一句话：通过对12名安全从业者的定性研究，揭示渗透测试工作流程、思维与痛点，并为安全测试自动化提出建议。
进攻性安全测试（如渗透测试）用于主动发现潜在漏洞，但白帽黑客长期短缺，难以保证软件的安全测试覆盖。为改进自动化安全测试，研究者与工具构建者需要先理解黑客如何工作、其假设与痛点。本文对12名安全专业人员进行数据驱动的探索性定性研究，采用主题分析考察安全任务执行、黑客的思维过程以及遇到的挑战。基于分析结果，作者向研究者和工具构建者提出建议，以提升自动化效率并识别新的研究方向。
Offensive security-tests are commonly employed to pro-actively discover potential vulnerabilities. They are performed by specialists, also known as penetration-testers or white-hat hackers. The chronic lack of available white-hat hackers prevents sufficient security test coverage of software. Research into automation tries to alleviate this problem by improving the efficiency of security testing. To achieve this, researchers and tool builders need a solid understanding of how hackers work, their assumptions, and pain points. In this paper, we present a first data-driven exploratory qualitative study of twelve security professionals, their work and problems occurring therein. We perform a thematic analysis to gain insights into the execution of security assignments, hackers' thought processes and encountered challenges. This analysis allows us to conclude with recommendations for researchers and tool builders, to increase the efficiency of their automation and identify novel areas for research.