FAQ (expanded for easy reading)

What are the steps when I'm ready to schedule a Penetration Test ?

All you need to get started is basic information about your company and when you would like the test, Cyber Uphold handles everything else.

Provide name, location and URL of your business and we will contact you to answer any questions and schedule your test at a time most convenient for you.
When a date has been set for your test you'll receive a short form to provide permission for the test and basic information about your computers, network, and anything else you would like reviewed.
On the date of the test simply provide a point of contact to provide access to your office and network and a small working area for 1-2 days
When the test is complete we let you know about any critical vulnerabilities that same day
The full report on all items tested and the results are available within 1-2 weeks.

Schedule Today

What are the steps to start my own Cyber Security business ?

All you need to get started is a desire to help local businesses improve their Cyber Security.

Provide name, location and when you will be ready to start and we will contact you to answer any questions and get you registered to use the tools we've built to begin penetration testing right away.
If you are a new Entrepreneur the free materials available below may be helpful to answer your questions

(Please note Cyber Uphold has no affiliation with any of the organizations listed below and we do not provide recommendations or have requirements to utilize any of the listed free courses. Cyber Uphold's opinions are our own and we do not represent or speak for anyone on this page, your use of this information is solely at your discretion, we can not guarantee or warrant the information below in any form)

Free Courses to Boost Entrepreneurship Skills from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and others.

The Art of Persuasive Writing & Public Speaking School: Harvard

How to write persuasively

How to speak with authority

Storytelling writing techniques

Entrepreneurship 101 School: MIT

Market segmentation

Primary customer research

Customer personas & end users

Technology Entrepreneurship: Lab to Market School: Harvard

How to position opportunities & secure funding

How to match new tech with customer needs

A systematic approach to entrepreneurship

Strategic Social Media Marketing School: Boston University

How to develop a social marketing strategy

How to craft engaging content

Social media data analysis

Applied Storytelling School: Davidson

Storytelling tactics in advertising, startups, etc.

How to leverage storytelling in presentations

The key elements of effective storytelling

Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Finance School: MIT

Financial literacy

Sources of funding

How to sell your business

Creativity & Entrepreneurship School: Berklee

About the intersection of creativity & business

Why everyone can be an entrepreneur

Real-world creative case studies

User Innovation & Entrepreneurship School: MIT

Entrepreneurial bootstrapping

The trends and forces behind innovation

The concept of "need co-forming" and its application

Becoming an Entrepreneur School: MIT

Entrepreneurial mindset

Applicable entrepreneurial skills

Models & frameworks from "MIT Launch"

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Does Cyber Uphold offer Discounts ?

Yes, several discount programs exist, please contact us for more information to see if you qualify:

Startup Companies are eligible for 25% to 50% discounts on their initial Penetration Test within the first 6 months of operations.
Veteran Owned Companies are eligible for up to 25% discounts on all Penetration Testing and support products.
Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small business (SDVOSB) Companies are eligible for up to 50% discounts on all Penetration Testing and support products.
Hub Zone Companies are eligible for up to 25% discounts on all initial Penetration Testing programs.
Young Entrepreneur Companies are eligible for up to 25% discounts on all Penetration Testing and support products within the first 3 years of graduation.
Defense Contractors are eligible for up to 25% discounts on all Penetration Testing and support products.
Small Business Administration (SBA) 8a and Minority Owned Companies are eligible for up to 25% discounts on all Penetration Testing and support products.

Does Cyber Uphold have Referral Programs ?

Yes, several programs exist, all of which are cast compensation based and have a dedicated representative to authorize the referral usually in less than 72 hours. Please contact us for more information to register:

Current Customers are eligible for 25% to 75% rebate for referring new first time Penetration Test customers within 3 months of the completion of their testing, more than 3 referrals requires approval.
Business Development Teams are eligible for 15% to 75% commissions on Penetration Tests referred within a 55 mile radius of their local market, pre approval is required.
New Entrepreneurs are eligible for 50% to 150% rebates on startup packages for referring other entrepreneurs who start and maintain their business for at least 12 months in a new geographic area.

Does Cyber Uphold have Scholarship and Funding Programs for new Entrepreneurs

Yes, several programs exist to help you get started. Please contact us for more information about qualifications and a variety of grant and assistance programs.

How far in advance can I schedule a Penetration Test

Up to Four (4) months. Our teams have available scheduling times beyond 4 months as well, but we can not guarantee a specific date.

