What makes SquidSec different from other penetration testing companies?

You work with the founder on every engagement. The focus is web applications, APIs, and .NET thick clients, with 13+ years of .NET engineering behind the testing. Findings are exploited attack chains with business impact, not a scanner dump.

External and internal networks, web applications and APIs, Windows thick clients, Microsoft 365 and cloud tenants, AI and LLM applications, Android, supply chain risk, and system hardening.

What do I get at the end?

A written scope and rules of engagement before testing starts, an executive summary and a technical report with proof of concept where it is safe to include, and a retest of fixed findings.

Are you U.S. based and veteran owned?

Yes. SquidSec is U.S. Veteran Owned and based in Cleveland, Ohio. The founder holds OSCP+ and GWAPT and carries professional liability insurance through Hiscox.

SquidSec | Penetration Testing

What SquidSec tests

Founder-led testing across the stack you actually ship.

Network penetration testing

External work starts with breach data and leaked credentials matched to your perimeter, before a scan. Internal work chains Active Directory and identity privileges from a normal account to domain compromise, measured in days.

Application penetration testing

Every user role, not a single admin login. Broken object authorization, IDOR, privilege jumps, and workflow abuse that a scanner files as noise. With source, the finding is traced into the code, not stopped at the response.

Cloud and Microsoft 365

Most tenant takeovers are identity, not a missing patch. Entra ID, Conditional Access, token theft resistance, risky app consent, and Graph exposure are chained into a realistic path. AWS and GCP get the same identity-first pass.

AI and LLM applications

Copilots, chatbots, and agents, tested against how yours is built. Prompt injection, behavior changes, retrieval abuse, data leaving the system, and tool calls a user was never meant to trigger.

Windows thick clients and native desktop apps

.NET, WPF, UWP, and other Windows-native applications. 13+ years shipping that stack, then breaking it the way an attacker would.

Android applications

Static and dynamic analysis, reverse engineering, and runtime exploitation of the mobile client and the API behind it.

Supply chain and dependency risk

Third-party libraries, MSPs, and software or hardware suppliers. Where trust in someone else's code becomes your incident.

System hardening reviews

Linux and Windows configuration reviews. What is exposed, what is default, and what an attacker uses after the first foothold.

How an engagement works

Same person from the scoping call through the retest.

01. Scope

Targets, accounts, environments, and what is out of bounds. You approve it before testing starts.
02. Rules

Written rules of engagement: hours, emergency contact, and what gets exploited versus proven and stopped.
03. Timeline

A start date and a report date on the scoping call. Typical web or thick-client tests run one to two weeks.
04. Report

Executive summary for leadership. Technical findings with reproduction steps and business impact for engineering.
05. Retest

Fixed findings are retested. You get a short letter you can hand to a customer or auditor.

Why buyers pick SquidSec

A specialist, not a catalog.

01. Founder-led

The person on the scoping call does the testing and writes the report. No junior bench, no offshore handoff.

02. Builder background

13+ years of .NET and full-stack engineering. Fixes are written so a developer can ship them, not so a slide deck looks complete.

03. Proof, not noise

Tools map the target. The report is what was exploited, how far it goes, and what it costs the business if it is left open.

Questions buyers ask

Is this a scanner report?

No. Tools are used to map the target. The assessment is the manual work after that: business logic, authentication, and attack chains a scanner will not prove.

Who does the work?

The founder. U.S. veteran, Cleveland, OH. OSCP+ and GWAPT. Professional liability insurance through Hiscox.

What is in the report?

An executive summary, prioritized technical findings with reproduction steps where it is safe to include them, and a retest letter after fixes land.

Can you cover more than one target?

Yes. Network, application, cloud, AI, thick client, Android, supply chain, and hardening can be scoped together or separately. You get a clear yes or no before a contract.

Book a scoping call

Tell us the app, the API, or the thick client. You get a scope, a timeline, and a price. Not a capabilities deck.

contact@squidhacker.com

Cleveland, OH. U.S. Veteran Owned. Hiscox insured.

SquidSec. Web application, API, and .NET thick client penetration testing in Cleveland, Ohio.