Penetration testing services simulating real-world attacks
A vulnerability scan lists potential weaknesses; a penetration test proves what an attacker can actually do with them. Baidam delivers penetration testing services in Australia, scoped and run by experienced human testers to PTES, with findings your security team can action.
Penetration testing, and how it works
A penetration test is an authorised, scoped simulation of adversarial attack techniques, conducted by Baidam’s qualified security professionals on your environment. It identifies exploitable weaknesses and demonstrates real-world impact under controlled conditions.
How is it different from vulnerability scanning? A vulnerability scan is an automated discovery. It identifies known weaknesses against a signature database and produces a list of vulnerabilities. Penetration testing is manual exploitation. A tester actively attempts to compromise your systems, linking vulnerabilities together to demonstrate what an attacker could achieve if they were to get access.
Compliance frameworks make pen testing in Australia mandatory for government and regulated enterprises. For example:
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ISM mandates authorised security assessments for Australian government systems
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Essential Eight Maturity Level 2 and above requires regular testing to validate that mitigations are effective, not just configured
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ISO 27001 Annex A includes technical vulnerability management and information security review requirements
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IRAP assessment preparation commonly includes penetration testing of assessed systems to identify gaps before the formal evaluation
Baidam’s penetration testing services answer a key question that’s being asked by compliance frameworks today. Not whether organisation controls exist, but if they can hold under realistic attack conditions.
Remediation review (optional)
Where requested, Baidam retests critical and high-severity findings post-remediation to confirm closure. Retesting results are appended to the final report as a signed appendix, providing documented evidence that identified vulnerabilities have been addressed. It’s particularly relevant for organisations that need compliance evidence for ISM, Essential Eight, or ISO 27001 requirements.
Every step is documented, authorised, and delivered by experienced human testers. The output is a report your security team can act on, and your compliance function can use as audit evidence.
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Step
Reporting
Your report includes structured findings with recommended actions, not a vulnerability dump. Every finding includes a risk rating, an attack narrative, proof-of-concept evidence, and prioritised remediation guidance. Reports are structured for your security team and senior leadership and delivered via Baidam’s Secure Client Portal
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Post-exploitation analysis
Analysis determines what an attacker could accomplish from an access position and the business impact. Risk context is established in this stage. For example, a compromised account has a different impact if it provides access to a payroll database than if it accesses a test environment.
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Testing and exploitation
Manual testing of identified attack surfaces is done by experienced practitioners, not automated tooling, so there’s human expertise and oversight at this crucial level. Findings are validated before being reported. A vulnerability that can’t be exploited doesn’t appear in the report as a critical finding.
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Reconnaissance
Before any testing begins, we build a profile of the target environment by mapping the attack surface, identifying exposed services, and understanding what's reachable and how.
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Scope and Rules of Engagement
We define systems in scope, testing windows, escalation paths, emergency stop procedures, and authorisation documentation, and agree in writing before any testing activity begins. Critical findings are escalated within one hour of validation, via phone, email, and the Secure Client Portal. Your team is informed promptly if there are any significant findings.
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Methodology aligned with Penetration Testing Execution Standards
Baidam follows the Penetration Testing Execution Standard, a structured, repeatable, and auditable methodology. These phases separate an engagement that demonstrates real-world risk from an ad hoc one that produces nothing more than a list of findings with CVSS scores and no attack context.
Our methodology is as follows:
External network penetration testing
Your internet-facing systems are the first thing an attacker sees. External penetration testing assesses your perimeter defences, exposed services, VPN infrastructure, web servers, and remote access portals, determining what an attacker who has never had access to your environment could achieve from the outside.
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Internal Network Penetration Testing
Most breaches start at the perimeter. Internal network testing simulates a threat actor who has already gained initial access, testing how far they could move laterally, how quickly they could escalate privileges, and what they could reach before detection. It answers the question that external testing cannot: once an attacker is inside, what can they do?
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Web Application Penetration Testing
We don’t test web applications by running a scanner against them; the aim is to understand how the application works first. Our analysts test injection flaws, authentication weaknesses, access control bypasses, and business logic vulnerabilities. Baidam's web application penetration testing is conducted against the OWASP ASVS Level 2 and OWASP Top 10, and surfaces the chained and logic-based vulnerabilities that automated tools consistently miss.
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Cloud Infrastructure Penetration Testing
A misconfigured IAM policy or an exposed storage bucket can give an attacker more access than a successful network compromise. Cloud infrastructure penetration testing assesses your AWS, Azure, or GCP environment for configuration weaknesses, IAM policy abuses, and exposed services that create that risk. It demonstrates what an attacker could achieve and maps findings directly to cloud security remediation priorities.
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Social Engineering Testing
Technical controls address technical attacks, but they don't account for a well-constructed phishing email or a convincing pretext call.
Social engineering testing, including phishing simulations, vishing exercises, and pretexting campaigns, assesses your human-layer controls under realistic conditions, with documented susceptibility rates by department, the specific pretexts that succeeded, and recommendations for awareness training and process.
Each testing type is scoped as a standalone engagement or combined into a broader assessment programme. Findings feed into your vulnerability management, Essential Eight uplift, and IRAP readiness, so the engagement produces more than a point-in-time report.
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Different types of penetration testing
Baidam delivers five penetration test types. Each addresses a specific attack surface, is delivered to the same methodology and produces findings that satisfy your compliance obligations.
