How to take permission to test their website/network?

[hack3rmilo]

Hey everyone.
I have recently done ethical hacking course and familiar with most of the testing capabilities in kali linux. I have learned to test networks on various demo platforms such as hackthebox, tryhackme, portswigger etc. 

Now i want to test attacks on real life networks and web servers but i dont have any idea how to contact them and get permission. Yes, I have tried contacting on their support but i dont get a reply most of the time. So if someone can guide me i'll be really thankful to him. 

[digininja]

The best thing for you to do is to look at bug bounty programs. These are where companies give permission for people to test them, usually with some caveats, in return for any issues being reported back to them, usually for a reward of some kind.

The big platforms are Hacker One and Bug Crowd. You can look through their listings and take your pick of targets.

As a beginner, think of it as a way to learn how to use the tools in the real world, don't expect to find anything. There are people who do this style of testing full time and will have picked up anything you are likely to find within hours or days of the program going live.

[dark_pyrro]

Well, if an organization/web site owner isn't answering to your request, there's not much you can do. I wouldn't in any way do anything without permission, so don't just start trying some random pentesting if they don't answer. Even if you have only good intentions and want to help, you can still be charged. I've seen it happen several times. Even employees that wants to help and "pentest" things without permission has been reported by their employer and then convicted. "Being kind" isn't a relevant/valid argument. You need written permission by someone that have the mandate within the organization to allow such operations.

Bug bounty has already been mentioned.

You could also look for a security.txt file that has contact information within the organization. Look for it at https://<URL>/.well-known/security.txt (or using http) on each website. It's not a "standard" so don't expect to find it everywhere, but a way to be able to contact website owners about vulnerabilities found. Note though that you might be considered trying to break security if you first find the vulns, then report them. It might get you into trouble. Some orgs are nice, some do things "by the book" and might report you.

[digininja]

5 minutes ago, dark_pyrro said:

Look for it at https://<URL>/.well-known/security.txt (or using http) on each website. It's not a "standard" 

I'm going to be really pedantic here and say it is a standard:

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9116.html

The only reason I know this is because I was talking to the person who wrote it a few days ago.

[DramaKing]

1 hour ago, hack3rmilo said:

Hey everyone.
I have recently done ethical hacking course and familiar with most of the testing capabilities in kali linux. I have learned to test networks on various demo platforms such as hackthebox, tryhackme, portswigger etc. 

Now i want to test attacks on real life networks and web servers but i dont have any idea how to contact them and get permission. Yes, I have tried contacting on their support but i dont get a reply most of the time. So if someone can guide me i'll be really thankful to him. 

You advertise your services and wait to get hired. Yes, bug bounties are probably what you're looking for, too. I would also suggest getting some related experience and trying to get a job as a pentester (you have to be very good), rather than trying to go freelance. 

[digininja]

13 minutes ago, DramaKing said:

you have to be very good

Having seen the test reports from some companies, you don't have to be that good unfortunately!

[dark_pyrro]

47 minutes ago, digininja said:

pedantic

Pedantic is good! As well as added knowledge in the backpack 🙂