We build software
for offensive security.
One company, two products and a release record that goes back to July 2017. This page is that record: what we shipped and when, who leads the company, and how we work.
Nine years,
release by release.
Dates come from our release notes and the Neuron changelog.
- Jul 2017
Development begins
A tester studying for the OSCP looks for a purpose-built tool to organize a penetration test, finds none, and starts writing one. The first post promises it will be more than a glorified spreadsheet: Nmap import that never loses a detail, service notes, command libraries and a credential organizer.
- Mar 2018
PenTest.WS LLC
The company is organized in Colorado.
- Jun 2018
Private beta
An invitation-only beta opens. Its announcement names the idea the company still builds around: reporting is the deliverable product of a penetration test. The same month, a HackTheBox walkthrough series starts on YouTube.
- Aug 2019
Pro: offline and self-hosted
PenTest.WS Pro ships as a stand-alone, offline install for testers under strict NDAs or on restricted networks. Its data belongs to the licensee. Intranet Mode lets a whole team share it, our first team product.
- 2020
Driven by requests
Versions 1.8 and 1.9 add domain names as targets, a CVE database, multi-file import and Masscan, and 2FA backup codes. Most of the changes in v1.8.3 came straight from user requests.
- Apr 2021
Version 2.0
A findings library, DOCX reporting templates, shared engagements with real-time sync and field locking, and a REST API turn a testing notebook into a reporting platform.
- Apr 2022
Large engagements
Version 2.1 handles tens of thousands of hosts in one engagement, a /20 or a whole Class B imported in one go, with a real-time import log.
- Jan 2023
Community Repo
Version 2.2 adds a shared, upvotable command repository, BloodHound queries included. The next two years go quietly into what becomes Neuron.
- 2025
From labs to engagements
Versions 2.3 to 2.5 add social engineering targets, an events timeline with evidence locking, an engagements screen built for professional work rather than rooting boxes, findings groups, reporting briefs and file shares.
- Jan 2026
Neuron
Neuron launches: a ground-up platform for teams that run many engagements at once, with QA, a Delivery Portal, private AI and attack-path graphing, deployed on infrastructure the customer controls. PenTest.WS carries on beside it.
- Mar 2026
Burp Suite extension
Burp Suite results flow into Neuron with their evidence, and web applications, endpoints and parameters become assets. Burp stays the testing engine; Neuron becomes the system of record.
- Jun to Sep 2026
Neuron 3.1 and 3.2
Retest rounds with co-signed verdicts, Entra ID graphs, playbooks, Controlled Release with signed acknowledgements, Offline Mode, GPU offload for Neuron AI and a 22-template assessment catalogue.
- Oct 2026
A home for the company
The PenTest.WS app moves to its own address, app.pentest.ws, and pentest.ws becomes the company site.
Led by a practitioner.
Adam Benwell
Founder & CEOAdam Benwell spent more than twenty years as a self-taught software developer before moving into security, and has been writing code since the age of fourteen. Studying for the OSCP in 2017 led to PenTest.WS, and PenTest.WS LLC followed in March 2018.
Adam has led the company and its products since, from the first private beta and the offline Pro edition to Neuron in 2026.
Inconsistency isn't a people problem. It's an architecture problem. Neuron exists because pentest operations at scale require a different foundation.
Neuron launch, January 2026
Habits,
not slogans.
Ship, and write it down
Release notes since 2018. Neuron 3.0 shipped in December 2025, and 29 releases followed by the end of September 2026.
Listen to the people using it
Echo Up's Base64 mode came from a community member in 2019. Whole releases have been built from user requests, and they still are.
Say what it does not do
Our solution pages list what Neuron is not, and our Trust page lists every connection it can make.
Two products, one team
PenTest.WS is the toolkit for individual operators, at app.pentest.ws. Neuron is the platform for teams at scale. The same people build both.
Denver, Colorado.
PenTest.WS LLC
9878 W Belleview Ave, Suite 2122
Denver, CO 80123
USA
Sales, press, support and security contacts are on the contact page. Press resources are in the press room.
Meet the team behind Neuron.
Book a briefing with the people who build it. We will show you Neuron running the way you would run it.