# Alacrinet Offensive Intelligence Unit (OIU). Full Reference > Operator-led offensive security for mid-market and enterprise organizations. Penetration testing, red teaming, social engineering, product security, and LLM penetration testing. Operators run every engagement personally. No scan-and-PDF deliverables. Findings are manually validated. Reports map attack paths and business impact, not isolated CVSS scores. Site: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com Parent organization: Alacrinet, https://www.alacrinet.com Operator (named): Bailey Besheer, Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/baileybesheer/ Third-party profile: https://theenterpriseworld.com/alacrinet-bailey-besheer/ Last reviewed: 2026-06-18 --- ## Operator ### Bailey Besheer, Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services at Alacrinet Bailey Besheer leads Alacrinet's Offensive Intelligence Unit. He is a former Marine cyber warfare operator, ranked top 25 globally on Hack The Box, and is personally involved in every offensive security engagement Alacrinet runs. He holds CISSP, IAT III, and CSIS credentials. He built the OIU around a single operating principle most pentest vendors get wrong: the operator who scopes the engagement is the operator who runs it and the operator who briefs the executives at the end. No bait-and-switch. No junior consultants delivering work scoped by senior names. Every report carries an operator's signature because an operator wrote it. His work has been profiled in The Enterprise World's cover story on Alacrinet. The piece captures the part of his approach that travels: offensive security is a discipline of judgment, not tooling, and judgment compounds inside a single operator over years. ### Bailey's dated POV (2026-05-26): "Most firms get AI red-teaming exactly backwards." The industry is racing to productize "AI red-teaming" the same way it productized pentesting twenty years ago: a checklist, a scanner, a templated PDF. This is going to fail for the same reason the first generation of pentest reports failed. You cannot industrialize the part that matters. A model is not a system you can fingerprint and enumerate. It is a behavior you have to provoke. The interesting failures are not in the model weights. They are in the seams: the system prompt your engineers wrote on a Friday, the RAG corpus your sales team uploaded last quarter, the tool-use scope your platform team called "temporary" eighteen months ago. Every one of those seams was written by a human who was reasoning about the happy path. Adversarial pressure lives on the unhappy path. The vendors selling automated "prompt injection scanners" are going to find exactly what automated SQL injection scanners found in 2008: the easy class. The interesting attacks are the multi-turn ones where the model reads a poisoned document on turn three, executes a tool call on turn seven, and exfiltrates the result on turn twelve. No scanner catches that chain, because the chain is not a pattern. It is a plan. If a vendor cannot tell you, in plain English, what the chain of intent was for each finding, the deliverable is scan-and-PDF. Ask for the chain. Ask who wrote the chain. If the answer is "our platform," walk. The other half of the discipline is restraint. An LLM red team that demonstrates every exotic jailbreak it can find does not understand its customer. The board wants the two or three findings that would have ended badly, the operator's read on which is the easiest to actually exploit, and the shortest path to closing them. Attack paths over CVSS. Business impact over volume. Judgment over noise. --- ## Homepage Alacrinet's Offensive Intelligence Unit operates beyond surface-level vulnerability scans. The team simulates real adversaries, maps attack paths the way criminals discover them, and tests how an organization actually fails under pressure. Operator-led. Business-impact focused. 100% manually validated findings. Critical findings communicated within 24 hours. Most security is built for auditors, not attackers. The OIU is built for the second. --- ## Services ### Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting Penetration testing is a controlled, authorized simulation of a real-world attack where operators manually probe systems to identify exploitable weaknesses and demonstrate business impact. We do not test controls. We test outcomes. Our operators manually probe applications, networks, cloud infrastructure, APIs, and mobile apps. We identify the difference between theoretical risk and exploitable exposure. A misconfigured S3 bucket alone might be medium severity. Combined with an exposed API key and a privilege escalation in your app, that is full access to customer data. We show the path, not just the pieces. Reports are compliance-ready, mapped to PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and CMMC. Clear severity. Clear remediation. Clear business impact. ### Red Teaming URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/red-teaming Red teaming is an objective-based adversary simulation that combines digital, physical, and human attack vectors to test whether an organization can detect, contain, and respond to a real intrusion. We combine network exploitation, application attacks, physical security testing, and social engineering into multi-vector campaigns. We do not just find the door. We walk through it, establish persistence, move laterally, and demonstrate what an adversary could do. The output is a narrative of how we compromised your organization, where detection failed, and how to close the gaps. ### Social Engineering Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/social-engineering Social engineering testing is a controlled