What VAPT is
Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing is a structured way to find weaknesses and confirm real attack risk. VAPT combines vulnerability discovery with controlled exploitation to prove impact — not just to list issues, but to show which ones an attacker can exploit and how far they could get.
A VAPT audit shows you where you stand, evidences whether your controls actually work, supports compliance, and gives you what you need to make risk decisions from tested evidence rather than assumption.
Why organisations need VAPT
You need VAPT to see your security risk clearly. It finds vulnerabilities, confirms which ones are exploitable, shows whether your controls work, and produces the documented evidence that regulatory audits, client assessments and internal reviews demand.
A VAPT audit helps your teams focus on the issues that matter, reduce risk and cut the blind spots in your security posture. It applies wherever an organisation handles sensitive data or runs critical systems, and matters most in regulated sectors:
- Banking, financial services, fintech and payment processing under regulatory and PCI DSS obligations.
- Healthcare, insurance and life sciences protecting patient and customer data.
- IT, software and cloud providers meeting client and contractual security expectations.
- Government, critical infrastructure, energy and manufacturing safeguarding operational systems.
CyberSigma’s role
We are your independent testing partner. We scope the engagement, run the assessment and controlled exploitation, rate the findings by real impact, and issue the report — with remediation guidance and a retest to confirm the fixes hold.
Independence and empanelment
CyberSigma is a CERT-In empanelled testing provider, and testing is conducted independently of the teams that built and run your systems. That independence is what gives the VAPT report its standing with regulators, customers and auditors.
How we deliver
Our VAPT process follows a structured, repeatable method that finds vulnerabilities, confirms exploitability and produces audit-ready results with controlled testing and minimal disruption.
Scoping and authorisation
We define the scope, objectives, assets and testing depth — including black, grey or white box approach — and confirm legal authorisation before any testing begins.
Reconnaissance
We gather technical detail on the in-scope systems, applications and infrastructure, mapping technologies, exposed services and attack surface the way an attacker would.
Vulnerability assessment
Automated tooling and manual testing surface vulnerabilities, misconfigurations and insecure logic. Validated findings are mapped to affected assets and given an initial severity, cutting false positives.
Exploitation
Confirmed vulnerabilities are exploited under controlled conditions to validate real attack paths, determine achievable access and verify potential compromise of sensitive systems or data.
Post-exploitation analysis
We assess the potential for privilege escalation, lateral movement and the scope of access reachable from each foothold, to establish the true security and business impact.
Reporting and retest
We document validated findings with evidence, impact-and-likelihood risk ratings and remediation guidance, then retest after your fixes to confirm the issues are closed and no new risk has appeared.
What you receive
- A detailed VAPT report with validated findings and supporting evidence
- Impact-and-likelihood risk ratings for every confirmed issue
- Practical, prioritised remediation guidance for each finding
- Separate executive and technical summaries for leadership and engineers
- Documented evidence for regulatory audits, client assessments and internal reviews
- Retest confirmation that remediated vulnerabilities are properly resolved
Indicative timeline
A typical engagement runs from about one to three weeks, depending on the number and complexity of the assets in scope, the testing depth agreed and the maturity of your current controls.
Timelines vary with scope and readiness; we confirm a schedule after scoping.
What we test
We assess vulnerabilities, confirm exploitability and provide audit-ready evidence across the environments that carry your risk:
Application security
Web, mobile, API and thick-client application testing, plus secure source-code review, covering authentication, access control, input validation and business logic.
Network and infrastructure
External and internal network penetration testing, network vulnerability assessment, wireless testing and firewall and device configuration review.
Cloud and platform
Cloud infrastructure penetration testing, cloud configuration and access-control review, and container and Kubernetes security testing.
Advanced simulation
Red team testing, privilege-escalation and lateral-movement testing, and controlled social-engineering exercises to test detection and response.
Representative engagement
A financial-services organisation needed independent assurance across its customer-facing applications and supporting network before a regulatory audit. We scoped the assets, ran the vulnerability assessment and controlled exploitation, validated the exploitable findings, rated them by real business impact, and retested after remediation to confirm closure. Named client references are available under NDA on request.
Who leads your engagement
Your engagement is led by senior penetration testers — supported by application, infrastructure, cloud and network specialists matched to your environment. Every finding passes independent quality review before the report reaches you. We introduce your named lead on the first call.
Which frameworks require VAPT
Penetration testing is rarely optional once you are regulated or selling to regulated buyers. It shows up as an explicit requirement in most frameworks we assess against, which is why a single well-scoped test programme can serve several obligations at once.
PCI DSS
Requirement 11 mandates internal and external penetration testing, plus segmentation testing where segmentation reduces your scope.
RBI directions
Regulated entities are expected to carry out periodic VAPT, with findings tracked to closure and evidence available to supervisors.
SEBI CSCRF
Market intermediaries must test and evidence remediation as part of the cyber resilience framework.
ISO 27001
Technical vulnerability management is an explicit control; testing is how you demonstrate it operates.
Safe-to-host
Public-facing go-live in several regulated contexts requires CERT-In empanelled testing before the system is exposed.
Client contracts
Enterprise MSAs and vendor-risk assessments routinely require an annual test with a retest to prove closure.
If you are testing for more than one framework, say so at scoping — the same evidence can usually satisfy several, and we would rather scope it once properly than have you buy the same test twice.
How to choose a VAPT company in India
Most VAPT proposals look alike on paper and differ enormously in what actually gets done. These are the questions that separate them — ask them of us too, and compare the answers.
