Security Testing (VAPT) › Database Penetration
Database Penetration — The data usually sits one misconfiguration away from exposure
SIRI Security tests your database layer directly — SQL and NoSQL alike — for the misconfigurations, excessive privileges, and injection paths that put your actual data at risk, not just the application in front of it.
62%Of cloud detections
70%Of malware detections
29.44LIncidents CERT-In handled
Why testing evidence is now a named requirement
Live tracking · scroll to see every relevant change
Effective
31 JUL 2026
RBI's 2026 Framework requires commercial banks to run and evidence regular security testing as part of a continuous assurance programme, not a one-off exercise.
Named standard
OWASP TOP 10
Application and API testing scoped against the current OWASP Top 10 and OWASP ASVS remains the reference baseline auditors and regulators expect to see.
Growing gap
62% CLOUD
Cloud misconfiguration and IAM exploitation account for 62% of detections in cloud environments (DSCI) — testing scoped to on-premises infrastructure alone misses most of current risk.
Baseline
70% MALWARE
Trojans and file infectors make up 70% of malware detections (Seqrite 2026) — the entry point most exploitation testing has to account for.
Evidentiary bar
6 HR WINDOW
CERT-In's breach-notification window depends on already knowing your exposure — tested, documented findings are what makes that deadline realistic to meet.
Testing evidence, not a scan report
What is Database Penetration testing?
Database penetration testing goes past application-layer SQL injection to assess the database engine itself: authentication configuration, privilege assignment, encryption at rest, network exposure, and the audit logging that would tell you if something went wrong.
We test both relational (SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle) and NoSQL (MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch) systems, checking for default credentials, excessive user privileges, unencrypted sensitive columns, and whether the database is reachable from network segments it shouldn't be.
Scanners find the obvious; testers find what gets you breached
62% of cloud detections trace to misconfiguration and IAM exploitation (DSCI) — exactly the class of issue automated scanning alone tends to miss.
SIRI Security delivers Database Penetration to this standard directly — practitioner-led, documented, and connected to SIRI Law LLP's legal and regulatory response if a finding ever needs to go further.
What organisations get wrong
Four assumptions that leave real exposure untested
A scanner report and a genuine security test are not the same evidence — and auditors increasingly know the difference.
01 — TOOLING
“We ran an automated scan, so we're covered”
Automated tools catch known signatures; they consistently miss business-logic flaws and chained vulnerabilities a human tester finds by thinking like an attacker.
02 — SCOPE
“Our last test covered the main system”
New features, integrations, and cloud services ship continuously — a test scoped a year ago doesn't speak to what's live today.
03 — EVIDENCE
“We fixed the findings, so we're done”
Without a documented retest, there's no evidence the fix actually worked — which is exactly what an auditor or insurer will ask for.
04 — FRAMING
“A clean report means we're secure”
A test result is a point-in-time statement about what was in scope — not a permanent guarantee, and not a substitute for ongoing monitoring.
What Database Penetration covers
What's included, start to finish
Deployed once per engagement, documented to a standard auditors and insurers actually accept.
01
Authentication & privilege review
Default credentials, excessive grants, and privilege escalation paths between database roles.
02
Injection surface mapping
Where application-layer injection could reach the database, tested from both directions.
03
Encryption review
Whether sensitive columns and backups are actually encrypted, not just marked as such.
04
Network exposure testing
Whether the database is reachable from segments or the internet it shouldn't be.
05
Audit logging assessment
Whether database activity is logged well enough to support an investigation after the fact.
Evidence, not guesswork
Unscoped internal effort vs. a documented SIRI engagement
The gap is rarely the tooling — it's whether the result holds up as evidence.
| Approach | No dedicated testing | Ad hoc internal effort | SIRI Database Penetration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Methodology | None | Varies by who ran it | OWASP / CREST-aligned, documented |
| Manual exploitation | No | Rare | Included as standard |
| Evidence for auditors/insurers | None | Inconsistent | Formal report + CVSS ratings |
| Retest on fixes | N/A | Rarely tracked | One free retest cycle included |
| Satisfies RBI/SEBI testing expectations | No | Partially | Yes, when scoped to your entity category |
Sources: RBI (Commercial Banks — Cybersecurity, Technology: Risk, Resilience and Assurance Framework) Directions, 2026; OWASP Top 10; DSCI and Seqrite 2026 threat data. Summarised for comparison; confirm current testing obligations applicable to your entity category.
Numbers every board should know
What testing is actually catching
62%
Of cloud detections
Trace to misconfiguration and IAM exploitation (DSCI) — the category testing has to explicitly cover.
70%
Of malware detections
Are trojans and file infectors (Seqrite 2026) — the entry point most exploitation chains start from.
29.44L
Incidents CERT-In handled
In the latest reporting year — the scale of activity testing exists to reduce a share of.
6 HR
CERT-In notification window
Runs from discovery — tested, documented exposure is what makes that window realistic to meet.
Why SIRI for Database Penetration specifically
Testing connected directly to legal and response, not a separate vendor
The same roof runs the test, the fix verification, and — if a real finding turns into an incident — the legal response.
01
Findings connected directly to legal exposure
SIRI Security runs under the same roof as SIRI Law LLP — when a finding carries real legal exposure, the engagement can be brought under attorney-client privilege from day one, not bolted on after the fact.
02
Led by named practitioners, not a rotating bench
Vikram Rao, SIRI's Head of Cybersecurity, directs offensive security and incident response and leads CERT-In breach containment for enterprise clients.
03
Court-admissible evidence when it matters
Ananya Krishnan, SIRI's Digital Forensics Lead, prepares court-admissible forensic reports and testifies as an expert witness when findings end up in front of a judge.
04
Built for RBI and SEBI's specific evidentiary bar
Testing is scoped and documented to the standard RBI's 2026 Framework and SEBI's CSCRF expect from regulated entities, not a generic vendor template.
Who this is built for
Organisations this testing service is built for
Banks & NBFCs
SEBI-regulated intermediaries
SaaS & cloud-native companies
Enterprise vendors facing security questionnaires
Organisations bringing new systems into production
How we work
From scoping to ongoing delivery
01
Scoping & Threat Modeling
We map the database attack surface with you, agree on rules of engagement, and build a threat model around what an attacker would actually go after first.
Week 102
Manual + Automated Testing
Our testers combine automated scanning with hands-on manual exploitation against the database, since scanners alone miss business-logic and chained vulnerabilities.
Weeks 2–303
Reporting & Risk Rating
Every finding is written up with proof-of-concept, CVSS scoring, and business impact — not just a raw scanner export — so your team can prioritise by risk, not by noise.
Week 4+04
Remediation & Free Retest
You fix the findings with our guidance, and we retest the fixed issues at no extra cost before issuing the final clearance report.
OngoingFrequently asked
Database Penetration, answered directly
Do you test production databases directly?
We strongly prefer a representative staging copy; where production testing is unavoidable we scope it tightly with your DBA team present.
Do you cover NoSQL databases?
Yes — MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch and similar are tested for their own specific misconfiguration patterns, not just treated as SQL with different syntax.
How long does an engagement take?
Most single-application or single-network engagements run 5 to 10 business days depending on scope, with the report and retest typically following within another week.
Is the retest really included at no extra cost?
Yes. One full retest cycle on the issues we found is included in every SIRI Security VAPT engagement — we don't charge again to confirm you fixed what we flagged.
Close the evidence gap
Scope Database Penetration.
Most engagements start with a short scoping call to confirm environment, timeline, and rules of engagement.
Talk to SIRI Security: +91 79819 12046
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