Penetration testing aligned to compliance frameworks
Frameworks most relevant to regulated environments have specific testing requirements. So, penetration testing services are no longer a discretionary security activity for organisations operating under Australian compliance frameworks.
The list below shows how Baidam’s penetration testing services map to your compliance frameworks:
Essential Eight:
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Maturity Level 2 and 3 require organisations to validate that mitigations are effective through regular testing, not to check controls are configured.
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Penetration testing provides validation by demonstrating whether controls hold under realistic attack conditions, and identifies the specific gaps that prevent maturity progression from asserted to evidenced.
ISM:
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ASD mandates authorised security assessments for Australian government systems.
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Baidam's PTES-aligned methodology, structured scoping documentation, and findings reports provide the authorised assessment evidence ISM compliance reviews require. Data and findings remain onshore throughout.
ISO 27001:
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Annex A.8.8 (management of technical vulnerabilities) and A.5.36 (compliance with policies and standards) support regular security testing requirements.
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Baidam's structured findings reports have risk ratings, remediation guidance, and an optional retesting appendix. We provide the documented evidence auditors require at certification and surveillance review.
NIST CSF:
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Penetration testing informs the Identify function (ID.RA risk assessment - understanding actual exploitability) and the Protect function (PR.IP - protection processes and procedures).
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Post-exploitation analysis connects to Detect and Respond by identifying which attack paths your current monitoring and detection capability would and would not have caught.
IRAP:
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Penetration testing is commonly conducted as part of IRAP assessment preparation - identifying control gaps before the formal evaluation and providing remediation lead time.
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For organisations undergoing IRAP assessment, Baidam's pen testing engagement can be scoped with IRAP control objectives in view, so findings map directly to the gaps an assessor will examine.
Why choose Baidam as your Pen Testing Provider in Australia
An automated scan with manual commentary isn’t enough to meet compliance requirements for government and regulated enterprise environments.
Here's what sets Baidam apart:
Methodology-led, not tool-led:
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Engagements are scoped, structured, and delivered by experienced practitioners following PTES. Findings reflect what real attackers could actually achieve, not what an automated scanner was configured to find. Every finding is manually validated before it appears in your report.
Sovereign Australian delivery:
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All testing is conducted by Australian-based security professionals. Findings, engagement documentation, and sensitive data accessed during testing stay onshore and are handled under Baidam's ISO 27001-certified information security management system - AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, data deleted post-engagement.
Government-approved supplier:
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Baidam holds the TMRICTSOA25180 whole-of-government ICT sourcing panel appointment and is represented across state and federal procurement frameworks, including the Federal DTA Marketplaces. Government agencies can engage Baidam for penetration testing through existing panel arrangements without additional procurement processes.
Integrated security programme:
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Penetration testing findings connect directly to Baidam's VMaaS, Essential Eight assessment, and IRAP services. The engagement produces a prioritised remediation roadmap that feeds into your managed security services, not a standalone report that expires at the next review cycle.
Indigenous-owned and profit-for-purpose:
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Baidam is Australia's first Indigenous-owned cybersecurity firm - Supply Nation Certified, contributing over $3.2M in social and economic value to First Nations communities through the Deadly Coders Academy, perpetual STEM scholarships, and 25 funded industry certifications for Indigenous practitioners. By partnering with Baidam, you contribute towards our mission of building a better, more equitable future for First Nations people.
For government and regulated environments needing quality assurance, we bring both the credentials and the capabilities you need to see in your penetration testing provider.
Talk with a penetration testing specialist
Our penetration testing engagements are scoped individually because they need to fit your environment, compliance obligations and specific findings.
Talk to Baidam's specialist team about your pen testing requirements, your timeline, and the compliance context driving the engagement. We'll structure a scoped proposal that addresses your specific needs.
If you need a provider who leads with frameworks, is government-credentialed and based in Australia, Baidam is the partner for you.
Penetration testing FAQs
We answer frequently asked questions below about penetration testing services, scope, and compliance.
A vulnerability scan is an automated discovery. It identifies known vulnerabilities against a signature database and produces a list. It doesn’t show what’s exploitable or what an attacker could do with a weakness.
In a penetration test, a practitioner actively attempts to compromise systems, chain vulnerabilities together, and demonstrate real-world impact under controlled conditions. A structured penetration test satisfies Essential Eight and ISM requirements, while a vulnerability scan doesn’t.
Baidam conducts pen testing in Australia across the following surfaces:
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external and internal network infrastructure
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web applications and APIs
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cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)
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Active Directory
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mobile applications
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wireless networks
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thick client applications and
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social engineering
All testing is conducted by Australian-based practitioners. Where on-site testing is required for internal network, wireless, or physical, Baidam's team operates from within your facilities during agreed testing windows.
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Baidam's penetration testing findings reports are structured to connect directly to the Essential Eight maturity assessment. It identifies the specific control gaps that prevent maturity progression and provides prioritised remediation guidance required to address them.
The penetration test and the maturity assessment work together as a single evidence-generating programme, not as separate exercises.
Timeframes vary by scope, environment complexity, and the testing type. The pre-engagement scoping process provides a realistic timeline based on your specific environment before work begins.
Yes. Government agencies can engage Baidam for penetration testing through existing panel arrangements without additional procurement approval processes.
Baidam holds the TMRICTSOA25180 whole-of-government ICT sourcing panel appointment and is represented across state and federal procurement frameworks - including QLD, NSW, VIC, WA, SA state panels and the Federal DTA Marketplaces.