Verify the empanelment yourself
CERT-In publishes its list of empanelled organisations. Do not accept a logo on a slide — check the current list, and check that the empanelment covers the service you are buying.
Ask for the manual-to-automated ratio
A report that is a rebadged scanner export will not find authorisation flaws or business-logic bugs. Ask what proportion of the effort is manual, and ask to see a sample finding that a scanner could not have produced.
Confirm authenticated testing is in scope
Most real risk sits behind the login. If the proposal does not name the roles being tested, the test is unauthenticated in practice, whatever the cover page says.
Check whether retest is included or billed
A finding is not closed until it has been retested. If retesting is a separate purchase order, the true cost of the engagement is not the number on the proposal.
Look at a redacted sample report
You are buying a report someone on your engineering team has to act on and an auditor has to accept. Reproduction steps, evidence and a clear severity rationale are the difference between a fix and an argument.
Ask who actually tests
Sales-led firms scope with seniors and deliver with juniors. Ask for the certifications and experience of the people who will run your test, not the company average.
Agree the rules of engagement in writing
Targets, windows, escalation contacts and what happens if something breaks. A tester working without written authorisation is a legal problem, not a diligence exercise.
Be wary of a fixed price before scoping
Nobody can price an application test honestly without knowing the number of applications, roles, APIs and environments. A quote given before those questions is a quote that will change.
When you should test
The most common mistake is treating VAPT as an annual calendar item and nothing else. Testing is triggered by change as much as by dates.
Before go-live
New public-facing systems, especially where a safe-to-host confirmation is expected.
After material change
Architecture change, new payment flow, new third-party integration or a significant release.
On a regulatory cycle
Annual or as your sector framework specifies — PCI DSS, RBI, SEBI, IRDAI all set expectations.
When a client asks
Vendor-risk assessments increasingly require a recent report from an independent, empanelled tester.
After an incident
To establish whether the exploited weakness exists elsewhere in the estate.
Before an audit
Findings closed ahead of an assessment cost far less than findings discovered during one.
What drives the cost of VAPT
Pricing varies widely because the work does. Two quotes for “a VAPT” can describe very different exercises, so it is worth understanding what actually moves the number before comparing them.
Scope and asset count
The number of applications, APIs, external IPs and internal hosts in scope. Accurate scoping up front is the single biggest cost lever.
Test depth
Unauthenticated surface testing costs less than authenticated, role-aware testing — and finds far less.
Application complexity
Multi-role workflows, payment flows and heavy business logic take longer than brochureware.
Empanelment requirement
CERT-In empanelled testing carries a defined methodology and reporting standard; it is not the same product as a commodity scan.
Retest inclusion
A test without a retest proves you had findings, not that you fixed them. Retests should be quoted in, not bolted on.
Frequency
Annual is the common baseline; material change to a system should trigger a test regardless of the calendar.
We scope before we quote, and we will tell you when a narrower scope gives you the assurance you actually need.
See a real VAPT report before you commission one
A redacted sample of the report we actually deliver \u2014 finding structure, CVSS and business-impact rating, reproduction steps, and the retest evidence your auditor will ask for.
Is your application one bug away from a breach?
Get a free VAPT scope and quote from CERT-In empanelled testers — share your work email and we scope the work this week.
Frequently asked questions
What makes CyberSigma one of the top VAPT companies in India?
CyberSigma is a CERT-In empanelled VAPT company delivering web, mobile, API, network and cloud penetration testing across India. As a VAPT service provider we combine manual, exploit-driven testing with clear, developer-ready reporting and free retesting — and, as a PCI SSC-listed QSA firm, we align the testing to PCI DSS, RBI, SEBI and CERT-In requirements. Assessment and validation are done in-house, not resold.
How do I choose a VAPT service provider or testing company?
Look for a CERT-In empanelled VAPT testing company that does manual (not just automated) testing, gives proof-of-concept evidence and CVSS ratings, includes a retest to confirm fixes, and can map findings to your regulatory obligation (PCI DSS, RBI, SEBI CSCRF, CERT-In safe-to-host). Ask to see a redacted sample report before you engage.
Why is VAPT important for organisations?
VAPT helps you understand real security risks, validate the effectiveness of controls, prevent breaches and meet regulatory, audit and client security requirements.
How does VAPT differ from a vulnerability scan?
A vulnerability scan only detects known issues. VAPT confirms exploitability through manual testing, providing accurate risk context and reducing false positives.
What is the difference between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing?
Vulnerability assessment identifies weaknesses, while penetration testing exploits selected vulnerabilities to confirm real attack paths and business impact.
How often should an organisation perform a VAPT audit?
VAPT audits should run annually, after significant system changes or application releases, or to meet regulatory and client security requirements.
Is VAPT suitable for all organisations?
Yes. VAPT services are relevant for startups, SMEs and large enterprises handling sensitive data, critical systems or regulated workloads.
What types of vulnerabilities can VAPT uncover?
VAPT can find application flaws, misconfigurations, weak authentication, access control issues, exposed services and exploitable attack paths.
What are Black Box, White Box, and Grey Box testing?
Black Box tests simulate external attackers, White Box uses full system knowledge and Grey Box combines limited access with realistic attack scenarios.
What are the key stages of penetration testing?
Scoping, information gathering, vulnerability identification, exploitation, impact analysis, reporting, remediation guidance and retesting.
Is penetration testing automated or manual?
Effective VAPT uses both automated tools and manual testing. Manual validation is essential for confirming exploitability and minimising false positives.
Will penetration testing impact production systems?
When properly scoped and executed, VAPT is designed and controlled to minimise operational impact and prevent data loss or service disruption.