Security Insights

Search

The Hidden Cost of Pentesting

Adva Harosh
Dec 1, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Jan 21

Penetration testing is vital for understanding true risk, but traditional methods often feel like a double-edged sword: expensive third-party reports require weeks of analysis, or complex tools sit idle without dedicated staff. Security managers often struggle with solutions that are too complex, hard to track, and difficult to align with business objectives, leading to data overload without clear direction.

This is where Max changes the game, converting raw technical findings into a clear, actionable, business-enabling plan.

Note: This is a simulated case study designed to illustrate how our solution handles this challenge. While based on typical data, the characters and events are hypothetical.

The company

B2B FinTech Platform
250 Employees
North America
5 security members (CISO, SecOps manager, Security Engineer and 2 Analysts)

Challenges

High costs of annual manual penetration tests that only provide a "point-in-time" snapshot.
Struggling to translate technical vulnerability reports into prioritized remediation plans.
Difficulty tracking the history of past tests to see if security posture is actually improving or stagnating.
Lack of a dedicated penetration testing expert to manage continuous testing tools.

The security team adopted Max to help manage their security tasks, using it to build a structured, continuous testing plan beyond expensive annual "fire drills." The CISO shared raw results from their automated scanning tools with Max for business-context analysis. Max then provided tailored advice on which vulnerabilities were critical to their specific data workflows and which could be deprioritized, a process that previously took days of manual review. As a result, the CISO now uses Max's analysis to track historical testing data, ensuring new tests build on past findings and remain aligned with strict compliance.

Outcome

Reduce the time spent on post-pentest analysis and remediation planning, allowing the team to fix vulnerabilities faster.
Save costs by optimizing the use of internal tools and reducing the frequency of high-cost external manual assessments.
Improve the "time-to-remediation" for critical flaws.
Successfully align security testing cycles with periodical business objectives, satisfying SOC 2 compliance requirements without last-minute scrambles.

Key takeaways

Max’s ability to understand your specific business operations means you only fix what actually matters.
Maintain a continuous, high-level security posture year-round without a massive budget for one-off engagements.
Max helps you get 100% value from your current security tools by providing the "expert brain" to interpret their output

The mid-market angle

Mid-market companies are often the most squeezed when it comes to penetration testing; they face the same sophisticated threats and legal requirements as enterprises but must defend themselves with a fraction of the resources. Without a massive budget for a permanent "Red Team" or a six-figure consulting retainer, these companies often fall into a cycle of reactive security that is both expensive and ineffective. Constraints like the cybersecurity skills gap make it nearly impossible to hire a dedicated PT expert, leaving small teams to drown in technical reports they don't have time to process. Max is designed specifically to break this cycle, providing the high-level expertise of a consultant at a scale that fits your budget. There is a way to achieve elite-level security without the enterprise-level price tag, and Max is here to help you get there.