Quick Answer: A manual penetration test is a time-boxed, human-led assessment that goes deep — internal systems, business logic, creative attack chaining. VeilScan is continuous, automated, and external-only — catching regressions in the 11 months between annual pentests. They are complementary: use both for full coverage. Using VeilScan alone means no internal assessment; using a pentest alone means 11 months of unmonitored external exposure.
What is a manual penetration test?
A manual penetration test is a time-boxed security assessment conducted by a qualified human security professional. The tester attempts to identify and exploit vulnerabilities across a defined scope — typically external systems, internal networks, or web applications, depending on the engagement type.
A manual penetration test can:
- Test internal systems and networks that automated external scanners cannot reach
- Test business logic, authentication flows, and application-specific attack scenarios
- Chain complex multi-step attacks requiring human creativity and adaptability
- Assess for vulnerabilities that require context and judgment to identify
- Produce a detailed narrative report with risk-rated findings and remediation recommendations
A manual penetration test typically costs £3,000–£15,000 per engagement for a typical startup scope, runs for 1–5 days, and produces a point-in-time report.
What does VeilScan cover that a penetration test does not?
- Continuity — VeilScan runs every week or every month. A penetration test runs once a year. Every deployment in between is unmonitored by the pentest.
- Regression detection — delta reports show what changed since the last scan. Regressions — vulnerabilities introduced by new deployments or configurations — are caught within the scan window, not discovered a year later.
- Real-time alerts — Slack alerts fire within minutes of detecting a Critical or High finding. A pentest report arrives days after the assessment ends.
- Continuous compliance evidence — each VeilScan scan produces a signed, dated PDF suitable for audit submission. Annual pentest reports cover one moment in time; monthly VeilScan reports cover ongoing monitoring.
- Full subdomain inventory — VeilScan rebuilds the subdomain inventory with every scan. New subdomains created since the last pentest are included automatically.
What does a penetration test cover that VeilScan does not?
- Internal systems — VeilScan is external-only. Internal network scanning, internal services, and VPN-protected infrastructure require an internal assessment.
- Business logic — automated scanners cannot test application-specific business logic: price manipulation, insecure direct object references in authenticated flows, privilege escalation within an application.
- Social engineering — phishing simulation, vishing, and physical security testing are manual assessments outside VeilScan's scope.
- Creative attack chaining — human testers adapt to what they discover. They chain findings in novel ways that automated pipelines may not construct.
When should you use both?
The optimal combination for most startups and SMBs:
- Annual penetration test — for depth, internal coverage, and compliance evidence for the year
- VeilScan monthly or weekly — for continuous external monitoring, regression detection, and ongoing compliance evidence between tests
If budget constrains the combination, use VeilScan first — it surfaces the most common external vulnerabilities that account for the majority of real-world breaches — and add an annual penetration test when the business can support it.
See: VeilScan Between Penetration Tests · Continuous Monitoring
What are the most common questions?
Do I need to run a penetration test before using VeilScan?
No. VeilScan can be set up independently and does not require a prior penetration test. Many teams use VeilScan first — to get an immediate picture of their external exposure — and then commission a penetration test with the VeilScan results as context for the tester's scope and focus.
Will VeilScan findings overlap with a penetration test?
Yes. A good external penetration test will find some of the same external vulnerabilities that VeilScan finds. The overlap is healthy — it means both tools are catching real issues. VeilScan adds continuity (catching issues that appear after the pentest), depth of coverage across all subdomains, and structured compliance reporting that the pentest alone may not produce.