You have been engaged to conduct a penetration test on a web application hosted in the European Union. This application processes payment transactions and handles personal user data. Ensuring that your testing methodology is compliant with all relevant legal frameworks, what is the BEST course of action to take during the planning phase?
Limit the scope of the penetration test to only manual techniques on the premise that automated testing could infringe on data protection policies.
Identify all regulatory frameworks pertinent to the processing of financial transactions and personal data within the application's jurisdiction to define compliant testing strategies.
Proceed with the penetration test by targeting common vulnerabilities, prioritizing the discovery of security issues over adherence to specific legal requirements.
Recommend that the application should be moved to a data center in another region with less restrictive data protection laws to simplify testing procedures.
The correct answer is 'Identify all regulatory frameworks pertinent to the processing of financial transactions and personal data within the application's jurisdiction to define compliant testing strategies.'. By identifying these frameworks, the penetration tester can ensure that their testing approach will not breach any compliance obligations and is designed specifically to handle the sensitivity of the application's data. Given that the application processes payment transactions and handles personal data, the reference to GDPR and PCI DSS is implicit, and the need to comply with these standards is clear without explicitly stating them.
The other options, while potential actions in different contexts, do not align closely with the requirement for legal compliance in the described scenario. Suggesting a geographical hosting shift or limiting the test to manual methods does not directly relate to understanding and complying with legal frameworks, and focusing on vulnerabilities without considering compliance may lead to legal repercussions.
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