Vulnerability Scanning vs Penetration Testing

Vulnerability Scanning and Penetration Testing are both important security strategies used by Cyber Uphold to mitigate security breaches, but they serve different purposes and are conducted differently.

Vulnerability Scanning

At Cyber Uphold our security management strategy used to identify and report vulnerabilities in web applications, servers, and firewalls. The main goal is to help your organization’s IT department detect, classify, and report weaknesses in your internal and external networks, computers, IP addresses, and communication equipment.

Vulnerability scans are typically automated since they rely on vulnerability databases to check for known vulnerabilities.

Penetration Testing

Cyber Uphold executes this type of test on site using ethical hackers and experienced DevOps engineers to test and determine possible security gaps in an organization’s security architecture. Most penetration tests are done through the simulation of cyberattacks on organizational systems to determine how these systems would react if they come under any form of cyberattacks by hackers. It’s widely recommended that organizations carry out pen testing at least once per year.

At Cyber Uphold Penetration testing takes vulnerability scanning a step further to exploit the vulnerabilities identified in order to gain access to critical systems, sensitive information, or a specified network. Both strategies are crucial for understanding where you are and where you need to be security-wise. They are complementary, but there are key differences between the two approaches provided by Cyber Uphold.

What products and services does Cyber Uphold offer?

Cyber Uphold provides a specialized penetration testing product suite using Kali Linux and range of services designed to protect any business from cyber threats. Our services include helping entrepreneurs utilize our pen testing suite to find vulnerabilities in their local markets and we provide security awareness training, threat intelligence, incident response, security architecture design and CMMC certification support. Cyber Uphold offers a variety of security products and solutions to help you protect your business from cyber attacks.

MarcmanSolutions provides post testing software updates, IT managed services, and complete remediation for any vulnerabilities identified during your testing. Engaging with a world class IT managed services provider like Marcman Solutions can speed compliance and correct vulnerabilities fast while improving your team's overall cyber hygiene.

Cyber Security Penetration Testing
Business Startup / White Labeling Support
CMMC consulting and audit support
Cyber Security Employee Training
Cyber Threat Vulnerability Reporting and Remediation

What are the costs ?

All fees are one time charge only, no recurring fees, no required extra fees
Cyber Security Penetration Testing Starting at $995 for < 50 endpoints (review required)
Business Startup / White Labeling Support Starting at $5000
CMMC consulting and audit support Starting at $5000
Cyber Security Employee Training Starting at $495 per class
Cyber Threat Vulnerability Reporting and Remediation (included with Penetration Test)

Cyber Uphold maintains simple and easy to understand pricing with no long term contracts or hidden fees.

How does Cyber Uphold keep costs low ?

Cyber Uphold is founder lead and focused on low overhead and the leverage of 20 years of cyber security software that allows us to turn over massive cost savings to small and medium sized businesses. Cyber Uphold has streamlined many of the development activities required for Penetration Testing, created automation, and continuously adds to our suite of products to support businesses and entrepreneurs. We believe that penetration testing is the first and more important step toward securing a business which helps secure our nations infrastructure.

How long does a Penetration Test take ?

Tests can usually be scheduled withing 2 weeks and the onsite portions of the testing are often completed in 1-3 days. Review and completion of the Cyber Security Pen Testing Report generally takes around 2 weeks, but critical vulnerabilities are reported to your team same day.

What is tested during a Penetration Test ?

Cyber Uphold tests your entire network and all endpoints internally and tests your web URL's and any open files available in the cloud externally. Cyber Uphold performs a series of both proprietary and industry standard vulnerability scans using dozens of specialized tools available to the cyber security community.

What tools are used during a Penetration Test ?

Cyber Uphold uses a custom Kali Linux build to perform a full network discover followed by a series of both proprietary and industry standard vulnerability scans. The Metasploit Framework is used in collaboration with Nmap, Wireshark, Netdiscover, Legion, Recon-ng, Aircrack-ng, Maltego and several Wi-Fi cracking hardware devices to test your network inside and out using Cyber Upholds custom procedures.

When Starting a new Cyber Security Business, can I use my existing equipment ?

Yes, all of Cyber Uphold's tools, training and procedures are available for download and will run on any computer that supports Virtual Box 7 or later.

When Starting a new Cyber Security Business are pre configured computers available ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold has Dell series 5000 machines pre configured with everything you need. The equipment is sold separately and require your business to be started before they can be ordered. Delivery is usually available with 4 weeks of purchase.

Can I participate in the Cyber Security Startup business if I have only minimal technical experience ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold will support you in hiring technical staff to execute tests on your behalf if you do not wish to run the tests yourself.

