Automated penetration testing often produces strong initial results but quickly hits a “PoC Cliff,” exhausting its fixed scope and leaving many defenses untested. Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) complements automated pentesting by running thousands of independent, atomic simulations to validate detection, prevention, identity, cloud, and AI controls and close the Validation Gap. #PicusSecurity #Kerberoasting
Keypoints
- Automated pentesting yields many new findings on the first run but typically plateaus by the fourth or fifth execution due to the PoC Cliff.
- Chained attack paths in automated pentesting can block further stages once a favored path is patched, creating false assurance about overall security.
- Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) runs independent, atomic techniques to test whether defensive controls (EDR, WAF, SIEM, firewalls) actually detect and prevent threats.
- Automated pentesting leaves six validation surfaces partially or fully untested: network/endpoint, detection/response, infrastructure/app, identity, cloud/containers, and AI.
- Ask vendors which surfaces they cover, how they use live control performance to distinguish exploitable vs theoretical issues, and how they normalize and prioritize findings.
Read More: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/why-your-automated-pentesting-tool-just-hit-a-wall/