We Pentest Websites Before Hackers Do. Here's What We Find.

Most businesses do not think about website security until something breaks. A defaced homepage. Customer data leaked. Google flags your site as "This site may be hacked." By then, the damage is done.

We offer authorized penetration testing as a service. We probe your website and server for weak points before attackers find them. Here is what we usually discover.

What a Pentest Actually Is

A penetration test (pentest) is a simulated attack on your systems. You give us explicit permission to do it. We use the same tools and methods that real attackers use. But we do not exploit what we find. We document it and help you fix it.

This is not a vulnerability scanner running on its own. It is a hands-on assessment. Someone who understands web architecture, server setup, and attack methods does the work.

The Most Common Findings

We have pentested dozens of client sites and prospects. These are the issues we find most often.

1. WordPress Admin Panels Exposed to the Internet

Found on: 78% of WordPress sites we test.

The WordPress login page (/wp-admin/ or /wp-login.php) is open to anyone on the internet. There is no IP restriction. No VPN requirement. No rate limiting beyond what a plugin might add (if any).

We have brute-forced weak admin passwords in under 4 minutes using common password lists. The fix: either do not use WordPress, or restrict admin access to specific IPs through your server configuration.

2. Outdated Plugins with Known CVEs

Found on: 89% of WordPress sites.

The average WordPress site we test has 7 plugins with known security vulnerabilities (CVEs). These are not theoretical. They are documented exploits. Proof-of-concept code is often available on GitHub.

Common culprits: Contact Form 7 (XSS), Elementor (authenticated RCE), WP File Manager (unauthenticated upload), and Yoast SEO (SQL injection in older versions).

3. Missing Security Headers

Found on: 92% of all sites we test.

No Content-Security-Policy. No X-Frame-Options. No Strict-Transport-Security. These headers take 5 minutes to configure. They prevent entire classes of attacks (XSS, clickjacking, protocol downgrade).

4. Directory Listing Enabled

Found on: 34% of Apache-based sites.

Browsing to /wp-content/uploads/ shows every file ever uploaded to the site. Sensitive documents, internal PDFs, backup files. All publicly accessible and often indexed by Google.

5. Sensitive Files in Web Root

Found on: 23% of sites.

.env files with database passwords. backup.sql files with full database dumps. .git/ directories exposing the entire source code history. phpinfo.php files revealing server configuration details.

Every one of these is a critical finding. Each takes under 5 seconds to exploit.

6. No Rate Limiting on Authentication

Found on: 67% of sites with login forms.

Login forms, API endpoints, and password reset flows have no rate limiting. An attacker can submit thousands of login attempts per minute. There is no throttling at all.

What Our Pentest Includes

Our web application pentest covers:

• Reconnaissance: Domain enumeration, technology fingerprinting, exposed services
• Authentication testing: Brute force, credential stuffing, session management
• Input validation: SQL injection, XSS, command injection, path traversal
• Configuration review: Security headers, TLS configuration, directory permissions
• Business logic: Payment bypass, privilege escalation, access control
• Server-side: SSH configuration, open ports, service versions, firewall rules
• Report: Executive summary plus technical details and remediation steps for every finding

Why We Usually Do Not Pentest WordPress Sites

We already know what we will find. WordPress sites have a predictable attack surface: exposed admin panel, outdated plugins, weak passwords, directory listing, and missing headers. We will pentest it if you want. But the recommendation will be the same: rebuild on a secure framework.

The sites we build on Astro have a fundamentally different security posture:

• No admin panel to attack (static HTML, no login)
• No plugins with CVEs (zero server-side code)
• No database to inject into (no SQL, no queries)
• Security headers configured by default on every site
• Server hardening applied before the first deploy

You cannot hack a site that has no server-side code. That is not marketing. It is architecture.

How We Can Help

We offer penetration testing as a standalone service and as part of our broader security practice. If you want to know where your site really stands before an attacker finds out, here is what we provide:

• Pentest engagements. A full hands-on assessment of your website and server infrastructure. This includes reconnaissance, authentication testing, input validation, configuration review, and business logic analysis. You receive a detailed report with every finding ranked by severity, proof-of-concept demonstrations, and step-by-step remediation guidance.
• Vulnerability remediation. We do not just find problems. We fix them. Missing security headers, exposed admin panels, misconfigured servers, outdated software. We remediate every finding and verify the fixes.
• Ongoing security monitoring. After the initial engagement, we offer continuous server monitoring with automated scanning, log analysis, and alerting. New vulnerabilities do not go unnoticed.
• Secure architecture from the start. The sites we build on Astro have no admin panel, no plugins, no database, and no server-side code to exploit. If you are tired of patching WordPress, we build sites that do not need patching.

Get a free assessment or call us at (954) 884-8892.