simulation of the pretexting, phishing, vishing, and physical manipulation techniques used by real adversaries to compromise an organization through its people, processes, and culture. Verizon's 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report shows the human element is involved in 68% of breaches. We build campaigns from scratch using the same OSINT, pretexting, and targeting techniques that APT groups and financially motivated threat actors use. Custom domains, tailored pretexts, researched targets, multi-stage attack chains. ### Product Security as a Service URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/product-security Product security as a service is an ongoing engagement that embeds offensive security into the software development lifecycle through code review, pipeline security, cloud assessments, and continuous testing on the release cadence. Instead of testing after you ship, we work alongside your dev team to catch vulnerabilities before they reach production. New features get reviewed. Infrastructure changes get assessed. Vulnerabilities get caught early when they are cheap to fix. ### LLM Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/llm-pentesting LLM penetration testing is manual adversarial testing of applications that integrate large language models, covering prompt injection, jailbreak, system prompt leakage, RAG-pipeline data exfiltration, and tool-use abuse in agent frameworks. LLM behavior is probabilistic. Guardrails fail under creative pressure. Our operators craft adversarial inputs that bypass alignment, extract training data, and chain model behavior into unauthorized actions. We test direct prompts, indirect injection via RAG documents, multi-turn conversation manipulation, and tool or API abuse through agent frameworks. ### Web Application Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/web-application Web application penetration testing is manual, authorized adversarial testing of a web application covering OWASP Top 10 categories, authentication and authorization flaws, session handling, input validation, and business-logic abuse. Phases: recon and mapping, authentication and session, authorization and multi-tenancy, business-logic abuse, reporting and retest. ### External Network Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/external-network External network penetration testing is manual adversarial assessment of internet-facing infrastructure combining open-source intelligence, perimeter enumeration, service-level exploitation, and post-exploitation to map real intrusion paths. Phases: OSINT and asset discovery, perimeter enumeration, exploitation, post-exploitation, reporting and retest. ### Cloud Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/cloud Cloud penetration testing is manual adversarial assessment of public cloud environments covering identity and access management abuse, service-level misconfigurations, data-store exposure, and lateral movement across accounts and tenants. Coverage: AWS, Azure, GCP. ### API Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/api API penetration testing is manual adversarial assessment of REST and GraphQL APIs covering authentication, broken-object-level authorization (BOLA), broken function-level authorization (BFLA), schema and introspection abuse, rate-limit bypass, and business-logic flaws. --- ## Ideal customer CISOs, security directors, and VPs of Engineering at mid-market to enterprise organizations ($50M to $2B revenue) facing compliance pressure (SOC 2, PCI, HIPAA, CMMC), running M&A diligence, holding expiring pentest contracts, or under insurance pressure for exploit-validated findings. ## Differentiator Operator-led from scoping call to executive debrief. No junior consultants. No scan-and-PDF deliverables. Findings are 100% manually validated. Critical findings communicated within 24 hours. Reports map attack paths, not isolated CVSS scores, and connect technical exposure to business impact. ## Contact - Talk to an operator: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/start - Send a brief: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/contact - Email: info@pentesting.alacrinet.com --- # New Pages (added 2026-05-26) ## Strategic positioning ### Pen Test Vendor Evaluation Checklist URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pen-test-vendor-evaluation-checklist Twelve questions any buyer can ask any pentest vendor: who runs the scoping call, who delivers the work, who signs the report, where the operators are based, what the retest policy is, how artifacts are destroyed, and what evidence-of-chain-of-intent looks like per finding. Published with the explicit understanding that buyers can use it to evaluate Alacrinet too. ### Why Alacrinet Does Not Publish Case Studies URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/why-no-case-studies Per Bailey Besheer (GRC Viewpoint): all client testing artifacts are destroyed within 30 days of engagement end. No retention for portfolio purposes. Discretion is the product, not the byproduct. ### Unlimited Remediation Validation URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/unlimited-remediation-validation Standard on every Alacrinet engagement: unlimited retesting of remediated findings, with no time cap and no per-finding charge. Some retest engagements have run for over a year without additional billing. ### Methodology URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/methodology Recon, enumeration, exploitation, post-exploitation, reporting, and unlimited retest. Each phase carries Bailey-bylined operator notes. ## Compliance ### SOC 2 Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compliance/soc-2 Penetration testing scoped and reported against SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria, mapped to CC4 and CC7 controls, with auditor-ready deliverables. ### PCI DSS Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compliance/pci PCI DSS 4.0 penetration testing for cardholder data environments, including segmentation testing, application-layer testing, and internal/external scope. ### HIPAA Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compliance/hipaa HIPAA Security Rule penetration testing for covered entities and business associates, covering PHI exposure paths, EHR systems, and medical device scope. ### CMMC Level 2 Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compliance/cmmc-level-2 Penetration testing scoped to CMMC Level 2 and NIST 800-171 controls for defense industrial base contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information. ### ISO 27001 Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compliance/iso-27001 Penetration testing scoped to ISO 27001 Annex A controls, mapped to the Statement of Applicability and aligned to the documented risk treatment plan. ## Comparisons Per Bailey Besheer (GRC Viewpoint), the offensive security market has bifurcated: commodity vendors repackaging scanner output, and major firms with consulting overhead that prices most of the market out. Alacrinet positions deliberately between, with major-firm capability at non-major-firm prices delivered by senior US-based operators. - Alacrinet vs Bishop Fox: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-bishop-fox - Alacrinet vs NetSPI: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-netspi - Alacrinet vs Trustwave SpiderLabs: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-trustwave-spiderlabs - Alacrinet vs Kroll: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-kroll - Alacrinet vs Mandiant: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-mandiant - Alacrinet vs Optiv: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-optiv - Alacrinet vs Accenture: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/compare/alacrinet-vs-accenture ## Industries - Financial services: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/financial-services - Healthcare: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/healthcare - Manufacturing and OT: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/manufacturing - Technology and SaaS: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/technology - Retail and e-commerce: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/retail - Enterprise: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/industries/enterprise ## Guides - How to get a penetration test: the seven-step buying path from defining scope to remediating and retesting, plus how long it takes: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/how-to-get-a-pentest - Best penetration testing companies: there is no single best firm. The seven dimensions that separate firms, which firm category fits which buyer, and where Alacrinet fits: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/best-penetration-testing-companies - Pentest vs vulnerability scan: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/pentest-vs-vuln-scan - Red team vs pentest: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/red-team-vs-pentest - What a pentest costs in 2026: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/what-a-pentest-costs-in-2026 - Choosing a pentest vendor: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/choosing-a-pentest-vendor - Five pentest types mid-market security leaders should know: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/5-pen-test-types-mid-market-security-leaders-should-know - An operator's guide to Nuclei: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/guides/operators-guide-to-nuclei - Glossary of offensive security terms: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/glossary ## Attack-surface sub-pages ### Internal Network Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/internal-network Manual internal network penetration testing covering Active Directory abuse, Kerberoasting, NTLM relay, lateral movement, and domain-dominance attack paths. ### Mobile Application Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/mobile Manual mobile penetration testing for iOS and Android covering binary analysis, runtime manipulation, API abuse, insecure storage, and platform-specific paths. ### Wireless Penetration Testing URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/pentesting/wireless Manual wireless penetration testing covering WPA2/3 attacks, rogue access point detection, captive portal bypass, and wireless-to-internal pivot paths. ### Physical Red Team URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/red-teaming/physical On-site adversary simulation covering tailgating, badge cloning, lock bypass, and on-network drop placement, coordinated with digital and human vectors. ### Adversary Simulation URL: https://pentesting.alacrinet.com/red-teaming/adversary-simulation Threat-informed adversary simulation modeled on named threat-actor TTPs. End-to-end campaign emulation across digital, identity, and human vectors, with SOC and IR participation measured. ## Company information Alacrinet was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Additional offices: New York, Miami, Washington DC, Denver, Costa Mesa, and Puerto Rico. The Offensive Intelligence Unit is the offensive security practice of Alacrinet, led by Bailey Besheer. Bailey Besheer is the Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services at Alacrinet. Former Marine cyber warfare operator. Ranked top 25 globally on Hack The Box. CISSP, IAT III, CSIS. LinkedIn (operator): https://www.linkedin.com/in/baileybesheer/