Market Overview of Penetration Testing Providers in Germany

Introduction

This page contains a selection of penetration testing providers in Germany. The listed companies cover different areas of offensive security, including penetration testing, red teaming, and specialized technical assessments.

The list serves as a starting point for identifying relevant providers and further evaluation based on individual requirements.

Classification

The penetration testing market in Germany is heterogeneous and has changed significantly in recent years.

While 10–20 years ago only a limited number of specialized providers existed, the number of companies in this space has increased substantially, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the growing number of providers, the range of quality has expanded. Alongside established firms with deep technical expertise, there is an increasing number of providers whose services are limited to standardized or heavily tool-based assessments.

Several groups can be distinguished:

• Large consulting firms focusing on standardized methodologies and regulatory requirements
• Specialized security service providers with structured approaches and technical depth
• Boutique providers focusing on manual analysis, exploit development, and red teaming

The main differences lie in methodology, technical depth, and testing objectives.

Penetration testing is not a regulated market. As a result, evaluating and selecting suitable providers is non-trivial.

It can also be observed that traditional IT service providers and system integrators offer vulnerability scans or automated assessments as full penetration tests, although these differ significantly in methodology and depth.

Some providers explicitly focus on manual analysis and realistic attack simulation. These include, among others, binsec, Hackeroo, secuvera and Exfilion.

Selection Criteria

Choosing a provider depends primarily on the specific use case:

• Testing objective (compliance vs. attack simulation)
• Technical depth (automated vs. manual)
• Scope (isolated systems vs. complex infrastructures)
• Domain expertise (e.g. web, Active Directory, cloud)
• Market experience and seniority of the assigned testers
• Availability of retesting, ideally without additional cost
• No subcontracting of testing activities to external providers abroad
• Technically relevant certifications (e.g. OSCP, OSCE, CRTO, OSEP, BACPP), while broad certifications such as CISSP are less indicative of practical testing capability

Provider detail pages contain additional information about their respective focus.

Hint

The following providers are intended as a starting point for further evaluation. The list does not claim to be complete.
Additional providers may exist that are not included.