Pentesting Penetration Testing as a Service
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Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS)

A once-a-year pentest is a snapshot of a system that no longer exists by the time you read the PDF. Your attack surface changes weekly, new features, new APIs, new cloud config, and the gap between each change and your next scheduled test is exactly where exposure lives.

RedSecLabs delivers penetration testing as a service: continuous, human-led testing aligned to your release cadence rather than your budget cycle, with findings delivered as you go and remediation retested rather than left open until next year. It is the same CREST-accredited expertise behind our project engagements, delivered as an ongoing programme instead of a one-off report.

CREST Certified Pen Test Provider ISO Certified OSCP Certified Industry Certification

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Tell us what needs testing and we’ll return a fixed, scoped quote within one working day.

Scoped quote within one working day. NDA available on request. No mailing lists.

✓ Continuous, not point-in-time · ✓ Human-led, CREST-accredited · ✓ Real findings, real retests · ✓ Compliance-ready evidence · ✓ Aligned to your release cadence
Who this is for

This service fits if you’re..

1
Shipping continuously
Product and platform teams releasing weekly or daily, whose annual pentest is stale within a month.
2
SOC 2 Type II / ISO 27001
Companies needing testing evidence across a 6–12 month observation window, not a single dated report.
3
Growing attack surface
Organisations adding cloud services, APIs and integrations faster than scheduled testing can keep up with.

PTaaS, Quick Facts

Last reviewed: 2026-07-21
What it is
A subscription or on-demand model for penetration testing: continuous or recurring coverage aligned to your deployment cadence, not a single annual engagement
What it is not
It is not a DAST scanner and not a bug bounty; PTaaS is structured, scoped, human-led and auditable
The problem it solves
Traditional annual tests typically cover only a fraction of the real attack surface and age from the day they are delivered
How we deliver it
Recurring scoped testing by CREST-accredited engineers, findings shared as they surface, remediation retested
Compliance fit
Provides continuous evidence for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, where auditors expect ongoing monitoring across the period
Who it suits
Teams whose environments change faster than a quarterly or annual cycle can track
~20%
Of the attack surface a typical annual test covers
Continuous
Coverage vs point-in-time
Type II
Evidence across the full window
CREST
Accredited testers

Why the annual model stopped working

The traditional engagement, scoped in a form, scheduled weeks out, delivered as a PDF, was built for a slower era. Three structural gaps break it in 2026. The scope gap: most annual tests cover only the applications a team nominated, while shadow assets, forgotten subdomains and API endpoints buried in JavaScript never make the list, so only a fraction of the real attack surface is ever tested. The depth gap: a two-week window forces breadth over the patient chaining of findings that a real attacker uses. And the cadence gap: the report starts ageing the day it lands, while your systems keep changing underneath it.

PTaaS closes those gaps by changing the delivery model, not the rigour. Testing runs continuously or on a recurring basis, findings reach you as they are confirmed rather than at the end, and fixes are retested so your evidence shows issues closed. The testers are still humans doing genuine adversarial work; what changes is that the work tracks your environment instead of your procurement calendar.

What our PTaaS programme gives you:
Continuous or recurring coverage aligned to how often you actually ship
Human-led testing by CREST-accredited engineers, not scanner output relabelled
Findings delivered with proof-of-concept as they are confirmed, not months later
Remediation retests so your record shows vulnerabilities closed, not just found
Broader attack-surface coverage, including assets that slip past annual scoping
Continuous evidence that satisfies SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 auditors

The result is a security programme that keeps pace with your engineering, and an audit trail that reflects the whole period rather than one afternoon in the year.

Where PTaaS goes wrong if you buy it badly

Not all PTaaS is equal, and the failure modes are worth knowing before you sign anything. Some platforms are essentially a scanner behind a dashboard, automated checks dressed as penetration testing, which will not find the logic flaws and chained exploits that matter. Others rely on a rotating pool of anonymous testers with no continuity, so nobody ever really understands your environment. And a retest run against staging rather than production leaves your audited system without real verification, one of the most common gaps in any testing programme.

We deliver PTaaS as continuous human-led testing with consistent, accountable testers and retests against production, so the model's advantages are real rather than marketing.

What to watch for in a PTaaS provider:
A scanner behind a dashboard sold as penetration testing
Automated-only findings with no manual exploitation or chaining
A rotating, anonymous tester pool with no continuity of context
Retests run against staging, leaving production unverified
No proof-of-concept, so findings can't be triaged or trusted
“Continuous” that means a scan schedule, not real ongoing testing

The delivery model is only an advantage if the testing underneath it is genuine. We keep the rigour of a manual engagement and change only the cadence.

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PTaaS vs the annual pentest

How continuous, service-based testing compares with the traditional point-in-time engagement. Both have a place; the right choice depends on how fast your environment changes.

DimensionTraditional annual pentestPTaaS (continuous)
CadenceOnce a year, scheduled weeks aheadContinuous or recurring, aligned to your releases
FindingsDelivered as a PDF at the endShared with proof-of-concept as they are confirmed
Attack surfaceOnly what was scoped on the dayTracks new and changing assets over time
RemediationRetest often out of scope or extraRetests built in, evidencing closure
ComplianceA point-in-time snapshotContinuous evidence across the SOC 2 / ISO period
Best forFixed scopes, a specific compliance dateFast-changing environments and continuous delivery

Both models remain valid. Compliance-driven, slow-changing scopes may still suit an annual engagement; fast-moving environments benefit from continuous coverage.

Move From One Report a Year to Continuous Coverage

Tell us how often you ship and what’s in scope, and we’ll design a PTaaS programme that fits your cadence, with a fixed quote within one working day.

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Where to next

Related services worth exploring.

SOC 2 Penetration Testing

Continuous evidence for a Type II window

Web App Pentesting

The classic scoped engagement, when that fits better

Vulnerability Assessment

Automated coverage that complements manual testing

Frequently Asked Questions

PTaaS is a subscription or on-demand delivery model for penetration testing. Instead of a single scoped engagement once a year, you get continuous or recurring testing capacity, findings delivered as they are confirmed, and retests, aligned to your deployment cadence rather than your budget cycle. Done properly it is human-led and auditable, not just automation.

A scanner runs a fixed set of known-vulnerability checks and reports matches. PTaaS is manual penetration testing by security engineers who chain findings, exploit logic flaws and think like an attacker, delivered continuously through a service model. Some weak PTaaS offerings are really just scanners behind a dashboard, which is exactly what to avoid.

No. A bug bounty relies on external researchers finding issues on their own timeline, with variable coverage and no guarantees. PTaaS is structured, scoped, scheduled and auditable, you know what is being tested, by whom, and you get consistent reporting and retests. They can complement each other but serve different purposes.

It fits them particularly well. SOC 2 Type II assesses controls across a 6–12 month window, and auditors increasingly expect evidence of ongoing security testing throughout, not a single dated report. Continuous testing produces exactly that trail. It equally supports ISO 27001's expectation of regular technical vulnerability management. Retests should be run against production for the evidence to count.

Yes. Alongside the continuous findings and dashboard, we produce formal reporting suitable for auditors and customer due diligence. The difference from the traditional model is that the evidence reflects the whole period and shows remediation closed, rather than being a single snapshot that ages immediately.

When your scope is fixed, your environment changes slowly, and you need a specific point-in-time test for a defined compliance date, a classic scoped engagement is often the cleaner fit. PTaaS earns its value when you ship frequently and your attack surface changes faster than an annual or quarterly cycle can track. We offer both and will tell you honestly which suits you.
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