Getting Started

You want to enhance the security of your software. You’re ready to set up penetration tests (pentests) to elevate your security posture. With pentest-driven solutions, you can comply with regulations and enhance the confidence of your customers. You want results yesterday.

You’ve come to the right place.

If you’re considering Cobalt, use this document to help you visualize the process. If you’ve already purchased Cobalt credits, use this document to start your journey.

While it’s helpful if you have a background in security, it’s not required to understand the pentest process. If the language of software security confuses you, refer to our Glossary .

In this Getting Started Guide, we take you through the process to create a pentest, and set expectations .

When you’ve finished this Getting Started Guide, you’ll have a plan and scope that our pentesters can use to test your asset(s). When you purchase credits from Cobalt, we send you an email invitation, which you can use to Sign in to Cobalt .

Our journey then takes you through the following steps to create a pentest:

1. Define Your Assets . Our pentesters analyze all kinds of assets, from web apps to internal networks.
2. Create objectives for your pentest.
   • By default, our pentests are based on standards defined by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and in the Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual .
   • Add and modify the objectives of your choice.
   • To help our penetration testers, include more information about your asset, such as architecture and coding language. You’ll see more details about what to include when you Define Your Assets .
3. Define details of your environment. Is your asset in production or in development? Does part of your system reside on a Cloud platform? You’ll answer these questions in this step.
4. Start planning the test. Define your desired test intensity, which drives the number of credits to use.

Relax! Once you’ve set up a pentest, we start analyzing your asset. When possible, we share results even before we create your report. Here’s what you can expect .

Assuming you’ve received an email invitation, take the next step. Sign in to Cobalt .