Hoplite Use Case

Penetration Testing for State & Local Government

Point in time assessments aren't enough to protect your constituents.

State agencies and local governments are responsible for critical systems, sensitive data, public services, and community trust. Often, over time, public-sector environments grow in size and complexity- making it difficult to understand the full risk a system possesses.

One time scans can surface known issues, but they won't show how those issues connect, what an attacker could actually reach, or which fixes matter most.

Hoplite helps state and local teams understand actual exposure, prioritize the highest-risk attack paths, and validate improvements through offensive security testing.

As an approved and recommended State of Indiana vendor, Hoplite makes it easier for eligible agencies to move from findings to action.

Talk to Hoplite

Risk Grows Over Time

Government environments and attack surfaces expand over time.

New systems get added. Old systems stay in place. Vendors change. Cloud and M365 settings drift. Access expands. Internal teams inherit decisions they did not make and risks they have not had time to fully review.

What is documented may not reflect how the environment actually behaves, and if your environment has never been tested, you can't assume safety.

Ignorance is far from bliss in the world of cyber risk- especially when protecting sensitive government information.

Where Teams Get Stuck

The challenge is knowing where to start
and what to fix first.

Limited Resources
Small teams carry responsibility for critical systems, sensitive data, and public trust.

Inherited Complexity
Many environments have been built, modified, and handed down over years.

Leadership Pressure
Technical findings must translate to clear priorities for boards, councils, and government leaders.

How Hoplite Helps

Hoplite gives your team an independent view of how the environment actually behaves- all the time.

Through targeted continuous offensive security testing, we:

Test Real-world Attack Paths
Understand how an attacker could gain access and move through the environment.

Evaluate Identity and Access Risk
Find permissions, privilege paths, and assumptions that create exposure as they arise.

Surface the Highest-risk Gaps First
Help your team focus on what creates the most meaningful risk.

Validate Remediation
Retest fixes so progress is confirmed, not assumed.

Vulnerability Management/ Penetration Testing/ explain the offering for them.

How does it compare to X,Y,Z,

What This Looks Like in Practice

We focus testing on the areas that matter most for state and local government environments.

External and Internal Penetration Testing
Assess exposed assets, internal movement, and privilege escalation.

M365 and Identity Security Assessments
Review authentication, MFA, admin privileges, conditional access, and tenant configuration.

Cloud and Application Security Reviews
Test cloud configurations, portals, payment workflows, and public-facing applications.

Ongoing Support
Help lean teams interpret findings, improve processes, and communicate risk clearly.

Continuous Exposure Review
For teams that need more than a one-time assessment, Hoplite can provide a more consistent view of exposure over time.

The Outcome

You gain clarity, not just a completed assessment.

Understand Real-world Exposure
Know what is actually exposed, not just what is documented.

Prioritize with Confidence
Focus on the risks most likely to create impact.

Communicate Risk Clearly
Give leadership practical context for decisions and budgets.

Validate Improvements
Confirm that remediation reduced risk.

Build a Stronger Security Program Over Time
Use each engagement as part of an ongoing improvement process, not a one-time checkbox.

Where Teams Get Stuck

Most SOC 2 efforts don’t fail because controls are missing, they fail because those controls haven’t been tested in practice.

Controls exist, but haven’t been validated
Everything looks right on paper, but no one has tested whether controls hold up under real conditions.

Documentation drifts from reality
Policies don’t always keep pace with how systems actually evolve and operate.

Compliance ≠ security
Frameworks define expectations, but they don’t prove your environment is resilient in practice.

How Hoplite Helps

Hoplite is not a compliance firm.
We validate whether your controls actually work.

Through targeted offensive security testing, we:

Test access controls in real conditions
Validate whether permissions behave as intended.

Measure how far access can spread
Understand how users (and attackers) can actually move through your environment.

Validate logging and detection
Confirm you can reconstruct activity when something happens.

Identify gaps between policy and reality
Surface where documented controls don’t match real behavior.

What This Looks Like in Practice

We focus testing on the areas that matter most for SOC 2 readiness.

Application & infrastructure testing
Aligned to SOC 2 control areas and real-world exposure.

Identity and access validation
Across actual user behavior and system interactions.

Logging and detection validation
Ensuring incidents can be investigated—not just assumed.

Clear, actionable findings
Prioritized based on real risk and audit relevance.

The Outcome

You leave with clarity, not just documentation.

Confidence your controls actually work
Not just that they exist.

Fewer surprises during audit
Issues are addressed before they become findings.

Clear prioritization of risk
Know what matters and what doesn’t.

A posture that holds up beyond compliance
Security that operates in practice, not just on paper.

[FAQ]

Frequently Asked

Questions

Is this the same as a security scan from CrowdStrike, Tenable, Qualys, Rapid7, or Microsoft Defender?

No. Tools like CrowdStrike, Tenable, Qualys, Rapid7, and Microsoft Defender can be useful. They help teams identify known vulnerabilities, missing patches, endpoint issues, misconfigurations, and other signals that deserve attention. Hoplite does something different. A scan tells you what a tool can detect. Offensive security testing shows you what an attacker could actually do. That means we look at how issues connect across your environment, including identity, access, cloud configuration, M365 settings, public-facing systems, internal movement, and business context. We are not just looking for individual findings. We are looking for real attack paths, practical impact, and the fixes that should come first. For state and local teams, this matters because a tool may show a long list of issues without explaining which ones create the most meaningful risk. Hoplite helps your team understand what is actually exposed, what could be exploited, and what needs to be remediated first. CrowdStrike, Tenable, Qualys, Rapid7, and Microsoft Defender are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Their inclusion here does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by those companies.

Is Hoplite an approved State of Indiana vendor?

Yes. Hoplite has a Qualified Purchasing Agreement with the State of Indiana and is approved and recommended for eligible agencies seeking penetration testing support. If you are unsure which purchasing path applies to your organization, we can help you understand the available options.

Is this only for compliance?

No. Compliance may be one reason to test, and insurance providers are increasingly asking about security testing. The real value is understanding what is actually exposed, what could be exploited, and what needs to be remediated to reduce risk.

Do you support remediation after the assessment?

Yes. Hoplite stays engaged after testing to help teams understand findings, prioritize remediation, and validate that fixes worked. We do not believe the work ends when the report is delivered.

Can Hoplite support us on an ongoing basis?

Yes. For organizations that need more consistent visibility, Hoplite can support a more continuous model of testing, validation, and exposure review. This helps teams confirm fixes faster, identify new risks as environments change, and avoid waiting until the next annual assessment to discover an issue.

Understand Your Exposure Before It Impacts Your Organization

You don't need more assumptions.
You need to know how your environment actually behaves and what to fix first.

Email us at indiana@hopliteconsulting.com