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Application & OT Security · Foundational

Statement of Work (SOW)

A contract document detailing the specific deliverables, timeline, scope and cost of a particular engagement.

Definition

A statement of work describes what will be done in one project, often under an overarching master service agreement. For a pen test it specifies the test type, targets, methodology, schedule, deliverables such as the report and retest, and pricing. Changes to scope should be handled by a formal change order to the SOW.

Example

An SOW for a two-week internal network test of 500 hosts with a final report and one free retest.

Exam tip

Remember the hierarchy: MSA sets general terms, SOW defines a specific project, RoE defines how testers behave during it.

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