What is the Metasploit Framework ?

Cyber Uphold uses this powerful tool that allows you to exploit vulnerabilities, generate payloads, and perform post-exploitation tasks on various platforms and systems. With this tool Cyber Uphold performs real world tests that show exactly how a vulnerability might be exploited.

What is Nmap ?

Cyber Uphold uses Nmap as a network scanner to perform port scanning, service detection, OS fingerprinting, and vulnerability assessment in connection with Netdiscover and Legion to test for the most dangerous open port vulnerabilities.

What is Wireshark ?

Cyber Uphold uses Wireshark as a network protocol analyzer that helps us capture and examine packets, filter traffic, and analyze protocols and encryption to ensure there are no unsafe connections.

What is Netdiscover ?

Cyber Uphold uses Netdiscover as a network address discovering tool. The tool is based on ARP packets and can scan a variety of IP ranges.

What is Legion ?

Cyber Uphold uses Legion to detect potential vulnerabilities in the organization's IP ranges, which can later be tested with more advanced tools like Metasploit.

What is Recon-ng

Cyber Uphold uses Recon-ng as a reconnaissance tool that automates the gathering of information from open sources to look for information that can be used to exploit vulnerabilities during a hack attempt.

What is Aircrack-ng

Cyber Uphold uses the Aircrack-ng suite of tools software tools paired with Alfa Wi-Fi packing sniffing hardware to inspect and crack Wi-Fi networks.

What is Maltego ?

Cyber Uphold uses Maltego for discovery of data from open sources, and visualizing that information in a graph format, suitable for link analysis and data mining. This analysis uncovers susceptible data that may be used by cyber criminals in a vulnerability exploit.

What is Snort ?

Cyber Uphold uses Snort on a custom appliance with custom rule sets to provide your company with the latest technology in network intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS). Developed by Cisco, and run internally on all their hardware Snort is best of bread for stopping cyber criminal activities.

Cyber Uphold configures and delivers Snort to perform the following:

As a packet sniffer like tcpdump or wireshark
As a packet logger, which is useful for network traffic debugging and CMMC policies.
As a full-blown network intrusion prevention system

Snort uses a series of rules customized by Cyber Uphold that help define malicious network activity and uses those rules to find packets that match against them and generates alerts for your team. Cyber Uphold deploys Snort inline to stop these packets at the source.

Is it safe to run a penetration test on my Network ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold records your current network state and vulnerabilities both before and after testing to ensure your network remains in the exact same state as before the tests were executed. Cyber Uphold also does both pre and post Open source intelligence (OSINT) testing, the act of gathering and analyzing publicly available data that may be useful to a cyber attacker, to ensure that no information was exposed or transferred during the execution of the test. These pre and post activities ensure both parties are protected by showing that Cyber Uphold left your network and your private data in the exact same state it was prior to testing.

Is Cyber Uphold a verifiable Penetration Tester ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold is registered and utilizes Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or equivalent resources who are registered to execute only lawful and legitimate penetration tests in manner to assess the security posture of a target systems, but to never actually access or exploit any vulnerabilities identified. All credentials and verifications are available upon request.

Are founders of Cyber Uphold verifiable ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold founders are all United States based and have a long verifiable history of national security work throughout the Federal Government and U.S. Military. Verifications are available through external security clearance organizations, through verified reference customers, by previous company ownership over the past 25 years, and though business network contacts with similar credentials.

Is Cyber Uphold a U.S. based company ?

Yes, Cyber Uphold is registered and verifiable as a corporation in the United States and only operates in the United States. Cyber Uphold does not outsource or utilize any foreign resources and is committed to the protection of United States companies and our nations infrastructure.

Does Cyber Uphold follow all the rules of Ethical Hacking ?

Yes, and more. Cyber Uphold extends the guidelines provided by the ethical hacking community at EccCouncil.org and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as follows:

Seek authorization from the organization that owns the system or network before performing any hacking activity.
Guarantee that all activity and results are private and confidential, only the organization will receive information and results from the test and access to the results by Cyber Uphold will be removed following the tests upon request.
Stay within the boundaries of the agreement and do not access or modify any data or system that is not part of the scope of the Penetration Test.
Respect the privacy and confidentiality of the users of the organization as well as the systems and networks of the organization.
Report any vulnerabilities or issues found to the organization and provide recommendations for remediation.
Do not use any illegal or malicious tools or techniques that could harm the system or network or violate any laws.