, and methodologies that real attackers use. Penetration testing validates which vulnerabilities pose genuine risk by demonstrating actual exploitation paths. PTG recommends both services as complementary components of a mature security testing program for businesses throughout the Raleigh-Durham Triangle area.
PTG recommends conducting vulnerability scans at least quarterly, with continuous scanning being the gold standard for organizations with dynamic environments or elevated risk profiles. Penetration testing should be performed at least annually, with additional tests warranted after significant infrastructure changes, new application deployments, mergers or acquisitions, or whenever compliance frameworks require it. Many regulatory standards including PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and CMMC mandate specific testing frequencies. PTG works with Raleigh-Durham and Triangle-area businesses to establish testing cadences that align with their risk tolerance, compliance obligations, and operational realities.
PTG provides a full spectrum of penetration testing services including external network penetration testing that probes your internet-facing attack surface, internal network penetration testing that simulates an insider threat or post-breach scenario, web application penetration testing that targets your custom and third-party web applications, wireless network security testing that evaluates your WiFi infrastructure for vulnerabilities, social engineering assessments including phishing simulations, and physical security testing when warranted. Each engagement is scoped to your specific environment, threat model, and compliance requirements, and is conducted by certified ethical hackers holding OSCP, CEH, GPEN, and other industry-recognized credentials.
PTG designs every penetration testing engagement to minimize operational disruption. Before testing begins, our team works closely with your IT staff to define scope, establish rules of engagement, identify critical systems that require special handling, and schedule testing windows that align with your business needs. Our ethical hackers use controlled exploitation techniques and maintain constant communication throughout the engagement. In over 22 years of conducting penetration tests for Triangle-area businesses, PTG has never caused unplanned downtime or data loss during a testing engagement. We carry comprehensive professional liability insurance as an additional safeguard for our clients.
Numerous regulatory and industry frameworks mandate or strongly recommend regular vulnerability and penetration testing. PCI-DSS requires quarterly vulnerability scans and annual penetration tests for organizations that process credit card data. HIPAA requires regular technical security evaluations for covered entities and business associates handling protected health information. CMMC and DFARS require vulnerability assessments for defense contractors. NIST 800-171 and NIST CSF both include vulnerability management and security testing controls. SOX compliance for publicly traded companies includes IT security assessment requirements. PTG helps businesses across Raleigh, Durham, RTP, and North Carolina satisfy all of these testing requirements with detailed, audit-ready documentation.
PTG's penetration testing team consists of experienced security professionals holding industry-leading certifications including Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT), CompTIA Security+, CompTIA PenTest+, and CISA. Our testers bring years of real-world experience conducting engagements across healthcare, defense, financial services, legal, and technology sectors. PTG maintains rigorous background checks and security clearances for all testing personnel, and we follow established methodologies including OWASP, PTES, and NIST SP 800-115.
Following every engagement, PTG delivers a comprehensive written report that includes an executive summary for leadership and board-level stakeholders, detailed technical findings with evidence of each vulnerability discovered, risk ratings using industry-standard CVSS scoring, proof-of-concept demonstrations showing exploitation paths, prioritized remediation recommendations with specific steps to resolve each finding, and compliance mapping that shows how findings relate to your applicable regulatory frameworks. PTG also conducts a live findings review session with your technical team and offers remediation verification testing to confirm that all identified vulnerabilities have been properly addressed.
The cost of vulnerability and penetration testing depends on the scope of the engagement, the size and complexity of your environment, the types of testing required, and any compliance-specific documentation needs. PTG provides customized proposals based on a thorough scoping conversation with your team. Our pricing is transparent and competitive for the Triangle market, and we offer both one-time engagements and recurring testing programs that provide better value for organizations requiring ongoing assessment. Contact PTG at 919-348-4912 for a free scoping consultation and quote tailored to your specific requirements.
Yes. Unlike many testing firms that only identify problems and hand you a report, PTG provides end-to-end remediation support. Our engineering team can implement patches, reconfigure systems, harden network infrastructure, update firewall rules, deploy additional security controls, and address every finding from the assessment. We also offer managed security services that provide continuous vulnerability management, ensuring new vulnerabilities are identified and remediated on an ongoing basis. For organizations across Raleigh, Durham, and the Research Triangle, PTG serves as a single partner for both identifying and resolving security weaknesses, eliminating the gap between knowing your risks and actually fixing them.
Ready to Find Out What Attackers Already Know About Your Network?
Schedule your free vulnerability and penetration testing consultation with Petronella Technology Group. Our certified ethical hackers will evaluate your security posture, identify critical exposures, and provide a clear path to remediation for your Raleigh, Durham, or Triangle-area business. No obligation, no pressure—just actionable intelligence from a team with 22+ years and zero breaches among clients who implemented our full security recommendations across more than 2,500 organizations.
Prefer to talk now? Call us directly at 919-348-4912